Time for another weapon update. This week is the brush hook, which is used for tree trimming, brush clearing, and ending swimming careers.
The Brush Hook is a proud member of the axe family of weapons. Let's discuss some pros and cons of the axe weapon class:
Axes are a bladed weapon that puts a lot force behind their slash. They are more efficient at causing limb damage than any other class, but they are also good at causing bleeding. Most are two-handed weapons.
Pros
-Excellent for crippling enemies
-Decent critical multiplier
-Higher critical rate
-Fairly common weapons
Cons
-Slower to wield
-lower base damage
-Somewhat high strength needed
Axes are good against zombies and humans, especially when targeting limbs. Most of their special attacks will cripple a human and dismember a zombie. Let's look at the stats:
Name: Brush Hook
Scarcity: Uncommon
Hands: 2
Range: 1
Type of damage: Slashing
Stat Chance: Bleeding 25%
Noise: 5 (Quiet weapon)
Strength: 4 (Average strength required to wield - better axes are heavier)
ZDamage: 105% (Effective against undead)
Critical Hit Chance: 10% (Good chance for criticals)
Critical Multiplier: 2.5 (Decent critical multiplier)
Weight: 3 (Not heavy)
Break: 0 (Weapon will not break)
Basic Attack – The default attack
AP Cost: 6 (Slower attack speed)
Damage: 17-37 (Good damage, especially if causing bleeding)
Cripple – An attack targeted at the arms
AP Cost: 7 (Slow)
Damage: 10-29 (Okay damage)
Modifier: Arm Sprain chance 30% (Arm sprain doubles the cost of AP for everything except walking)
Hack - A furious series of wild slashes.
AP Cost: 7
Damage: 17-37
Modifier: Double damage if the target presently has a status effect
Hamstring - An attack aimed at the legs.
AP Cost: 7
Damage: 10-29
Modifier: Leg Sprain Chance 30% (Leg sprain doubles the AP cost of movement)
Best way to use the axe is to keep enemies from being able to escape or do much damage to you, then finishing them off. Note that unless you have extremely high AP, you're going to most likely get one whack per turn, so make it count. The higher level axes do more damage, but require more strength to use them effectively. That said, they are nasty weapons and axe-wielding characters should be approached carefully, kind of like in real life.
In other news, I meant to post this last week, but I was busy getting my book out the door. Now, I know this isn't technically Dead State news, but I have a book out! It's called One Sentence Stories: Tales for the Short Attention Span (by b mitsoda) and as of yesterday, the Kindle version is available here:
One Sentence StoriesI will let everyone know when the print version is out. If you happen to get a copy of either, I would be eternally grateful (especially if you like it and tell others about it.) Really hope you like it.
Feel free to post about weapons in this thread. There is a thread for my book in the Reading Lounge forum.