D6-Only Weapons: Damage Types

Over at Bat in the Attic, there's a post about a simplified weapon vs AC system, which has helped me clarify in my own mind the next step in this series about how to make weapons distinct without changing the damage. As Rob Conley notes, a threefold division of weapon damage types is pretty much standard in RPGs these days. He uses this simplicity to add up to three modifiers to each armor type, which is pretty compact.

Of course, I only have three basic armor types, so it's just as easy for me to describe weapon vs. armor from the perspective of the weapon.

• blunt weapons are the default; they have a +1 advantage against rigid and semi-rigid armors unless made of a weaker material than the armor.
• edged weapons have a +1 advantage against nonrigid armor and can damage armor made of weaker materials.
• piercing weapons have a +1 advantage against semi-rigid armor made of rings or links and against nonrigid armor, but do no substantial damage to armor (they can make a hole, but this doesn't give an attacker a future advantage as more serious damage would.)

Under this scheme, chainmail, ringmail, banded mail and scalemail are all semi-rigid armor (type 1, equivalent to AC 5,) but ring and chain have a disadvantage against stab attacks, chain has an advantage against edged because of interwoven links, and banded mail has an advantage against edged and piercing (although plate is still better than all.)