Other Ammunition

From Masq

Source: World of Darkness—Armory © 2006 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
p.88ff

NOTE: While the sourcebook is nWOD rather than oWOD, the mechanics and write-ups of the various types of ammo is nevertheless extremely relevant. Some tweaks have been made to the content to work with oWOD mechanics.

Thanks to popular entertainment and dedicated monster-hunters, many nonstandard ammunition types are available to enterprising characters. None of the following ammo is commercially available. It will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and involve Crafts / Gunsmithing / etc. rolls..

Cold Iron: Folklore from across Europe speaks of the vulnerability of fairy folk to cold iron, and monster-hunters faced with inexplicable child abduction cases may prepare for combat by applying this ancient remedy to modern ammunition. Loading cold icon is a tricky proposition due to its melting temperature and solidity. However, iron bullets are unlikely to de-form for these same reasons.
Mechanics: A solid iron bullet functions as an AP round. An iron hollowpoint functions as a normal (FMJ) bullet. Iron shotgun slugs and buckshot function normally.

Gold: Gold is much denser than lead, which makes for a heavier bullet. Some legends place a few supernatural creatures as being vulnerable to gold, but the softness of this metal makes it impractical for ballistic use.
Mechanics: Gold ammunition suffers a –1 penalty to its Damage rating and ranges are reduced to three quarters of their standard.

Ice or Meat: According to some television shows, firing a meat slug or ice bullet into a target will confuse forensic investigators, who won’t be able to pick the shredded ham- burger out of the shredded victim. In actuality, meat isn’t solid enough to have good ballistic properties, even when frozen, and ice will just sublime to water vapor in the heat of the propellant’s detonation . If the gun is close enough for such a round to actually kill someone, the autopsy still will show the powder tattooing, stellate blow-out, and other signs of a close-range gunshot.
Mechanics: Ice or meat ammunition functions as a blank.

Mercury: “Drilled and filled” rounds are FMJ bullets to which a gunsmith has taken a tiny power drill, excavating a cavity in the nose of the bullet, then filled with mercury and sealed with a dab of wax. Contrary to popular belief, this is not because of the chances of inflicting mercury poisoning on the target. A shooting victim is much more likely to die of his gunshot than of belated mercury poisoning. However, mercury’s density roughly equals that of the lead that was removed to make the cavity, and this liquid metal tends to fragment into hundreds of tiny droplets when the bullet comes to a sudden stop.
Mechanics: Mercury-filled bullets function as frangible ammo. Mercury-filled shotgun slugs disintegrate on firing, functioning as birdshot. Mercury-filled buckshot is a waste of time and mercury.

Silver: The traditional cure for werewolf problems is a silver bullet. Silver and lead are slightly different in density, so a silver bullet is weighted roughly the same as an FMJ round. Silver is a softer metal than copper, though, which means that a silver bullet will leave a lot of itself on the inside of the barrel and will deform more from the initial stress of firing.
Mechanics: Silver ammunition suffers a –1 penalty to its Damage rating.

Stone: Arcane scholars with gunsmithing ability may attempt to create stone bullets for some obscure ritual use. This process, while time-consuming and inefficient, may be effective to a limited degree.
Mechanics: Soft stone (sandstone, limestone) bullets or shotgun slugs function as frangible ammunition. Hard stone (marble, granite) bullets function as FMJ ammo. Hard stone shotgun slugs function normally, as does all stone buckshot. In all cases, stone ammunition reduces all Range brackets to three quarters of their standard distance.

Teflon: Teflon and other lubricants do nothing to enhance a bullet’s armor-penetrating capabilities. Lubricants do reduce the amount of metallic residue that a bullet leaves on the inside of a gun’s barrel when fired, which makes maintenance slightly easier.
Mechanics: No effect.

Wood: Wood bullets are historical curiosities now, last seeing use in World War II when German ammunition manufacturers attempted to save metal and create bullets that would splinter on impact to produce greater wounds. Some desperate vampire-hunters, aware that driving a wooden stake through a Kindred’s heart will paralyze the creature, may attempt to make wooden bullets in the hope of scoring that lucky heart shot. However, wood is even less dense than silver, and much less likely to survive being fired.
Mechanics: A wooden bullet acts as a frangible round, but a wooden bullet’s ranges are halved and it suffers a –1 penalty to damage. A wooden shotgun slug splinters on firing, acting similar to birdshot. Shooting a vampire in the heart with wooden ammunition does absolutely nothing special. The heart must be completely transfixed with a single shaft for “staking” and paralysis to occur. A bullet simply isn’t long enough (and neither is a toothpick, so don’t bother with the toothpick-filled shotgun shells).


Back to main ammo page.
What about regular handgun and rifle ammo?
What about shotgun ammo?