Building Weapons & Combat Modifiers
Combat in SPAECIMH runs on one 4d6 engine. Every blade and bow is a category, not a bespoke stat block, and every situation is a modifier, not a new subsystem. Build within those two rails and firing open a fight stays effortless.
The category is the weapon
Sparks within /Equipment/ bears a weaponCategory — one of seven steps. There is no "custom damage die" elsewhere; the category is the damage. Pick the category that best fits the object:
Melee — Short 2d6+1 (dagger, stiletto, seax) · Medium 2d6+3 (gladius, short sword) · Long 2d8+2 (longsword, spatha, katana) · Heavy 2d8+4 (warhammer, battle axe, maul). Melee adds ST.
Missile — Thrown 2d6+1, 10/20 m (pilum, javelin, knife) · Light Missile 2d6+2, 30/60 m (short bow, light crossbow, sling) · Heavy Missile 2d10+1, 50/100 m (longbow, heavy crossbow, ballista). Missile adds AG, or PE for an aimed, braced shot.
Write the category in /Equipment/ and the damage answers itself. Do not paste 2d6+1 into a description and call it a day — a weapon file without a weaponCategory still fights, but the machine no longer knows how you meant it to scale with genre (see Tagging Gear by Genre). Enum first, prose second.
Each category also carries a crit bonus — extra damage when your attack rolls a Critical Success (raw 4d6 Sum of 4–6). There are no d20 threat-ranges; every weapon crits at the same window and the bonus differs:
| Category | Crit Bonus | Category | Crit Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short Melee | +1d6 | Thrown | +1d4 |
| Medium Melee | +2d4 | Light Missile | +1d6 |
| Long Melee | +1d8 | Heavy Missile | +2d6 |
| Heavy Melee | +2d6 |
They read as narration, not odds: a dagger's +1d6 finds a seam, a warhammer's +2d6 shatters.
Modifiers are the situation
The combat modifiers live by sign convention: the 4d6 check is SUM + Modifier ≤ Attribute — lower wins, so a minus is a bonus and a plus is a penalty. When you write scene text or an adventure hook, you set pressure (+), not bonus arithmetic — the Master translates description into signs.
The six modifier categories:
| Category | Value | Duration | For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor buff | −2 | 1 round | Surprise, Off-balance |
| Moderate buff | −4 | 1 round | Stunned, Prone, Grappled |
| Major buff | −8 | 1 action | Paralyzed, Unconscious |
| Self-debuff | user +2 | 1 round | Reckless, Power Attack |
| Defensive buff | +4 Absorption | combat | Shield, Stance |
| Environmental pressure | +4 | scene | Darkness, Rain, Wind |
A scene you write should hand the Master one or two of these as named situations — "the raft is pitching, the arbor thieves crouch in smoke" gives Darkness + Smoke pressure — not pre-baked numbers. Let description carry the situation; let the Master mint the sign.
Layering sanity
Modifiers stack by addition but the combat source (04) caps the aggressive stacking at a −8 floor in the log. When you design an encounter, prefer one situational pressure + specialized gear/terrain over stacking four debuffs — a fight with five flat penalties hides its own stakes and teaches the table to play the modifiers instead of the scene. Because mods shift where the Sum lands, each − you grant a player quietly pushes them toward the 4–6 crit window.
Checklist
- Weapon (
/Equipment/) carries aweaponCategory, not a stray die. - Modifier descriptions are situations, not numbers; the Master signs them.
- Genre-bearing items carry a correct
techLevelso cross-genre math stays honest. - The crit bonus for each category (Short
+1d6… Heavy Missile+2d6) is standard — no per-item reinvention. - The combat log always prints
[4d6: …] ± MOD = TOTAL vs [AC] → [HIT/MISS]and shows crit bonus when the Sum hit 4–6.