Siege Pincers

Ultimate Equipment Guide II

Author Greg Lynch, J. C. Alvarez
Publisher Mongoose Publishing
Publish date 2005

One of the Siegemaster’s heaviest and most ambitious designs, this astounding device consists of a metallic pincer, easily 20-foot wide when fully open, attached to a proportionately large, jointed wooden arm. The arm stands on a wheeled platform, equipped with a set of levers and mechanisms allowing a degree of control over the arm and pincers. This weapon can be used to literally grab an enemy fortress’ towers and crush them off the ground.

Siege pincers have a hardness of 10 and 350 hit points. They may be rolled along the ground at a base movement speed of ten feet.

At least two creatures are required to control a siege pincers device, due to the weight and complexity of its mechanism. The weapon’s mechanical controls allow for the following actions:

• Position: properly positioning siege pincers requires two full-round actions and the device must be no more than 20 feet away from the intended target. Siege pincers must be properly positioned before grabbing a target.
• Grab: Siege pincers may be used to grab any object with a width of 20 feet or less. They may not be used to grab any object that is more than 20 feet across, nor an object whose form makes grabbing impossible (such as a 20-foot wide wall firmly located between two towers, for example). Causing siege pincers to grab an object takes a full-round action, plus the device must be properly positioned first (see above).
• Grip: Once a target is successfully grabbed (see above), siege pincers may be caused to grip it, which requires another full-round action. By so doing, siege pincers establish a firm hold on the object, just as if they were successfully grappling it. Siege pincers may only crush (see below) an object that has been successfully gripped.
• Crush: Once a target is gripped, siege pincers may begin to crush it. Initiating and maintaining a crush requires the siege pincers crew to succeed on a Strength check (DC 15). Up to two crewmen may use the aid another action to help this check. For every round the action the crush is successfully maintained, the target suffers 3d6 points of crushing damage. Targets with a hardness of 10 or lower also lose one point of hardness for each round the crush is maintained. If the object suffers siege pincer damage equal to its hardness times ten, it may be uprooted and pulled down (see below). If the object’s hardness or hit points are reduced to zero, it is utterly destroyed and demolished. Initiating or maintaining a crush is a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
• Disengage: By spending a full-round action, a siege pincer may be disengaged from any object it is grabbing, gripping or crushing (see below). Once disengaged, a siege pincer is still considered positioned to grab the item again, unless it is pulled in (see below).
• Pull Back: If a siege pincer is not grabbing, gripping or crushing a target, its crew may pull it back by spending a full-round action. The siege pincer must be re-positioned before using it again.

The times given assume at least two characters are manning a siege pincer’s levers; quadruple the time required for a single character to properly perform any of the above actions.

Siege Pincers: 4,500 gp; Dmg 3d6 (see text); Critical -; Range -; Typical Crew 4