Some of the new weapons featured later in this document will feature a special ability listed as AP followed by a number. AP stands for “Armor Penetration” and marks a weapon’s ability to penetrate or bypass conventional armor and defenses. Each point of AP bypasses that total value from a target’s armor, natural armor, and/or shield bonuses to armor class. AP is calculated against the target’s total armor class, not individually against each component. A weapon’s AP automatically increases when it is enhanced through magical or technological means by an amount equal to its total enhancement bonus. For example, a monofilament stiletto has AP 3, meaning it bypasses the first 3 points of a target’s armor class from armor, natural armor, or shields, and a +1 monofilament stiletto has AP 4. If a nonmagical monofilament stiletto is used against a target with an armor class of 19 (10 base + 5 armor + 2 natural armor + 2 shield) the wielder would only need to roll a 16 or better to successfully strike the target. Ranged weapons only benefit from AP against targets within their first range increment.
Firearms presented in this supplement use the AP system and do not target touch AC, nor do they incur a misfire chance.
AP and Existing Weapons[]
You may find that it makes a lot of sense to apply the AP system to some existing weapons, such as early firearms or crossbows. For your convenience, we’ve added a table below featuring a selection of commonly used weapons and firearms with suggested AP ratings. Firearms using the AP system should not target touch AC or incur a misfire chance.
| Weapon Name | Armor Penetration (AP) |
|---|---|
| Light Crossbow, Repeating Light Crossbow, Light Pick | AP 1 |
| Buckler Gun, Heavy Crossbow, Repeating Heavy Crossbow, Pepperbox, Coat Pistol, Dagger Pistol, Sword Cane Pistol, Flare Gun, Heavy Pick | AP 2 |
| Blunderbuss, Pistol, Double-barreled Pistol, Warhammer Musket, Axe Musket, Laser Torch, Fleshnet Cannon | AP 3 |
| Musket, Double-Barrelled Musket, Revolver, Inferno Pistol | AP 4 |
| Pepperbox Rifle, Nagant Revolver | AP 5 |
| Rifle, Shotgun, Double-Barrelled Shotgun, Flamethrower, Arc Pistol, EMP Pistol, Gravity Pistol, Laser Pistol, Sonic Pistol, Zero Pistol | AP 6 |
| Madsen Light Machine Gun, Mosin-Nagant Rifle | AP 7 |
| Stun Gun, Arc Rifle, EMP Rifle, Gravity Rifle, Laser Rifle, Sonic Rifle, Zero Rifle, Plasmathrower | AP 8 |
| Death Ray, Mindrender, Id Rifle, Vortex Gun, Mind Burner | AP 9 |
| X-Laser, Rocket Launcher | AP 10 |
| Rail Gun | AP 11 |
| Arc Cannon, EMP Cannon, Gravity Cannon, Laser Cannon, Sonic Cannon, Zero Cannon | AP 12 |
| Atom Gun, Nuclear Resonator | AP14 |