[Cosmos] Weapon - Arkus-5 Quasar

An older model of energy weapon from the Blue Arc Corporation, these rifles once saw use in military ground deployments. They are still used in backwater or distant planets despite their propensity for overheating.

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Arkus-5 Quasar
Weapon (coil rifle), technomancy, uncommon (optional attunement)

Energy Weapon. This weapon deals radiant damage instead of piercing damage.

Photon Beam. While you wield this weapon, you can use an action to divert its stored energy and shoot a blistering beam of energy in a 5-foot-wide line up to 30 feet long. A creature that starts its turn in the line or moves into it for the first time on a turn must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking 2d8 radiant damage on a failed save or half as much on a success. This beam requires concentration to maintain (as if concentrating on a spell).

At the start of each of your subsequent turns, you can use an action to prolong the beam by making a successful on an Intelligence check to stabilize the heat. The DC begins at 10 and increases by 5 each time you successfully prolong the beam. As part of this action, you can also re-orient the beam's line. If you don't take this action, if you fail the check, or are disarmed, the beam ends. When the beam ends, the Intelligence check DC resets to 10 and the weapon can't produce a beam again for 1d6 + 2 hours while it cools down.

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Optional Attunement. If you choose to attune to this weapon, you can magically recharge the arcane battery that powers it. Whenever you reload this weapon, you can expend a spell slot of any level to reload it instead of physically replacing the battery.

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Arkus-7 (Rare Variant). The rare version of this weapon has these changes. Its save DC is 15 instead of 13; and each time you prolong its beam, the beam's radiant damage increases by 1d8 until the beam ends.

Arkus-9 (Very Rare Variant). The very rare version of this weapon has these changes. It has a +1 bonus to its attack and damage rolls; its save DC is 17 instead of 13; and each time you prolong its beam, the beam's radiant damage increases by 1d8 until the beam ends.

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DESIGN COMMENTARY

This one is a rework of the Arkus Quasar Pistol in Cosmos v2, which has been renamed to a rifle (because it's a coil rifle). It's got an added property to bring it in line with the rest of the uncommon items — the classic BZZZZT energy beam that any good sci-fi setting should have. Funny enough I'm pretty sure quasars are pulsing stars, but mega corps aren't known for their proper product names anyway.

This one is a little trickier to grade than normal. Being a coil rifle/longbow, it's generally a martial weapon, so it makes more sense to grade against that. The issue here is that each action use of the beam, the 2d8, sort of equals a thunderwave; there's a couple things working against that though, namely concentration and the increasing Intelligence checks. In the hands of a martial class, this weapon sort of doing as much damage as two attacks would, so it's a weird balance where it's slightly stronger than thunderwave but nerfing it would make it unattractive in the hands of its intended user.

Anyway, with a recharge of 1d6 + 2 hours, you should be using it 2-3 times a day, and expected to make the beam last for 1.5 rounds on average, for a total of ... 7.5d8 bonus damage per day? It kinda depends on a lot of factors!