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I was having a battle with my friends last night, when my all power weapon vanguard veterans assaulted O'shovah. About half of their attacks missed. And that got us wondering: what if two power weapons hit eachother? Do the power fields stop each other or do both users get sucked into a endless power field void? So i decided to throw it out into dakka to get some good ol' fluffy answers!

Social Services get called and all the baby Power Weapons get put into Foster Homes.

lol!

i think the power fields collide stopping the blades on the spot. similer to lightsabers.

in essence the field cancel each other out.

The same thing that happens whenever a weapon hits another weapon. If it's one sword parrying another on its edge, expect the blade to chip (or the slightly softer blade to chip - mastercrafted and Eldar weaponry, for example, would be less likely. See Codex: Dark Angels about their Chapter Master's sword).

I figure the power field softens the material that the blade is about to touch, and two such fields would cancel out in an actinic flash, accompanied by electrical discharges.

Nurglitch wrote:The same thing that happens whenever a weapon hits another weapon. If it's one sword parrying another on its edge, expect the blade to chip (or the slightly softer blade to chip - mastercrafted and Eldar weaponry, for example, would be less likely. See Codex: Dark Angels about their Chapter Master's sword).

I figure the power field softens the material that the blade is about to touch, and two such fields would cancel out in an actinic flash, accompanied by electrical discharges.

Actinic!

That was some recent Horus Heresy series book author's favorite word, I think!

Right up there with pauldron!

Can you think of a better synonym for a flash of lightening or electrical discharge? Likewise, if you can find a better word for those gigantic shoulder pads on Power Armour and Terminator Armour, let us know.

Personally I was put off by the author's constant repetition of the definite article. The the the...

Power Swords become like lightsabers. Have titanic duels where Chaos Marine reveals he's the father of the marine he's fighting.....

Whoops wrong sci fi universe......

There's never too much inter-series breeding.

Check my sig for details

S_P

Sometime before the heresy.


Horus, you have only begun to discover your power.

I'll never join you! on the soul of my father i will not!

No! I am your Father.

Really?

Yes!

well that makes sense.

Big E to Capital ship.

this is capital ship.

Beam us up scotty.

Thunder bolts and lightning, very very frightening!

Honestly, it probably comes down to which field is stronger. Especially in the cobbled together future, power sword on power sword action probably ends when the better sword shatters the weaker one. I wonder if that would cause an explosion, and if so how large it would be.

Let's assume that a power weapon is a weapon boosted by an electrical field as the fluff suggests. What happens when two simular fields come into contact? That's right class they repel eachother.

Follow up question. Who here thinks that a power sword is a rip off of a lightsaber and who thinks that it is a physical blade body with the cutting edge being made of a power field?

I always envisioned them to get tangled together like from space balls

I would assume it would be worse then dividing by zero.

The more interesting question is what happens when a powersword gets parried by a chainsword or other more mundane weapon. In game terms nothing, but according to the fluff it should really get destroyed.

The Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader RPGs address this in their core rules. They have a chance of destroying the parrying weapon due to the power field.

But yes, in game terms I assume that the power weapon doesn't get parried so much as dodged.

Nurglitch wrote: Likewise, if you can find a better word for those gigantic shoulder pads on Power Armour and Terminator Armour, let us know.

Pauldron is the correct word, dates back to the dark ages if I remember right, I'd have to check to be sure of an exact time period.

You are very much correct. It refers to a piece of plate armour that straps onto either the breastplate or back plate that hngs over the shoulder.

It's function was more to prevent a blade being inserted in the uper shoulder joint than to protect the shoulder since the tensile strength of the steel was unable to cope with the force of a downwards directed blow - this would have still crushed the limb.

You're both missing the point: of course it's the correct word. That's the problem, that if there's only one correct word then it's going to suffer from repetition because there isn't a correct synonym to break up the monotony.

ComputerGeek01:

I'd reject the idea that the field was the cutting edge when the background material describes power fields (and shock fields, and some other variations with the same effect such as "monomolecular edged blades" (or whatever they're called) disrupt matter allowing the blade to cut more easily. Similarly such a 'field' would make materials more brittle or more ductile (or whatever it is when materials get squishy) allowing them to be damaged by crushing, shearing, twisting, etc. Power maces and Power Fists don't cut.