User blog:Maki Kuronami/Weapons Guide (Basics)

As a personal rule, a character I create must have a weapon. As such, creating weapons have been one of my hobbies. Logic be damned. This is an update and slightly more detailed version of the one that used to be alongside my Character and Weapon Guide  a couple of days ago.

Weapon Creation
Weapons, according to Pyrrha, is an extension of one's self. As such, consider the weapon you create as an accessory of your character, like a headband. Except, y'know, it's lethal.

1.A couple of guidelines first:

For starters, this should be something you must know before creating a weapon.


 * Make it an extension of your character

A good weapon is a weapon that might as well be your character's third arm. Depending on what kind of weapon you give them, it must complement who they are.


 * Don't make it overpowered

This applies to more than just the character's weapon, but also themselves. A weapon's power is proportional to the relevance of the character.

I rule I often follow is the "Morality Power Roof" rule. That is, to make use of a limit for your character. The peak power in RWBY currently among the main characters is Glynda. As such, you can't make someone more powerful than her. Among the villains, Crimson is currently the strongest. The same applies. If you make a good guy, they can be weaker or on par with Glynda. If you make a bad guy, they must at least be weaker than or equal to Crimson.


 * Give it a good name

This is important. A nameless weapon isn't quite as threatening as a weapon named Celestial Reaper. However, giving it a non-threatening name isn't out of the picture. Just make sure it's good. Unlike the RWBY naming rule, the weapon name isn't as restricted so go wild.


 * Categorize it (RWBY exclusive advice)

One aspect unique to RWBY is that every weapon is categorized. Like Ruby's High Caliber Sniper Scythe.

Giving a category to your weapon should be simple. Just summarize how the weapon is used in four words.

2.Conceptualization of the weapon

A weapon can't really be created without a base form. I'll be detailing the melee form of a weapon first.


 * Slash-type weapons

Weapons that can cut. Probably the most common you'll find are swords, scythes, axes, knives, and halberds to name a few. Jaune, Ren and the Malachite Twins have examples of slash-type weapons.


 * Pierce-type weapons

Weapons specializing in stabbity-stabs. Examples include rapiers, spears, stakes and lances. Weiss and Pyrrha use an example of pierce-type weapons.


 * Strike-type weapons

Weapons efficient in smashing and smacking. There's quite a few such as hammers, clubs, maces, staves and nunchakus. Yang, Nora and Junior are a good example of strike-type weapons.

There's quite a buttload out there though. Do a couple of research on real life weapons to use for your character, like the Macuahuitl, the most awesome club-esque weapon I've seen. I may detail some badass real life weapons I know in the advanced guide.

Once your melee weapon is set, then let's go with the long-range weapon. Though, often, this can be optional. As seen with Jaune and Weiss. The opposite can be true as well, as shown by Roman.

Often, the size of the weapon would influence the size of the gun, but this isn't always true. Nora's hammer dwarfs her own gun for example.

I usually divide the guns into five different forms for easier categorization.


 * Small arms

This includes pistols, revolvers and sub-machineguns. Weapons like this are suited for small to medium sized weapons. Like Lie Ren and Blake's.


 * Rifles

Notable weapons such as assault rifles, burst-fire rifles, sniper rifles, and anti-tank rifles, the basic form is the same, but with a couple of changes, it can easily become drastically different. Ruby and Pyrrha use this kind of gun.


 * Shotguns

Ranging from blunderbluss, riot shotguns and pump-action shotguns, these tends to be my personal favorite among any other guns. It's good for short range weapons from what I've seen. So far, Yang is the only example who uses it.


 * Explosive

This is where guns that go boom are categorized. It can go from grenade launcher, rocket launcher all the way to missile launchers. They work in tandem with strike-based weapons, but you don't need to follow that. Nora and Junior are examples. Arguably, Roman can count as well.


 * Experimental weapons

Weapons that currently don't work in real life go here. Famous example would be a portable railgun. Generally, I'd say this is where you can go wild, since it's here where the more stranger firearms lie. Currently, there's no definite example of a user of any form of experimental weapon in RWBY yet.

These are just the basic starting points. You can choose which aspect of the weapon you'll emphasize as well.

3.Weapon Specializing:

This one is still mostly theory. I've divided the kinds of weapon seen in RWBY so far into four categories.


 * Pure melee/ranged

This is a weapon with no other aspect besides one. As such, it's usually the most basic weapon to create since you don't need to have the transformation mechanic seen with Crescent Rose and Ember Celica. Examples of this is Jaune's sword, the Malachite Twins's weapons, and Junior's henchmen's weapons.


 * Dust Amplifier

These are weapons specializing in spells. Usually, it doesn't use the gun aspect as a gun, instead as a storage for Dust. I deemed users of this weapon as Dust Mages. Higher-ranking users don't even need weapons. Notable examples of this weapon includes Weiss and Glynda.


 * Combined/Transforming Weapon

The most common weapon you've seen in RWBY. These weapons are either combined together or can transform between gun and melee form. Ren is an example of a user of a combined weapon. Ruby and Pyrrha are an example of a transforming weapon. Uniquely, Blake is an example of both.


 * Aura Augmented

This is still speculation, but many theorize that Jaune's sword is an example of this. It essentially focuses the Aura of the user into the weapon, allowing it to perform cool feats.

These are all basic guidelines on how to create weapons. It doesn't mean you have to follow them. You just need to take them as tips on how to create a weapon. It's like a fighting game, I can teach you how to use a certain character, but it's up to you on how to make use of them.

So far, this is what I've seen in how weapons work in RWBY. Once more information on how the mechanics of the weapons go, I'll be doing the advanced tutorial, which may help in the creation of more flashier, and less generic weapons.