Siege Weapons

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Siege Weapons

Weapons can be built in almost any size you can imagine, which is why Large Greatswords even exist. Sadly, the weapons as written are as large as can be wielded by any creature, no matter how you may try. But, what if you make the weapons even bigger, and stop trying to wield them? It is indeed possible to build a crossbow twenty-five feet across, and such a behemoth is a sight to behold in battle!

Such gigantic weapons, too big to wield but certainly not too big to USE, are the provenance of Siege Weapons. Such gigantic weapons are used to kill castles and fortresses, along with such jobs as dealing with giant monsters and invading fleets.

Because of their enormous size, siege weapons hit unbelievably hard. They can be used to Sunder structures and fortifications. Indeed, this is one of their principal uses: Sundering the fortifications of a hard target, or, sundering the other side's siege weapons. Siege weapons can also be used to attack creatures, although getting a hit this way can be difficult, since creatures move around a lot more than structures. Many siege weapons damage everything within an area of effect, making them more adept at targeting creatures and clusters of personnel.

Core Mechanics

Siege weapons are treated as weapons you cannot use directly. The Crew Leader uses their BAB or CMB and any bonuses (inherent or enchantment) from the Siege Weapon, along with any assists from the crew, and that's all. Stat bonuses do not count:No matter how high your Str or Dex, it does not help you to aim a battering ram. Similarly, Feats and magical bonuses applied to the Crew Leader do not count either. This modified number is used to make an attack roll against the AC of a target. Unlike most weapons, Siege Weapons are large enough that many of them make area of effect attacks, and even smallish ones can use bursting ammo to deadly effect. The Crew Leader and all members of the firing crew must stay adjacent to a siege weapon to operate it.

Crew Leader

A crew leader is the primary actor in a firing crew for a siege weapon. The crew leader makes the to-hit rolls, Sunder checks and damage rolls for the siege weapon's attacks. Since Siege Weapons are simply another class of weapons, the damage increase rules ARE in effect! Namely, if the Crew Leader is above 8th level, the weapon damage dice are doubled, if she's above 15th they are tripled, etc. Since all rolls are based upon the Crew Leader's BAB, and the damage increases with their level, it is advisable to have your Crew Leader be as high level as possible. A crew leader must have either the Siege Engineer feat, or an Exotic Weapon Proficiency with the specific type of siege weapon which he is leading. Without this feat, the crew leader suffers a -4 penalty to all to-hit rolls and Sunder checks, and cannot be assisted by a crew.

Mishaps

Siege weapons are complex and very large. That said, if you have a properly trained crew, you can operate a siege engine in perfect safety. However, operating a siege weapon is a rare skill, so what happens if you try to just 'get along' and use a Siege Weapon without any applicable training? Well, that is when mishaps can occur. If your Crew leader does not have either the Siege Engineer or the correct Exotic Weapon Proficiency, you take the penalty described above. Far worse, every time you make an attack roll, either to inflict damage or attempt a Sunder, on a roll of a 1 a Mishap has occurred. A Mishap gives the siege weapon the Broken condition, rendering it unfit for further use until repaired. Far worse, the effects of whatever ammunition was loaded when the Mishap occurred is inflicted upon the firing crew. This usually kills the firing crew unless they are of some monstrous or extraordinary ability, and is a good reason to have spare crew members available.

Firing Crew

The firing crew is the rest of the people manning the siege weapon and assisting in its reloading, aiming and firing during combat. The firing crew is not required to have a proficiency in the siege weapon. Each member of the firing crew may roll to assist any of the crew leader's to-hit rolls or Sunder checks, requiring a Knowledge (Engineering), Profession (Drover), Profession (Engineer), Profession (Sailor) or Profession (Soldier), with a DC of 10. Each successful aid another adds +2 to the crew leader's Sunder check, though each failed aid another attempt applies a -1 to his check. The number of firing crew is the same as the minimum crew rating of the siege weapon, and cannot be larger than this. No, you cannot stack up two dozen assist bonuses with a siege weapon, sorry.

As an optional rule, if a member of the firing crew does have proficiency with the siege weapon being fired, it is possible for this member of the crew to increase the rate of fire of the siege weapon. Refer to the Vehicle Combat rules for details on this.

Attack and Damage Mechanics

Siege Weapons can be used to attack two ways, similar to weapons with the Sunder quality: They can be used with your Base Attack Bonus to attack against the AC of a target and if a hit is scored, it inflicts hit point damage and/or performs a Sunder, using your CMB. Note that Siege Weapons are unlike wielded weapons in that they may use both BAB and CMB for all attacks: Structures are assigned an Armor Class for the purposes of Siege Weapons only. This allows Siege Weapons to attack and possibly damage both creatures and structures at the same time, for Siege weapons with area of effects. Note that this is a different mechanic from how wielded weapons work.

Range

Siege weapons use abstract range bands, defined as:

Close: Within 50 feet

Short: 51 to 1000 feet

Medium: 1001 feet to 1 mile

Long: 1 mile to 15 miles

Out of Range: 15 miles to 50 miles.

Out of Range represents the limits of how far away you can see a Siege Weapon if you have a Spotting Station in a vessel or fortification. Without a Spotting Station, Out of Range becomes Out of Sight.

Note that very few wielded weapons or spells can reach even to the end of Medium range for a Siege Weapon, and a Long range Siege Weapon can outrange nearly any other effect. During siege warfare, the referee adjudicates all non-siege weapon attacks in Close, Short, or Medium range.

Range bands for a Siege weapon inflict a -5 penalty per band longer than Close. Attacks at Short range take a -5 to-hit, Medium -10, and Long -15.

Many ranged siege weapons cannot fire at Close range at all, such as Trebuchets, Catapults, and Tornado Mills. Melee Siege Weapons, such as Battering Rams, Screws, and Lava Looms, can only target at Close range.

Attacking Creatures With Siege Weapons

To directly attack a single creature, determine the distance to the creature from the siege weapon, and make sure the creature is not inside the minimum range of the siege weapon. If so, the creature cannot be targeted. Next, determine if there is any range penalty to hit the creature, based on the range increment listed for the siege weapon. The crew leader then makes a to-hit roll, using his Base Attack Bonus plus his DEX modifier, versus the target creature's AC. Each member of the firing crew can perform the 'aid another' action to assist with this roll, up to the maximum number of firing crew the siege weapon supports.

If the siege weapon is attacking directly, then cover, concealment, and other miss chances apply normally. If the siege weapon is making an AOE attack, cover and concealment and other miss chances have no effect, but affected creatures may make a saving throw to reduce or avoid the damage. See each weapons write-up for these saves and the save DC's. This means that yes, siege weapons are VERY effective at wiping out a castle's defenders, even if they are hiding behind the fortifications. A castle's defenders are advised to quickly disable any siege weapons they see.

If the attack hits, the creature takes damage equal to the listed damage of the siege weapon.

If the siege weapon has an area of effect, it works the same as targeting a creature, except that the target is the ground, with an Armor Class of 10. However, creatures in the area of effect may make a saving throw. Some siege weapons inflict additional status conditions on creatures which fail this save. Refer to the individual siege weapon listings for details.

Attacking Structures With Siege Weapons

To attack a structure, determine the distance to the target from the siege weapon, make sure the siege weapon can reach it, and that the target is not inside the minimum range of the siege weapon. If the target is outside the legal range limits,, the target cannot be attacked. Next, determine if there is any range penalty to hit the structure, based on the range increment listed for the siege weapon. The crew leader then makes a to-hit roll, using his Base Attack Bonus plus his DEX modifier, versus the target structure's AC. Since structures are usually very sturdy, but also very large and immobile, in all cases this AC is a 10. Referee's may, on a case by case basis, assign targets a different AC, but this is discouraged. Buildings are just easy to hit. Each member of the firing crew can perform the 'aid another' action to assist with this roll, up to the maximum number of crew the siege weapon supports.

If the attack hits, the crew leader then makes a Sunder combat maneuver check, using his CMB versus the target structure's Sunder DC. Refer to the Breaking Objects page for a listing of Sunder DC's by structure type. Each member of the firing crew can also perform the 'aid another' action to assist with this roll, up to the maximum number of firing crew the siege weapon supports.

Nearly all structures require multiple successful Sunder checks before they become Broken. Note that, every 5 by which the Sunder check exceeds the target structure's Sunder DC counts as an additional successful check against the structure. Complex structures, such as vehicles and other siege weapons also take penalties for every successful Sunder check prior to becoming Broken.

Attacking a Siege Weapon

Attacking a siege weapon works exactly like attacking a structure, using the Sunder DC listed in the siege weapon's individual listing. Siege Weapons have AC 10 in all cases. As with structures, siege weapons usually require multiple successful sunder checks before they become Broken. However, each successful Sunder check against a siege weapon inflicts a cumulative -2 penalty on all to-hit rolls and Sunder checks by the Crew Leader. It is possible to armor and reinforce a Siege Weapon. Armoring a siege weapon is treated as if the weapon has a Siege Gallery of its same size class attached to it, at double the normal cost. Reinforcing a siege weapon adds ten to it's Defensive Sunder Rating at the cost of double the base cost, masterwork included. Armoring and reinforcing stacks. Armoring a siege weapon raises the number of cartloads of cargo required to move it by fifty percent.

Repairing a siege weapon that has the Broken condition requires the Make Whole spell, which takes 10 minutes to cast, or the Profession (Engineer) skill, which requires a skill check with a DC equal to the listed Sunder DC of the siege weapon. If successful, repairs take 1 hour per the listed number of Sunder successes required to break it in the first place. This number can be reduced by 1 hour per 5 by which the skill check DC is exceeded, to a minimum of 1 hour. It is a really good idea to have a wand or scroll of Make Whole available, if you can....

Disable Device

Ah, sabotage! A character with Disable Device may attempt to use that skill to render a Siege Weapon unusable. This typically involves removing a smaller piece of the Weapon, such as part of the trigger mechanism, or a governor, or mis-aligning the aiming mechanism, or some other rather subtle effect. Inflicting major damage on a Siege Weapon is covered under the Sunder rules. To disable a Siege Weapon using Disable Device requires 2d4 rounds of uninterrupted work, and requires a Disable Device roll of 20, plus 5 per size category of the Siege Weapon. Thus, 25 for a Large Weapon, 30 for a Huge, 35 for a Gargantuan, and 40 for a size Colossal. Titanic Siege Weapons may exist, but they are beyond the scope of these rules. To speed up such a Disable Device roll inflicts a -10 penalty to the roll for every round you reduce the time by. To quickly repair a Siege Weapon from such Sabotage requires a Profession: Siege Engineer skill roll against the same target number, and similarly requires 2d4 rounds of work. To permanently repair the Weapon after such subtle damage requires the crew to spend a full day, going over the Weapon from top to bottom and setting it back to rights.

How To Read The Entries

Name

This is the name of the siege weapon in question. An Exotic Weapon Proficiency gains you proficiency in only one named siege weapon. For example, "Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Large catapult" does not also get you proficiency in using a Medium Catapult.

Cost

This is how much the siege weapon costs to buy or have made.

Sunder Bonus

This is the bonus the siege weapon adds to the CMB of the Crew Leader for Sunder checks. Siege weapons generally don't add a bonus to any other combat maneuvers, although GM's are encouraged to allow creative play. Note further that siege weapons generally cannot be used to Sunder items smaller than a full square in size, so the players cannot get rid of pesky artifacts by strapping them to the mouth of a cannon. Sorry, all those afflicted by cursed items!

Damage

This is the amount of damage the siege weapon deals to personnel, if any, on a successful to-hit roll. Structures successfully hit by the siege weapon require a Sunder check instead of a damage roll, using the crew leader's CMB plus the Sunder Bonus rating of the Siege Weapon and any successful Aid Other bonuses. The DC of the Sunder check varies, depending on the target. See Breaking Objects for a list of DC's and the number of successes necessary to break/destroy the target structure.

Damage Type

Siege weapons can deal Bludgeoning, Piercing or Slashing damage, and some siege weapons can even inflict elemental or magical damage types. When attacking personnel, this damage type determines whether DR or ER can be applied by the targets to reduce the damage inflicted. Against structures, all siege weapons grant the listed Sunder Bonus, regardless of damage type.

AOE

This is the area of effect the siege weapon's attacks deal damage to. If the siege weapon deals damage to personnel, creatures in the area of effect may make a saving throw. This save is detailed in each siege weapon's write-up. If the target is a structure, the area of effect determines how many squares of the structure are damaged. Normally, structural damage only applies to a single complex object (like a vehicle or a siege weapon) or to one 5 by 5 square of a structure or other large simple object.

Increment (Min range)

This is the range increment of the siege weapon. Like bows and crossbows, a siege weapon can fire its attacks up to 10 times its listed increment, but each increment after the first inflicts a -2 penalty on the to-hit roll. Feats that the Crew Leader may possess to improve their ranged attacks do not apply to Siege Weapons. Sorry!

In addition, some siege weapons are unable to attack targets inside a particular range. When such a restriction exists, this minimum range is listed in parentheses after the range increment. Note that the minimum range overlaps the range increments: Range is always counted beginning from one square of the siege weapon's space, not from the end of the minimum range.

Crew to Fire (min/max)

The minimum crew number is the minimum number of people required to fire the weapon in combat, and the maximum crew is the number of crew the siege weapon can usefully employ. A siege weapon with fewer than the minimum crew cannot be fired, while a siege weapon with more crew than the listed maximum gains no benefit from the people above that listed maximum, aside from the ability to take battle casualties and remain at maximum crew. One member of this crew is designated as the Crew Leader, who makes the attack rolls, Sunder checks and other rolls for the siege weapon, while the remaining crew may use the 'aid another' action for many of these checks.

The physical size of the members of the crew is assumed to be size medium. Size small creatures can participate in a firing crew on a siege weapon designed for a sized-medium crew with no issues. If a siege weapon was designed for a different sized crew (such as a siege weapon built by and for giants), the crew must be within 1 size category of the siege weapon's designated crew size, or they cannot participate in the crew.

Rate of Fire

Here is a major difference between siege weapons and smaller types of wield-able weapons. Siege weapons are almost always very slow, compared to a wield-able weapon. The rate of fire is how often the siege weapon can be fired in combat. Most siege weapons have complex reloading procedures which must be followed after each shot. As a result, siege weapons tend to have a very low rate of fire. Indeed, the most complex siege weapons may take as long as 15 minutes to fire a single shot.

If using the optional Vehicle Combat rules, it is possible for a skilled crew to increase the rate of fire of siege weapons. Refer to the Vehicle Combat rules for details.

Crew to Move

This is the minimum number of people required to move the siege weapon while in or out of combat, as well as the maximum number of people who can be involved in moving it. Unlike the firing crew, larger creatures can assist in moving a siege weapon without penalty, if desired. Thus, a group of giants can pull a catapult built for a sized-medium crew. In fact, larger creatures are more efficient at moving these objects, taking up the space of only 2 medium-sized crew, while granting the benefit of 4 medium-sized crew. Creatures more than 1 category over the size of the siege weapon's assumed crew size grant no greater benefit than a creature 1 size category larger, but neither do they take up more room. (Just go with it; it keeps it simpler.) Sized small creatures are treated as sized medium for purposes of participating in moving a siege weapon.

Creatures on the move crew of a siege weapon must have a minimum strength of 12 to provide any benefit to the crew.

For every 2 personnel on the move crew above the listed minimum, the listed move speed of the siege weapon is increased by 5 feet per round, to a maximum of the slowest base land speed of the crew moving the siege weapon. For example: Horses are size Large, so each horse used to help move a siege weapon built for size medium creatures counts as four crew. Horses can also help move even siege weapons built for size Huge creatures, but they only count as 1 crew each in such a case.

Move Speed

This is the base move speed of the siege weapon out of combat, when pulled by the minimum listed Crew to Move. For every 2 personnel on the move crew above the listed minimum, the listed move speed of the siege weapon is increased by 5 feet per round, to a maximum of the slowest base land speed of the crew moving the siege weapon. Note that siege weapons are not really designed for long-distance travel. Dragging it around on a battlefield is no problem, but if you want to drive it to the next province, you need to take it down and put it in a proper set of wagons. No, you cannot use a siege weapon as a vehicle for your party, no matter how cool that might seem.

Setup Time

This is how long it takes to set the siege weapon up for combat, once it is moved to its desired location on the battlefield. The same amount of time is required to take the siege weapon back down, and prepare it for moving again. The time taken for the Rate of Fire rating ONLY begins accruing after the siege weapon is fully set up. It is not possible to 'pre-prep' a shot, move out of cover, fire, and then move back into cover, even though that would be super cool. If you are a siege weapon, you have to be on the battlefield and take your lumps.

To set up or tear down a siege weapon requires the maximum amount of crew to finish in the listed time. If you have less than the maximum crew but more than or equal to the minimum crew, the time to set up or tear down is doubled.

While set up for combat, most siege weapons cannot be moved from their location, though most can be turned to a different facing (which is why facing is ignored in the to-hit rules).

Moving a siege weapon long distances is possible while it is torn down. In such cases, the siege weapon is treated as cartloads of cargo and loaded aboard wagons or ships. A large siege weapon takes up four cartloads of cargo space, a Huge siege weapon takes up sixteen cartloads of cargo space, a size Gargantuan siege weapon takes up sixty cartloads of cargo space and a size Colossal siege weapon takes up two-hundred fifty cartloads of cargo space. Yes, a big siege weapon will load down an entire caravan by itself. These things are very big, even though Titanic weapons are not defined.

Defensive Sunder DC

This is the target DC for something to try to destroy the siege weapon. (Also see Disable Device, above.) As with any other structure, the siege weapon can only be broken by means of a Sunder combat maneuver. Furthermore, as with most structures, most siege weapons require multiple successful Sunder attempts before the weapon is actually Broken.

For each successful sunder check prior to being broken, all to-hit rolls and Sunder checks made by the siege weapon's crew are at a cumulative -2 (though this does not affect the siege weapon's damage or reduce it's own Sunder DC). Once the listed number of successes has been reached, the siege weapon gains the Broken condition, and is rendered unusable.

Repairing a siege weapon that has the Broken condition requires the Make Whole spell, which takes 10 minutes to cast, or the Profession (Engineer) skill, which requires a skill check with a DC equal to the listed Sunder DC of the siege weapon. If successful, repairs take 1 hour per the listed number of successes required to break it in the first place. This number can be reduced by 1 hour per 5 by which the skill check DC is exceeded, to a minimum of 1 hour.

Repairing a siege weapon that has taken sunder successes but not been fully broken is also possible, and takes the same amount of time, or, a Make Whole spell. Depending on the rate of fire desired, with enough magic it is possible to repair a siege weapon faster than it is taking damage. This fact is why the crew of a siege weapon is often the best target.

Siege Weapons

Catapult, Large

	Name	Cost	Sunder Bonus	Damage	Damage Type	Area of Effect	Increment (Min Range)	Crew to Fire	Rate of Fire	Crew to Move	Move Speed	Setup Time	Defensive Sunder DC
	Catapult, Large	900 gp		4d6	Bludgeoning	10' radius	150 ft. (100 ft. minimum)	min 2/max 4	1 shot/10 rounds	min 4/max 10	10 ft.	1 minute	DC 30, 4 successes
	A large catapult is a siege weapon which is capable of attacking personnel or structures. It can be moved reasonably easily, and requires only 1 minute to set up, once in position.