BAE Melee Weapons
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Anyone can punch/kick for Str damage or use their gun as an improvised weapon (-2 to Fighting) to either pistol-whip or butt-stroke for Str+d4 damage. But some Vault Hunters prefer getting up close and personal with their foes.
Getting Medieval
Let's summarize the basic rules, with some Borderlands-specific clarifications.
Min Str: Unless stated otherwise, a weapon's Minimum Strength equals its damage die (e.g., Str+d8 means Min Str d8). If you don't meet this minimum, the weapon's damage die is reduced to your Strength die and you lose most positive features found in its "Notes": Fighting bonus, Parry bonus, Reach, Compact, Thrown, and/or improved critical damage. Only its flat damage bonus, AP, and elemental effects still apply — along with any drawbacks, of course!
Handedness: Melee weapons are one-handed unless specified otherwise. Obviously, apply the Parry bonus/penalty for a melee weapon held in the primary hand. For one held in the off-hand, any Parry penalty applies, but a Parry bonus applies only if the wielder has the Ambidextrous Edge.
Throwable Weapons: Use Athletics to throw a weapon; the Combat Slinger Edge lets you substitute Fighting if better. Reach does not affect Range in any way, and vice-versa. Thrown weapons digistruct back into your hands at the end of your turn (not the end of the round). You must meet a weapon's minimum Strength to throw it!
Note: The Improvisational Fighter Edge lets you ignore "to hit" and Parry penalties with any melee weapon, improvised or otherwise.
Generating a Melee Weapon
Use the following steps to create a random grenade mod, usually when it came up as the result in BAE Guns, Glorious Guns!.
Type of Weapon
Roll d20 on the following table
Result | Weapon | Damage | Weight | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1-2 | Hatchet | Str+d6 | 2 | Can be thrown (Range 3/6/12). |
3-5 | Chainsaw | Str+d6+1 | 7 | 2 hands. Critical failure hits the wielder or an ally*. |
6-7 | Buzzaxe | Str+d8+1 | 10 | AP 2, Parry -1, 2 hands. Critical failure hits the wielder or an ally*. |
8 | Dagger | Str+d4 | 1 | Can be thrown (Range 3/6/12). |
9-10 | Greataxe | Str+d10 | 7 | AP 2, Parry -1, 2 hands |
11-12 | Greatsword | Str+d10 | 6 | 2 hands |
13 | Halberd | Str+d8 | 6 | Reach 1, 2 hands |
14-15 | Armblades | Str+d6 | 2 | Always equipped (even when firing guns or using a different melee weapon), so no action required to switch to or from, but -1 to hit. |
16 | Rapier | Str+d4 | 2 | Parry +1. |
17-18 | Spear | Str+d6 | 3 | Parry +1, Reach 1, 2 hands. Can be thrown (Range 3/6/12). |
19-20 | Sword | Str+d8 | 3 | — |
Manufacturer
Only a few companies bother making melee weapons. Roll d20 on the following table.
Result | Manufacturer | Effect | Description |
---|---|---|---|
1-8 | COV | Damage +1, Parry -1. | Bulky, top-heavy weapons made from repurposed junk. |
9-15 | Dahl | As written. | Simple, no-nonsense weapons for military use. |
16-20 | Maliwan | Damage -2. Roll d20 to add an element: (1‑4) Corrosive, (5‑8) Cryo, (9‑12) Incendiary, (13‑16) Radiation, (17‑20) Shock. | Steampunk weapons with gas vents, electrical nodules, acid sprayers, etc. along the weapon's length. |
Upgrades
For a Novice character's White weapon, stop there. Rarer weapons and/or more experienced characters get additional Upgrades:
Rarity | Upgrades | PC Rank | Upgrades | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Green | +1 | Seasoned | +1 | |
Blue | +2 | Veteran | +2 | |
Purple | +3 | Heroic | +3 | |
Orange | +5* | Legendary | +4 |
For each Upgrade, roll d20 on the following table. Most Upgrades have a limit; if you reach that limit, reroll. Do apply Upgrades as you go, at least for Parry.
1-2 |
Balance (Limit: 4, or 5 for armblades) Improves one's odds to hit, via Fighting or (if throwable) Athletics. Effect depends on final Balance Upgrade level:
Exception: For armblades, the first level of Balance removes the inherent -1 to hit, and levels 2-5 provide the benefits above. |
---|---|
3-5 |
Critical Damage (Limit: 5) Improves the extra damage this weapon does on a Raise, based on Critical Damage Upgrade level:
|
6-9 |
Damage (No limit) Each level adds +1 Damage. |
10‑11 |
Parry (Limit: Special) Each level improves Parry by +1, to a maximum of Parry +1 (or Parry +2 for a rapier or spear). |
12‑13 |
Elemental (Limit: 1, or 0 for Maliwan) Reduce Damage by -1 and roll a d6 to add an element to the weapon: (1) Corrosive, (2) Cryo, (3) Explosive, (4) Incendiary, (5) Radiation, (6) Shock. See BAE Elemental Damage for a note about how Explosive melee weapons work. |
14‑15 |
Thrown (Limit: Special) If the weapon is not yet throwable, now it can be thrown with Range 3/6/12. If the weapon is throwable, improve its Range to 5/10/20. Past that, reroll. This Upgrade is not available for armblades. |
16‑17 |
Reach (Limit: 1 or 0) If the weapon doesn't have Reach 1, give it Reach 1. If it already has Reach 1, reroll. This Upgrade is not available for armblades. |
18 |
Compact (Limit: 1 or 0) If the weapon is two-handed, halve its weight (round up) and change it to one-handed. If it's already one-handed, reroll. |
19 |
Heavy (Limit: 1) Add the HW (Heavy Weapon) keyword. Like a can opener, this weapon does full damage to vehicles and fortifications. Also add +2 AP. |
20 |
Special (Limit: 1 Red Text (if Blue+) and 1 Anointment) First, some ground rules: Weapons of any quality can have an Anointment. But only Blue weapons or better can have Red Text (and Orange weapons have this automatically, as a bonus Upgrade). If the weapon qualifies for both and has neither, roll d4: (1-2) Add an Anointment, (3-4) Add Red Text. Otherwise, give it whichever it qualifies for; if neither, reroll. Exception: If you're here generating a hybrid weapon because you rolled Bayonet Upgrade 2 for a gun, reroll this result! |
Prefix
Finally, consider adding a descriptive prefix to the weapon; e.g., if a COV Sword added Shock damage, you could call it a COV Electric Sword. The gear generator app does this for you, but even then feel free to replace it with something more unique.
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