Ammunition

This section covers unique and exotic ammunition that a hero might use during an adventure.

Table: Ammunition
Ammunition TypePurchase DC ModifierRestriction
Armor Piercing+3Res (+2)
Beanbag+2Res (+2)
Birdshot–1Lic (+1)
Flechette+4Mil (+3)
Frangible+2Res (+2)
High Explosive+5Mil (+3)
Rubber Round+1Res (+2)
Silver+6
Subsonic+4Mil (+3)
Tracer+1Mil (+3)
Tranquilizer7*Res (+2)
White Phosphorous (WP)+5Mil (+3)
*This is the regular purchase DC, not modifier.
Armor Piercing

Armor-piercing ammunition reduces the effectiveness of armor. When fired at an opponent wearing any type of armor, the attack receives a +2 bonus. It has no benefit against targets that are not wearing armor.

Beanbag

Riot police use this type of ammunition for crowd control. Loads are available for shotguns and grenade launchers only. It deals the same amount of damage as a normal load, but the damage dealt is nonlethal.

Birdshot

This is a lighter shotgun ammunition. It reduces the damage dealt by a shotgun by 1 die.

Flechette

Flechette rounds fire bundles of razor-sharp, fin-stabilized tungsten darts. A weapon that fires this ammunition improves its critical threat range by one, but takes a –1 penalty on attack rolls.

Frangible

This ammunition scatters through a target rather than punching through and hitting something else. It increases the damage dealt to unarmored targets by +1. This bonus is negated if the target is wearing any sort of armor or has a natural armor bonus of +2 or more.

High Explosive

High explosive ammunition is used mostly in grenade launchers and occasionally shotguns, but can be found for other weapons. It is very expensive and difficult to come by. High explosive ammunition deals 1 extra die of damage of the appropriate type for the weapon.

Rubber Rounds

Rubber rounds exist for all types of handguns and longarms. Rubber ammunition deals nonlethal damage.

Silver

Silver ammunition is useful for dealing with some types of Shadow creatures. Silvered ammunition deals lethal damage to regular targets and bypasses the damage reduction of any creature that is vulnerable to silver. It is never mass-produced and must be made by hand, as reflected by its high cost. Because silvered ammunition must be manufactured by hand, it is not licensed. It requires a Craft (mechanical) check (DC 12) to manufacture a single silver bullet.

Subsonic

Assassins and snipers use subsonic ammunition; it is rarely found outside those circles. Its primary use is to reduce the noise of a shot, making it more difficult to spot the shooter after the gun is fired. Subsonic ammunition reduces damage dealt by –2 points, but the DC to Listen checks to hear the gunshot is increased by +10. Subsonic ammunition decreases the range increment by 20 feet. It is available for handguns and longarms, except shotguns.

Tracer

These phosphorous-coated rounds aid the shooter of an automatic weapon in leading bullets to a target, but makes them easier to spot in turn. Tracer ammunition provides a +1 bonus to attack rolls made with a weapon when fired on autofire only. Opponents gain a +5 circumstance bonus on Spot checks when trying to find someone firing tracer ammunition.

Tranquilizer

This ammunition is actually a large dart with a reservoir that is used to deliver a tranquilizer (or poison) to the target. It is only available for air rifles and pistols. For more information on poisons, see the Craft (chemical) skill.

White Phosphorous (WP)

White phosphorous-tipped rounds can inflict terrible burns on a target. These rounds go off if they strike anything between the shooter and the target. Any target damaged by a “Willie P” shot takes an additional 1d6 points of fire damage and risks catching on fire.