Gun parts for custom guns... from the borderlands.

[kadance]

Threw this together for some practice with InDesign based on my love of the Borderlands series and an eventual (fingers-crossed) Starfinder game.

I recall seeing a user looking for a custom parts system, so I thought someone might get some use out of this.

A System for Gun Parts

If anyone cares to critique the layout, rules interactions, prices, etc., feel free. I'll change and update the document when I can.

[kadance]

The actual gun parts start on page 28.

[kadance]

Anyone have any thoughts on parts (barrels, grips, stocks, etc) for the premium manufacturers from the Starfinder Armory?

Either a couple areas for expertise and a flaw, or maybe whole new categories of weapon effects?

[Quartaroy]

I want to use this in my campaign and I've been playing with this a bit. The system has a good premise, although I'm not sure I understand it well.

I take a base item, for instance, a Light Machine Gun. I plug in the level 8 stats, and put all the modifiers in and get out what in theory should be a Level 8 Torgue Heavy Weapon. It has the basic stat modifiers, and it's special becomes Sticky/Explosive Mode.

It seems for some things like with sniper weapons, the range benefits falls grossly short. I'm also not sure what special applies if you're using parts from 4 different manufacturers.

The weapon system in starfinder doesn't have a real "basic" weapon that all these mods could just fit over, which ends up making it relatively confusing trying to just make a level 16 Maliwan Sniper. What happens to the generic specials that all the high level weapons have?

I started throwing together a spreadsheet calculator, it only accounts for Price, Damage, and Range. I suspect it needs some heavy changes.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VXtsefRMhhdXsEeRnw1Q5rXVqM8MJixSvAN g81fLxXg

[kadance]

Looking at your spreadsheet (linkified!), I think I see where the confusion lies. There's actually an additional part not accounted for: the frame.

You can apply just the part effects, just the manufacturer effect, or both.

The special effect intrinsic to each manufacturer (and the associated effect cost) is carried on the frame. The other gun parts - barrel, grip, stock, etc. - modify stats, but don't grant the manufacturer special effect.

So the process could go like this:

Start with a generic gun, say the Advanced Nanite sniper rifle
(level 15; 131,100 credits; 3d12 A damage; 80 ft. range increment; Severe Wound critical effect; 10 capacity; 5 usage; Sniper (750 ft.), unwieldy)

You want a Maliwan Advanced Nanite sniper rifle, a little better and a lot pricier than the generic version.

Check the manufacturer notes, and yes, Maliwan makes sniper rifles that deal energy damage, so we can proceed.

The frame, the core of the gun, manufactured by Maliwan and granting the manufacturer effect - Enhanced Elements, carries the effect price listed in the manufacturer's description (pg. 15 for Maliwan): +15% or 19,665 credits.

As for the parts, say you buy the complete package, the Maliwan manufacturer build on page 26.

The Parts Price is +25% for the package deal: 32,775 credits.
This hefty sum gets you increased range and better critical and non-critical effects

---

Later on you want to switch to a Hyperion Adaptive Grip: you pay 10% of the weapon's base cost (13,100 credits), remove the effects of the Maliwan grip, and add the Hyperion grip's stat adjustments. You don't change the manufacturer effect, though, that's tied to the frame, and is basically another part.

---

Finally, because you were using the Maliwan frame and the Maliwan grip, you had a Perfect Fit bonus that increased capacity by +10%. by switching to the Hyperion grip, that bonus goes away.

---

So, the system isn't designed to replace any of the generic weapon's effects, but rather add on to them. And not all stat adjustments from various parts will apply to all weapons. For example, some weapons don't have a non-critical effect DC to modify (though such an effect could be added by a fusion and then modified).

[Quartaroy]

Thanks, I totally missed the frame as a part.

With that help, I've been able to craft most of the weapons without confusion. Though I'd like to clarify how to interpret the Maliwan special.

So a Cryo weapon with the Maliwan frame would go from damage type Cryo to damage type Cryo/Shock.

A non-elemental weapon with the Maliwan frame keeps its damage type and instead gains the Boost special.

If correct, that does leave some areas that would be fun to visit. There are no Cryo or Shock snipers, which Maliwan has been able to do in the Borderlands game, and seems reasonably doable with these parts.

Likewise, I find it strange that elemental weapons just gain more element rather than empowering their element, while the non elemental weapons remain non-elemental. Maliwan has always exclusively produced elemental weapons.

Thanks again for the help! This is a very exciting approach to weapon crafting.

[kadance]

For the Maliwan Manufacturer Effect:

As written, Maliwan doesn't make non-elemental weapons; if a weapon does P/B/S damage, Maliwan isn't making it.

If a weapon deals elemental damage, uses charges for ammo, and does not have the modal property, it gains the modal property. This mitigates the biggest weakness of an elemental weapons and is in line with the state of Maliwan in Borderlands 3.

If a weapon deals elemental damage, and doesn't use charges for ammo or already has the modal property, it gains the boost property.

[Quartaroy]

That's another oof from me. I wasn't aware that modal was a property, so I was wrongly understanding it. That also addresses the concern of not having cryo snipers. Sadly, Shock snipers are still not possible.

[kadance]

Maybe you can convince your DM to let you put a shock fusion on a plasma weapon and replace the fire damage with electric? It's not RAW, but it's also not unbalancing.

Of create a new weapon that happens to be the equivalent cost and statistics of a plasma weapons with a shock fusion...

[Quartaroy]

I happen to be the GM, I see these weapons as potential rewards that I could use to add some familiar fun to the campaign and open a few more approaches to combat.

I really appreciate the inspiration a lot of these homebrews bring in; And while I'm not a huge fan of Starfinder's weapon system, I do really appreciate these modular systems that get close to the -ideal- system I have in mind.

The couple of suggestions I thought I might have had are non-issues now that I've explored this system in greater depth. In confidence, I can say that this document is well-put together. The way it touches on lore while bringing in solid interpretations of Borderland's mechanics is great. There aren't any significant formatting errors I've run into and the graphics contribute well to the overall flavor and theme. I look forward to whatever may come.

[kadance]

Thanks for giving it a good look and taking the time to respond.

[kadance]

If you have attempted to get to my linked file(s) above and found that you needed to ask permission, you have my apology. I was not regularly checking the e-mail address attached to the account.

I have now removed the google security update from hundreds of my shared files, so hopefully no one will have to ask permission to view them.