Adding a "Gun" to the survivor's item set

Adding a gun to the trials

So we all know adding ways to directly harm killers in anyway is a sure fire way to tank DBD even further towards being the same failures as Friday the 13th and so on.

Making the power role (Even more so) less than the survivors.

But how about an implementation that requires FULL commitment for a survivor.
(not an expert so genuinely asking for a discussion here)

It's kind of clear a LOT of survivor mains don't wanna do gens, they wanna directly interact with the killer. Whether that's bully squads basically attempting to piss off the big scary monster, or even just people who click their flashlights to bait chases.

So, how about we give them that option but lock it behind severe drawbacks.

There is no, ok I took chase for a while, now time to do gens. No, they left me alone, guess I'll just go take chase again.

So, here's my design idea, and I'd like to know how more knowledgeable people think about it.

I was watching Jurassic World again, because I love the ideas behind it. And naturally being a fan of this game, I've thought about a dinosaur killer before. I even put my own spin on it in a post of mine you can check out if you'd like.

But I'm getting off topic.

The island security was using shock prods and tranqs against the asset out of containment. Before N-Gen moved on to using live ammunition that barely did anything against the Indominous Rex.

So I was thinking, perhaps I can use that to make up a perk concept that I'd like to share.

Perk: Locked And Loaded

So, we already have characters in the game who are absolutely not new to handling firearms. Ash, Leon, Jill, Bill, etc. But then again, we also have survivors like Dwight and Claudette who I'm positive who have never held a gun.

So how can we make a "gun" that anyone can use. Well, we make it less of a gun and more of a potato cannon. Just a piece of junk that's liable to break apart the minute it fires.

But how do we balance this out, obviously it can't be too strong. Having an on demand pallet stun? We all know how it feels to have locker doors slammed in our faces endlessly by a squad. So that's a no go.

But, slowdowns? That's enough of leeway to be played around with I think. Stuff like the traps, haven't gotten much push back since they require doing almost half a gen to activate ONCE.

Following that philosophy, the perk obviously needs an activation check before it can be used so it can't just be spammed again and again.

But it also needs to feel impactful, otherwise nobody would use it.

However, given how much of an impact this could have, I'd say this would need to be the first perk that takes up two slots. The first half giving you the cannon, but the second one being the one that allows you to use it. Meaning that you have to sacrifice two slots for a major change to how you interact with the trial.

Activation Condition

Rather than just pure gen progress, this perk would REMOVE progress from a generator to charge the weapon. Having the survivor break off a piece of the generator or just using it to fuel the weapon via something like steam or electricity.

Now, for ammo we can't just have a crafting system, because there's not much to use. But we do need ammo for a gun, so let's use what we already have, chests and scrounging for items.

As for the ammo and how it works,

Let's use the DBD ranks here:

• Common rank:
  Bone scraps wrapped tightly into a ball. Perhaps an unfortunate survivor's remains from previous trials or just the remains of a broken totem. Not going to make much of an impact when it shatters apart but would mildly disorient anyone at high speeds.
• Uncommon:
  A broken cluster of items, not useful enough to warrant being anything but last ditch ammo for our weapon. Crushed med kits, broken flashlight pieces all bundled with wads of maps and key strings.
• Rare:
  Something actually worth throwing at the monsters face, a decent bunch stone packed into our weapon and ready to be launched.
• Very Rare:
  Metal scraps, hard and tough and sure to cause some damage when fired. But not as strong as our last tier.
• Ultra Rare:
  Our iridescent, A fog vial. Not like the item itself, but this one is special. It's not a full vial like we see the survivors use. But rather a sealed ball, think the cursed cannonballs of Sea of Thieves.

A ball of glass with fog swirling inside it and glowing. Blasting apart on impact in a shimmer of fog and a loud crack, fractures of reality cracking from the blast of pure fog weaponized.

This being the most rare of the ammo types, and it's impact should reflect that. Being unable to be just simply grinded out in the bloodweb and being purely chance based.

The Weapon of slim choice

So, we have our activation method, draining progress from a generator and a scarcity system, having survivors have to scrounge around in chests for ammo. Which needless to say would need to be limited heavily.

But what exactly are we using here? I already discussed the potato cannon idea but let me elaborate on that.

This is a basic idea of what I've got in mind. Just a piece of pipe and some scraps the survivors likely found in the trash of the various realms. All it needs is someone to carry it... however...

It's not exactly the most ergonomic weapon to carry around.

It is a massive pile of... stuff the survivors pulled out of the garbage.

So, it'll make moving around the same way as usual much harder. Making you slower and much easier to run down, and making vaulting near the killer the worst option. It's do or die while you're carrying this thing. Stand and fight, or just be instantly cut, crushed or sliced to pieces.

So, with the limited ammo you have, it's up to you to make the most of every shot.

We already have aiming for survivors down, with the snow skulls from the winter event and flashlights. So we'll use that. Making your FOV much lower while using them but giving you the best chance of making the most of every shot by giving you an aiming line.

As for reloading, it's gonna take some time. But being able to do it on the move, thanks to your survivor not focusing entirely on running means you can reload on the go. So it's gonna be a lot easier to take potshots while you're looping. But it also means you're gonna need to loop entirely differently from normal.

Aiming to get lines of sight rather than just avoiding being in sight. It also means fighting ranged killers is gonna be much harder while using this item.

Making sure the killer has the advantage on their own turf rather than the survivor. Having a much more cumbersome weapon that isn't guaranteed value like a killer's power.

Fighting Back… kind of

So, like I said, we can't actually use real weapons for a very obvious reason. Killing the killer doesn't make much sense in a trial. Not to mention how some of the killer's roster are just immune to such implements or it not making much of a difference how much damage some take. Making this thing too impactful will just lead to more killer frustration and too little means it's useless.

So, we need to figure out a middle ground. Enough impact that one cannon feels impactful. But not so much so that four is a pain for a killer.

So, a health system, or at least a pseudo health system should work. Something like the Mr. X or Nemesis from Resident Evil.

Stunning the killer after enough damage, but only briefly.

Refilling their "Health" after each stun.

But we also shouldn't make this a tool that's useless for drawing the killer's attention but can also just be used to take shots while another survivor is looping them and the killer ignores them.

So, if you're not in chase or directly in the killer's sights, using the weapon is gonna be much less effective. Say only half of the damage the shot would do than if you were in chase or within the killer's sights.

And so you can't just see someone stun the killer and then run in for a cheap shot, being stunned by any means:

Head On, Survivor saves, Pallets or blastmine

The killer would be immune to the cannon and have their health temporarily protected.