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Beam weapons deal energy damage, usually of a nonspecific type. They range from weapons as simple as a high-powered laser to monstrous devices capable of harnessing the fundamental forces of the universe.

Beam weapons draw power from a starship’s power plant and are considered to have unlimited ammunition.

Beam Weapon Mounts: Beam weapons are mounted on turrets or in banks that, coupled with the starship’s ability to adjust its orientation, allow the weapons to fire in any direction. The cost of a turret mount or bank is included in the purchase DC of the weapon.

Tech Level 6

Tech Level 7

∇ — With a successful Repair check (DC 30) and 1 hour of work, this weapon can be modified for semiautomatic or automatic fire mode. Resetting the weapon to its original configuration requires another check and another hour of labor.

Damage: The damage a weapon deals. Also the average damage for that weapon.

Critical: The critical threat range of the weapon.

Damage Type: Most beam weapons deal a non-specific type of energy damage that is not subject to energy resistance. A few weapons deal a specific kind of damage.

Range Increment: A weapon’s range increment is given in feet. An attack at less than this distance is not penalized for range. However, each full range increment causes a cumulative -2 penalty on the attack roll. Beam weapons dissapate and become ineffective past 10 range increments.

Rate of fire: Ranged weapons have three possible rates of fire:

Single Shot: A weapon with a single shot rate of fire can fire only one shot per attack, even if the gunner has a feat or other ability that normally allows more than one shot per attack.

Semiautomatic: A semiautomatic ranged weapon fires one shot per attack (effectively acting as a single shot weapon). However, a gunner who gain mutliple attacks per round because of level or because or certain feats can fire a semiautomatic beam weapon multiple times in succession, getting more than one shot per attack.

Automatic: Automatic ranged weapons fire a burst or stream of shots. Only weapons with the automatic rate of fire can be set on autofire or be used with feats that take advantage of automatic fire.

If a starship weapon has an automatic rate of fire, it can be set on autofire. Autofire affects an area and everything in it, not a specific target. The starship using the autofire weapon targets a 1,000-foot-by-1,000-foot area and makes an Attack Roll; the targeted area has an effective Defense of 10. If the attack succeeds, the pilots of all ships within the affected area must make a Pilot check (DC 15) or take the weapon’s damage. Apply a penalty on the check based on the size of the pilot’s ship: Huge = -2, Gargantuan = -4, Colossal = -8.

Minimum ship size: The minimum size of a starship capable of supprting the weapon.

Purchase DC: The purchase DC of the weapon.