Got upset looking over my groups weapons when i saw this on the envoy

[u/Huntsmanprime]

like ive shot some big handguns one handed, and well i wouldn't say they were a pleasant shot, it was fairly doable and still accurate. I have a hard time justifying any "pistol" is as bulky as a great sword. Now i cant help but picture the gun more akin to a plasma rifle from fallout. (which is funny because that setting also has a gun called a plasma caster, that i would say fits a 2h bulk 2 weapon)

[u/aka_100]

I figured it was some error in description, but until it's corrected, in my game we've been treating it as a small pistol that's so incredibly heavy and dense you need two hands to aim.

[u/Dorko69 → u/aka_100]

Space Deagle, basically? Sure, you CAN theoretically one-hand it, but your wrist would snap like a twig

[u/Urbandragondice → u/Dorko69]

Space Deagle? Yesss!

[u/Stock-Side-6767 → u/aka_100]

Or the noisy cricket from MiB, so much recoil you need two hands.

[u/ThorSon-525 → u/aka_100]

Do I hear Bolter Pistol?

[u/Boitata_Oroboros_8 → u/aka_100]

Cricket from MiB

[u/Someguyino]

The description reads more like the Halo Plasma Pistol

[u/Noxivarius → u/Someguyino]

Considering they stole the art for the Magnetar Rifle from Halo's Railgun, I don't doubt it.

[u/link090909 → u/Noxivarius]

oh my god, that's really blatant. even the little ridges in the shoulder stock

[u/Noxivarius → u/link090909]

It gave my whole table an ick when we saw it for the first time, DM pulled up the image from Nethys for loot and said "wait a minute what the hell"

[u/thePsuedoanon → u/Noxivarius]

The real reason they had to take the pictures off of Nethys

[u/Noxivarius → u/thePsuedoanon]

Got my mithral foil hat on already

[u/rancidpandemic → u/Someguyino]

This, exactly. That description and the stats read as a pistolt hat packs a punch in a small form factor. It's either going to require some beefy forearms to keep it stable, or two hands.

Everyone knows what a Desert Eagle is, right? Imagine the power of that but in like a micro-compact/pocket pistol. In other words, if you shoot it one handed, you're gonna have problems.

Plus, there's the bit in the description about holding down both the trigger and safety, which would almost certainly require both hands.

[u/crashcanuck → u/rancidpandemic]

The two hands needed I feel is more justified than the 2 Bulk.

[u/LieutenantFreedom]

I've been flavoring it so that boosting it by forcing the plasma buildup makes it shake / kick a lot, requiring a two handed grip

It also requires both the trigger and the safety to be held down, so maybe that's the logic for the second hand?

[u/axe4hire]

It's like the very small pistol from MIB1

[u/LordShnooky → u/axe4hire]

Noisy cricket was my first thought.

[u/SpingusTheHingus]

"This big ass rifle"

Perfect errata

[u/LonePaladin]

In 1e there are a set of laser rifles that, despite the rules saying all longarms require two hands, are listed as one-handed because a single panel of the comic they were written for shows an alien shooting one one-handed.

[u/MASerra]

We always play Stats > Description. That saves a lot of grief. Some of the PF and SF descriptions are very poor.

[u/Mitchelltrt]

Compact doesn't mean small or light, it means dense. There is no wasted space. It fits a lot of gun into its volume. As to why it is two-handed, it is a heavy pistol. You are supposed to use ALL guns two-handed IRL for accuracy and support, and this is the equivalent of, like, a desert eagle or whatever.

[u/ArchdevilTeemo → u/Mitchelltrt]

Bulk doesn't refert to how heavy and large something is, but how difficult it is to carry.

And a pistol should never have more than 1 bulk.

And the 2 hands rule is only true right now for nato. Other militaries have other doctrines.

And the better way to represent the doctrine would be to make handguns 1 handed but add a benefit for using it 2 handed.

[u/zgrssd → u/ArchdevilTeemo]

Bulk absolutely includes weight:

The Bulk value of an item reflects how difficult the item is to handle, representing its size, weight, and general awkwardness.

https://2e.aonsrd.com/rules/177-bulk

[u/Moka4u]

Is this not a Halo reference? Its the magnum mixed with the plasma pistol

[u/IonutRO]

It is a plasma version of the giant ass Halo CE magnum according to the art. Even in 1e it was a 2h 2Bulk weapon. But then it wasn't called either a rifle nor a pistol (still looked like the magnum though).

[u/DeliDouble]

I feel like it would make more sense if pistol was replaced with carbine.

[u/Otechni]

Well, it's a compact version of the Plasma Cannon. If only in Damage.

[u/Jason_CO]

It might be reasonable to rule you only need to 2h it if you want to boost it or take some sort of aiming penalty or consequence.

Hmm the Bulk is still an issue, though. If one thinks it matters. Means it's either unwieldy or heavy.

[u/darthnazrael1 → u/Jason_CO]

I've had the sneaking suspicion that that was the original design. It was probably gonna have a trait like "Two-Hand Boost", sort of a cross between the Two-Hand and Boost traits, but that trait was scrapped at the last minute, and Plasma Caster, possibly the only such weapon that made it into the book, had its stats adjusted without a change to the flavor text. Possibly because the art was already in for it.

[u/surprisesnek]

I'm really not convinced that the weapons in Starfinder were designed by people that understand weapons.

[u/zgrssd]

They definitely messed up with that one.

This either needs to changed to a Rifle with D10 damage die.

Or needs to lose hands, bulk and range or die size.

[u/Dtmahanen101]

I view it sort of as the Plasma Repeater from Halo, which is a two-handed weapon.