Weapons of Athas

Alak: An alak consists of a 2-foot long shaft of bone or wood, with four serrated bones tied to the sharp end, like the four prongs of a grappling hook. You can wield the alak like a stabbing half-spear, but it is most effective when swung like a pick. Alhulak: The alhulak consists of an alak tied to a 5-foot long leather cord, which wraps around your wrist at the other end. An alhulak has reach. You can strike opponents 10 ft. away with it. In addition, you can use it against an adjacent foe. Atlatl: The atlatl, sometimes called a “staff-sling,” is a javelin-throwing device that is swung over the shoulder, using both hands. Javelins flung with an atlatl gain greater range than those thrown by hand. Bard’s Friend: This weapon is crafted with several obsidian blades and wooden prongs, which are fastened to a handle. Several small spikes jut out from where the knuckles hold the weapon. Bards are known for smearing these spikes with injury poison. Blowgun: The blowgun is a long tube through which you blow air to fire needles. The needles don’t deal much damage, but are often coated in poison. Blowgun, Greater: The greater blowgun fires blowgun darts, which are slightly smaller than thrown darts, and are capable of delivering poison as well. Cahulak: A cahulak consists of two alaks (see above) joined by a 5-foot rope. You may fight as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do, you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with a light off-hand weapon. A creature using a double weapon in one hand, such as a half-giant using a set of cahulaks, can’t use it as a double weapon. Because the cahulak can wrap around an enemy’s leg or other limb, you can make trip attacks with it. Carrikal: The sharpened jawbone of a large creature is lashed to a haft. The jagged edges are sharpened, forming a sort of battleaxe with two forward-facing heads. Chatkcha: The chatkcha returns to a proficient thrower on a missed attack roll. To catch it, the character must make an attack roll against AC 10 using the same bonus they threw the chatkcha with. Failure indicates the weapons falls to the ground 10 ft. in a random direction from the thrower. A non-proficient user who fails in his attempt to catch the returning chatkcha suffers 1d4 damage from the weapon’s sharp edges. Catching the chatkcha is part of the attack and does not count as a separate attack. Crossbow, Fixed: This version of the crossbow can be fired by any capable of using it, but cannot be carried like a conventional crossbow. It is fixed in place, i.e. mounted on top of a wall, pole, or vehicle, and swivels so that you can aim the shot. Crossbows at the edge of a caravan, cart, or wall tend to offer cover, but limit your range of firing to a cone shape directly in front of the weapon. It is possible to mount a fixed crossbow on top of a pole but inside a shallow pit, giving you a 360-degree range of motion, while giving you cover. In any case, it is impossible to swivel a fixed crossbow in order to attack upwards (your upward angle is limited to 45 degrees). Reloading a fixed crossbow is a full-round action. Crusher: The crusher is made from a large stone or metal weight, mounted at the end of a 15-foot long shaft of springy wood. The weight is whipped back and forth. The crusher is a reach weapon. You can strike opponents 10 feet away with it, but you cannot use it against an adjacent foe. You need a 15-foot ceiling to use the weapon, but it can reach over cover. Crushers come in two varieties, fixed and free. A fixed crusher requires a base to use. The fixed crusher’s base is enormously heavy, usually consisting of a thick slab of stone with a hole drilled through it to support the crusher’s pole. The base is transported separately from the pole, and it takes one full minute to set the fixed crusher up for battle. The fixed crusher is a martial weapon, finding most use in infantry units. It is possible to use the crusher pole without the base as a free crusher, but this requires considerable expertise. Datchi Club: A datchi club has reach. You can strike opponents 10 feet away with it, but you cannot use it against an adjacent foe. This weapon, generally found in the arenas, is made by affixing a 4-5 foot length of dried insect hive or roots to a three-foot long shaft. Teeth, claws, or obsidian shards are embedded into the head of the weapon. Dejada: The dejada allows the wielder to throw pelota (see the pelota description for details). These pelota deal more damage than those thrown by hand, due to the great speed at which they are thrown from a dejada. Dragon’s Paw: Popular in the arenas, the dragon’s paw consists of a five or six-foot long pole, with a blade on either end. A basket guards your hands from attack, granting a +2 bonus on all attempts to defend against being disarmed. A dragon’s paw is a double weapon. You may fight as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do, you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with a light off-hand weapon. A creature using a double weapon in one hand, such as a half-giant using a dragon’s paw, can’t use it as a double weapon. Elven Longblade: You can use your dexterity modifier, rather than your Strength modifier, to all attack rolls made with the elven longblade. Forearm Axe: Strapped to the forearm like a buckler, the forearm axe resembles a double-headed battleaxe, with the wearer’s arm serving as the haft of the axe. You may continue to use your hand normally, but you cannot attack with the forearm axe and a wielded weapon in the same hand in one round. Your opponent cannot use a disarm action to disarm you of a forearm axe. Garrote, Bard’s: This exotic weapon is made from metal chain, muffled in soft leather. Garrotes can be improvised from any cord or rope, but such inferior materials result in –1 to hit and damage, as with other inferior materials. A bard’s garrote can only be used as part of a grapple attack, and you must wield it with both hands regardless of your size. As part of a grapple attack, using a garrote subjects you to attacks of opportunity and all other limitations, except that as follows: The garrote inflicts 2d4 points of nonlethal damage plus 1.5 times your Strength bonus, and when your opponent has been rendered unconscious, you can use the garrote to attempt a coup de grace. Gouge: Worn in an over-the-shoulder harness, the gouge is commonly found in the Nibenese infantry. A wide blade of bone, obsidian or chitin is mounted to a three-foot long shaft of wood. Gythka: A gythka is a double weapon. You may fight as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do, you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with a light off-hand weapon. A creature using a double weapon in one hand, such as a half-giant using a gythka, can’t use it as a double weapon. Handfork: The handfork, most popular among tareks, is a slicing weapon with a handle-grip like that of a forearm axe, but the obsidian blades join above the knuckles in an “M” shape, allowing you to make two simultaneous attacks. Heartpick: The name of this weapon expresses its simple intent. Usually made of bone, the heartpick is a hammer like weapon with a serrated pick on the front, and a heavy, flat head on the back. Impaler: Like many Athasian weapons, the impaler was developed for the arenas. Two blades are mounted parallel to the end of a four-foot long shaft, forming a bladed ‘T’. The impaler is swung horizontally or vertically with great force. Ko•: The Ko• combines a jagged blade that has been carved from a roughly oval stone. This exotic weapon of kreen manufacture is typically used in matching pairs. If used in matching pairs (one in the right hand, and one in the left), each Ko• inflicts an extra +1d4 damage against creatures with an exoskeleton, such as insects. Lajav: The lajav is a kreen weapon designed to capture opponents. A wielder who hits a Small or Medium opponent with a lajav can immediately initiate a grapple (as a free action) without provoking an attack of opportunity (see Grappling). The lajav incorporates two flattened bones, joined in a hinge about two feet from the end. The result looks something like a nutcracker, and is used roughly in the same crushing way. Regardless of your size, you need two hands to use a lajav, since a second hand is required to catch the other end of the lajav. As with the gythka, kreen are able to wield two lajav at a time because of their four arms. Lasso: This weapon consists of a rope that you can throw and then draw closed. The total range of your lasso depends on the length of the rope. Throwing a lasso is a ranged touch attack. If you successfully trip your opponent, make a grapple check. If you succeed at the grapple check, then your opponent is grappled, and you can continue the grapple contest by continuing to pull on the rope. Lotulis: Two barbed, crescent shaped blades adorn either end of the lotulis, a double weapon once popular in the arena of Tyr. You may fight as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do, you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with a light off-hand weapon. A creature using a double weapon in one hand, such as a half-giant using a lotulis, can’t use it as a double weapon. Macahuitl: A macahuitl is a sword painstakingly crafted using a core of solid wood, with small, sharp shards of obsidian embedded into the wood to form an edge on two opposite sides of the weapon. These weapons are swung like the scimitar, though macahuitls tend to require more maintenance. The macahuitl is especially popular among the Draji, who seem to be the only ones who can easily pronounce this weapon’s Draji name ( “ma-ka-wheet-luh”). Non-Draji simply refer to it as the “obsidian sword” or the “Draji sword.” Maul: A maul is effectively very large sledgehammer that crushes opponents to death. This weapon is commonly used by dwarves, muls, halfgiants and other creatures that value great strength. Master’s Whip: The master’s whip is usually braided from giant hair or leather, and has shards of chitin, obsidian or bone braided into the end of the whip. Unlike normal whips, the master’s whip deals damage normally, has only a ten-foot range, and you apply your Strength modifier to damage dealt. In all other respects, it is treated as a normal whip. Pelota: Popular in Arena games and increasingly popular in the street games of some city-states, pelota are hollow leaden spheres with small holes that cause the sphere to whistle as it flies through the air. The surface of most pelota is studded with obsidian shards. You can use the dejada throwing glove to cast pelota at much higher speed and with greater accuracy, dealing more damage than a pelota thrown by hand. Pelota, Hinged: To the careless eye a hinged pelota looks like an ordinary pelota without obsidian spikes. Hinged pelota can be twisted open like a small jar. Bards and other undesirables often use this feature to insert a splash-globe – a thin crystal sphere that contains acid, injury poison, contact poison, alchemical fire, or some other liquid. When the pelota strikes, the globe breaks, spilling the liquid through the holes of the pelota. Like pelota, hinged pelota can be thrown with a dejada. Hinged pelotas are also used as ammunition for the splashbow. Puchik: A bone or obsidian punching dagger. Quabone: Four jawbones are fastened around a central haft, at right angles to one another. The quabone is a particularly impressive looking weapon, designed for use in the arenas. The wounds it inflicts are similarly impressive, as the quabone tends to open up many small cuts that bleed freely – for a brief time. The damage looks worse than it actually is. Sap, Throwing: The throwing sap is a soft but tough large leather bag filled with fine gravel or sand, stitched together with giant’s hair, and tied to the end of a 5-foot rope. The throwing sap is swung overhead with both hands. A throwing sap has reach. You can strike opponents 10 feet away with it. In addition, unlike other weapons with reach, you can grip the rope higher, and use the throwing sap against an adjacent foe. Singing Sticks: Singing sticks are a carefully crafted and polished pair of clubs. They draw their name from the characteristic whistling sound they make when used. A character proficient with singing sticks may use a pair of singing sticks as if they had the dual wield skill. In the hands of a nonproficient character, singing sticks are nothing more than clubs. Skyhammer: The sky hammer consists of a 10-foot length of rope with a large hammer at one end. Its rope is coiled and swung around the body two-handedly until enough momentum is gained to hurl the hammer at a target. Anyone hit by a sky hammer must succeed at a Strength check or be dazed for several seconds. Slodak: The slodak is a wooden short sword, carved from young hardwood trees and treated with a mixture of tree sap and id fiend blood. This treatment renders the blade of the weapon extremely strong, making it a deadly weapon. Splashbow: This exotic weapon looks like a misshapen crossbow, only three feet long from bow to handle, but with a horizontal bow nearly five feet wide. Rather than bolts, the splashbow fires hinged pelotas, which can be filled with splash-globes of alchemical fire, contact poison, acids, or other interesting liquids. Splash-globes burst on impact, spraying their contents like a thrown grenade. The splashbow takes a full round to draw and load, assuming that the hinged pelotas have already been prepared. Swatter: The swatter is a popular name for a half-giant weapon consisting of a heavy spiked club made from hardwood, with a bronze or lead core in the tip for added weight. The swatter got its name from the tales of a half-giant soldier who reputedly used a similar weapon to defeat an entire thri-kreen hunting party somewhere near Outpost 19. Talid: The talid, also known as the gladiator’s gauntlet, is made of stiff leather with metal, chitin or bone plating on the hand cover and all along the forearm. Spikes protrude from each of the knuckles and along the back of the hand. A sharp blade runs along the thumb and there is a 6 inch spike on the elbow. A strike with a talid is considered an armed attack. The cost and weight given are for a single talid. An opponent cannot use a disarm action to disarm a character’s talid. Thanak: The thanak is a chopping weapon of pterran manufacture resembling a jagged sword or sawblade. It consists of a pair of hardwood strips bound together, with a row of pterrax teeth protruding from between them along one edge of the weapon. Tkaesali: This polearm, commonly used by the nikaal, consists of long wooden haft topped with a circular, jagged blade. A tkaesali has reach. You can strike opponents 10 feet away with it, but you can’t use it against an adjacent foe. Tonfa or Great Tonfa : The tonfa is a stick with a short handle, and is popular among street-patrolling Nibenese templars and their guards. Great tonfas are typically enjoyed by half-giants. Trikal: Three blades project radially from the business end of a six-foot long haft. A series of sharp serrated edges line the shaft below the footlong blades, while the far end of the weapon is weighted, in order to balance the weapon. Because of the trikal’s curved blades on the top of the weapon, trip attacks can also be made with it. If a character is tripped during his or her trip attempt, the trikal can be dropped to avoid being tripped. Tortoise Blade: The tortoise blade consists of a foot-long dagger mounted to the center of a shell. The tortoise blade is strapped over the wearer’s hand, preventing them from holding anything but the tortoise blade. The tortoise blade also functions as a buckler, granting a +1 armor bonus, inflicting a -1 armor check penalty and incurring a 5% arcane spell failure chance. Weighted Pike: A solid head, generally stone or baked ceramic, is mounted on the end of a spear or a pike. A weighted pike is a double weapon. You may fight as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do, you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with a light off-hand weapon. Widow’s Knife: Two prongs are hidden within the hilt of a widow’s knife. On a successful hit, you may trigger the prongs by releasing a catch in the hilt as a Free Action. The prongs do an additional 1d3 points of damage (1d2 for a Small window’s knife) when sprung, and take a standard action to reload. Wrist Razor: Several shards of obsidian or bone are fastened to a strip of leather or other binding material, or are lashed onto the forearm of the wielder. Wrist razors are hard to disarm, granting you a +2 bonus when opposing a disarm attempt. While using wrist razors, the wearer cannot carry anything substantial in their hand. Zerka: The zerka is a javelin with short barbs that cover two feet of the bone shaft. These barbs point away from the zerka's tip, causing the weapon's head to snag against its target's flesh and bone as it is removed. If you inflict damage on your opponent, the zerka lodges in the victim if the victim fails a Reflex save (DC equal to 10+ damage inflicted). The pierced creature moves at half-speed, cannot charge or run, and must make a Concentration check (DC15) in order to cast a spell with somatic components. The creature can pull the zerka from its wound if it has two free hands, requiring a standard action, but in so doing it inflicts upon itself half of the initial damage the zerka caused, rounded down. A trailing rope can be attached to the zerka, to control a victim. If you control the trailing rope by succeeding at an opposed Strength check while holding it, the victim can only move within the limits that the rope allows (divide the length of the rope in feet by 5, rounded down, to determine the amount of 5' squares the creature can move away from the attacker). You can reel in up to 15 feet of rope as a move equivalent action, or 30 feet of rope as a full-round action, in effect shortening its length - to the point where the rope has an effective length equal to the distance between you and the victim. If the victim is at the maximum range allowed by the effective length of the rope, you can attempt to trip the victim by pulling suddenly on the rope. This is resolved as a trip attack (without the initial melee touch attack), requiring an attack action, and you can drop the rope to avoid being tripped if you fail the trip attempt. A victim can try to cut the rope with a slashing weapon.