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The Soul Projector from The Blind City is a pretty awesome item: it has the Force descriptor, never runs out of ammo, doesn't require any proficiency, can make both melee and ranged attacks, and (from my reading anyways?) doesn't seem to take any hands to wield - it's either an armour slot item, or a worn magic item. Sure it steals a wee bit of HP, but I think it's a fair trade, for what it brings to the table.
Since it is classified as a Hybrid Item rather than a weapon, though, it's a bit unclear on if it gets Weapon Specialization. How are other people treating it? No spec dmg, +1/2 lvl spec dmg (as if it were a Small Arm,) or +full lvl spec dmg?
The level 9 base Arriver model does the same damage as the lvl 9 vanilla laser pistol (3d4 + 1d4 boost) so from a balance perspective, it's probably not game-breaking for it to get +1/2 lvl specialization damage. On the other hand, there's Longarms like the lvl 7 Aeon Guard Rifle or the lvl 8 Impulse Charge Emitter (which, thanks to its Integrated special property, also doesn't take hands to wield) that are around that item level, and also do 3d4 but with +full lvl specialization. Plus, there's even a level 9 Heavy Weapon that also does 3d4 damage (albeit with some fun properties, like Line and Unwieldy.) It's not really clear, just comparing it to other classes of weapons with a similar damage point, if it strongly fits in the +1/2 lvl dmg or +full lvl dmg categories. As a GM I usually try and rule in my players' favour unless there's overwhelming evidence it's a bad idea, so I'm tempted to say it adds +lvl dmg. How are other GMs handling it?
(It's also worth nothing that, since the Soul Projector is on the Chronicle Sheet for this chapter, this could have Org Play impacts, too?)
As written, its not classified as any weapon type, so it does not get Weapon Specialization. For reference (bolding mine):
Benefit: Choose one weapon type (small arms, longarms, heavy weapons, etc.). You gain specialization in that weapon type, which means you add your character level to damage with the selected weapon type, or half your character level for small arms or operative melee weapons. You can never have specialization in grenades.
You gain specialization (see page 243) in all weapons with which you are proficient that can be selected with Weapon Specialization.
The way weapon spec is written, if something isn't a small arm or operative melee weapon, you get full level. However, since the soul projector doesn't have a weapon type, you can't even grant it specialization via versatile specialization.
So RAW = no specialization.
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Balance wise, its a non-operative ranged and melee weapon that takes 0 hands to wield, hits EAC, and deals force-typed damage. That's a lot of good properties. Boost is a fairly low-value property on a non-unwieldy weapon.
The impulse charge emitter is a pretty good comparison. The residential cryospike is another good reference for the melee mode. This weapon has a few advantages over either one, but not so many that its massively out of line. There are several small arms that come kinda close, but the soul emitter seems better than any of them. However, at higher levels, the soul emitter's damage scales more like a small arm than a longarm, capping at a pretty low value. Its kinda straddling the line.
So my take: If I had an operative I was GMing for, I wouldn't sweat too much classifying this as a small arm/basic melee. The level 9 version is a little too good, but not gamebreakingly so. If other people showed interest, I wouldn't sweat classifying it as an advanced melee/longarm either.
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Good points! Informed by what you've written, I think I am going to assume the stance that the Soul Projector is, in fact, a Weapon, in the "Special Weapons" category:
Weapons of the same type are of similar size and have similar mechanical properties. Weapon types include basic melee, advanced melee, small arms, longarms, heavy weapons, sniper weapons, grenades, and special weapons. Ammunition and solarian weapon crystals are also listed here.
I think there's enough wiggle room here, since the write-up for the item refers to it as a weapon multiple times, and, well, it functions exactly like a weapon in all other respects. After a bit of dumpster diving, I even found there's precedent in Hybrid Items existing that are, functionally, weapons, and are classified as such for Specialization purposes.
This being the case, no class natively gets Proficiency in this Special Weapon, and therefore they don't auto-get Specialization. But, if anyone wanted to specialize in the soul-eating gun they found in the Great Old One-Burner's prison, hey, take the feat and add +full level damage :D
Sounds reasonable to me!