An Explosives Attack represents the use of grenades, thrown charges, mines, and similar weapons. Explosives are resolved by placement and blast effects, not by directly hitting a creature.
A successful Explosives Attack determines where the explosive lands, not how much damage it deals.
Declaring an Explosives Attack
When making an Explosives Attack, the attacker must declare:
- The explosive being used
- The intended target point (a tile, area, or object — not a creature)
- Any special handling (cooking, special Tags, fuse delay)
Explosives are rolled against a Throw Difficulty (TD) rather than a target’s Evasion. Explosives target locations, not creatures. Called Shots cannot be made with explosives.
Throw Difficulty
Throwing an explosive is a Normal task under ideal conditions.
Base Throw Difficulty
TD = 15
Grenades have an optimal range of Close (1-15m).
Range Penalties (Grenades)
Grenade throws are significantly affected by distance. For grenades, range penalties are doubled:
| Range | Range Steps Beyond Close | TD Increase |
|---|---|---|
| Close (Optimal) | 0 | +0 |
| Medium | 1 | +10 |
| Long | 2 | +20 |
| Extreme | 3 | +30 |
Range Effect Modifier (REM)
When throwing beyond optimal range, reduce the total range penalty by the thrower’s Range Effect Modifier, equal to their Perception modifier (maximum +5).
- REM applies once, regardless of distance.
- REM cannot reduce the penalty below 0.
Final Range Penalty = max(0, Range Penalty - REM)
Situational Modifiers
Apply additional modifiers as appropriate:
| Situation | TD Modifier |
|---|---|
| Target point in open ground | -2 |
| Target point behind cover | +2 |
| Target point not visible | +5 |
| Small target area (window, gap) | +5 |
| Throwing while prone | +2 |
| Strong wind / unstable footing | +2 to +5 |
| Throwing under suppression | +2 to +5 |
GM Guidance: Final TDs will often fall between 15-40. TDs above 30 indicate risky or imprecise throws.
Making the Roll
d20 + 💣 Explosives Skill + modifiers vs TD
Must exceed the TD to succeed.
- Success: The explosive lands exactly at the intended point.
- Failure: The explosive scatters (see Scatter below).
Explosives always detonate regardless of success or failure.
Scatter
When an Explosives Attack fails, the explosive scatters from the intended target point. Scatter represents imperfect placement, bounces, or misjudged arcs.
Scatter Distance
Scatter distance is determined by the margin of failure:
| Margin of Failure | Scatter Distance |
|---|---|
| Fail by 1-4 | 1 meter |
| Fail by 5-9 | 2 meters |
| Fail by 10-14 | 3 meters |
| Fail by 15+ | 4 meters |
Distance is measured from the intended target point, not the thrower.
Scatter Direction
Roll a d8 to determine scatter direction:
| d8 | Direction |
|---|---|
| 1 | North |
| 2 | Northeast |
| 3 | East |
| 4 | Southeast |
| 5 | South |
| 6 | Southwest |
| 7 | West |
| 8 | Northwest |
Alternatively, the GM may choose a plausible direction, provided the scatter distance follows the table, the location is reasonable, and the result is not deliberately maximized to punish the player.
Scatter Edge Cases
- If scatter would place the explosive inside solid terrain, it stops at the nearest legal tile.
- Explosives may scatter into cover, off ledges, or toward allies.
- Only one scatter is resolved per explosive.
Detonation Timing
By default, thrown explosives have a 1-turn fuse.
- The explosive detonates at the end of the thrower’s next turn.
- Creatures may react before detonation by moving, diving for cover, or using abilities.
Explosives with special Tags may detonate immediately or after longer delays:
- Impact tag: Detonates immediately on landing. No opportunity to react.
- Timed Fuse (💣 Explosives +3 milestone): You may set a detonation delay of up to 3 turns. This allows you to set traps using grenades with delayed fuses. Enemies must pass a PER + 🏕 Survival Test to identify the trap.
- Detonation Watch (💣 Explosives +7 milestone): You may detonate an explosive early as a 😮 Reaction on the enemy’s turn, even before the fuse expires. This allows you to use explosives in an Overwatch-like fashion — place a bomb, wait for enemies to enter the blast area, then trigger it. This works with any explosive, regardless of whether it has a detonator attached.
Blast Radius
Each explosive lists a blast radius.
- All creatures and objects within the radius are affected.
- There is no damage falloff within the blast radius. Every creature inside the radius takes the explosive’s full listed damage (before Cover attenuation and armor).
- Creatures outside the blast radius take no damage.
- Cover between the blast and a target reduces damage (see Explosives and Cover below).
Damage Application to Creatures
Explosive damage affects creatures differently than direct-fire attacks. Because the blast envelops the entire body, armor protection is calculated as an average across all limbs rather than as a per-limb value or a sum.
HP Damage
The full explosive damage (after Cover attenuation and armor) is applied to the target’s HP.
Cripple Threshold Damage
Explosive damage is distributed evenly across all 6 limbs (Head, Torso, Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg, Right Leg). Each limb receives 1/6 of the total damage (rounded down) applied to its 💔 Cripple Threshold.
Example: An explosion deals 24 damage to a creature. The creature takes 24 damage to HP. Each of their 6 limbs takes 4 damage (24 ÷ 6) toward its Cripple Threshold.
Armor and Explosives — Average DT
When resolving explosive damage against a creature’s armor, use the creature’s Average DT rather than per-limb DT.
Average DT = (sum of all limb DT values, matching the explosive’s damage type) ÷ 6, rounded down
This represents the blast distributing across the entire body. Limbs with armor contribute protection; bare limbs do not. A target with uniform armor on every limb gets the full benefit; a target with partial armor gets proportional protection.
Resolution Steps
- Calculate the creature’s Average DT for the relevant damage type (Physical or Energy).
- Subtract Average DT from the explosive damage. If Average DT is equal to or greater than the damage, the blast is fully mitigated for that creature.
- Apply the creature’s DR (percentage reduction) to the remaining damage.
- The final result is applied to HP (full) and Cripple Thresholds (divided by 6).
Example 1 — Uniform armor: An explosion deals 30 Physical damage. The target wears Combat Armor with 4 Physical DT on every limb. Average DT = (4×6) ÷ 6 = 4. They have 20% DR.
- 30 - 4 = 26 (post-DT)
- 26 × 0.8 = 20.8, rounded to 20 (post-DR)
- HP damage: 20
- Cripple Threshold per limb: 20 ÷ 6 = 3 (rounded down)
Example 2 — Partial armor: A raider wearing only a leather chest piece (3 Physical DT on Torso, 0 on all other limbs) is hit by a Frag Grenade dealing 18 damage. Average DT = (0+3+0+0+0+0) ÷ 6 = 0.5, rounded down to 0.
- 18 - 0 = 18 (post-DT)
- No DR applies.
- HP damage: 18
- Cripple Threshold per limb: 18 ÷ 6 = 3
Example 3 — Mixed armor: A wastelander wears a Combat Helmet (4 DT on Head), Leather Armor (3 DT on Torso), and Reinforced Pants (2 DT on each Leg). Their arms are unarmored. An incendiary grenade deals 16 damage. Average DT = (4+3+0+0+2+2) ÷ 6 = 1.83, rounded down to 1.
- 16 - 1 = 15
- HP damage: 15
- Cripple Threshold per limb: 15 ÷ 6 = 2
Glancing Rule
The Glancing Rule does not apply to explosive damage. Because explosives do not make attack rolls against Evasion and damage is spread across all limbs, there is no Glancing Threshold to evaluate. All explosive damage to Cripple Thresholds is applied at full value (after the 1/6 split).
Explosives and Cover
Explosives do not use standard penetration rules. Instead, Cover attenuates explosive damage.
Let:
- D = explosive damage
- R = 💎 Hardness (Physical) or ♨️ Energy Resistance (Energy)
| Cover Between Explosion and Target | Damage to Target | Damage to Cover |
|---|---|---|
| No Cover | D | — |
| Half Cover | max(0, D - R) | D - R |
| Full Cover | max(0, D - 2R) | D - R |
Explosives always damage Cover if it lies between the blast and the target. Cover reduced to 0 🧱 Durability is destroyed and no longer provides protection.
Half Cover and Average DT
When a target is behind Half Cover, calculate Average DT using only the uncovered limbs. Half Cover protects the limbs behind it; the explosion still wraps around the exposed portions of the body, and only the armor on those exposed portions contributes to the Average DT calculation.
Example — Half Cover: A character ducks behind a low wall (Half Cover protecting Legs and Torso). Their Head and Arms are exposed. They wear: Helmet (4 DT Head), Combat Armor (3 DT Torso), Leather sleeves (1 DT each Arm), Combat Pants (3 DT each Leg).
Half Cover handles the Torso and Legs separately via the Cover attenuation rules above.
For the explosive’s Average DT calculation, only Head and Arms count: (4+1+1) ÷ 3 = 2.
If a target is behind Full Cover, the standard Cover attenuation rules apply (D - 2R). Average DT is calculated normally for any damage that gets through Cover.
Shaped Charges (Explosives +10 Milestone)
If you have the Shaped Charges milestone, the Cover’s resistance is halved when calculating blast attenuation against your explosives:
| Cover Type | Normal Attenuation | With Shaped Charges |
|---|---|---|
| Half Cover | max(0, D - R) | max(0, D - 0.5R) rounded down |
| Full Cover | max(0, D - 2R) | max(0, D - R) |
Cover 🧱 Durability damage is unaffected by Shaped Charges — you deal the same damage to the Cover object itself, but more blast energy reaches the creature behind it.
Interacting with Live Explosives
Once an explosive has been thrown and is on the ground with a fuse ticking, creatures near it have several options.
Throw Back
You may attempt to pick up a live explosive and throw it back.
- Cost: 7 ⚡ AP (2 AP to 🔺 Pick Up + 5 AP to throw)
- Test: 🏃 AGI + 💣 Explosives vs DC 15
- On Success: The explosive is thrown to a target location within Close range. No scatter — the throw is resolved as a successful Explosives Attack at the declared point.
- On Failure: The explosive drops at your feet (your tile). You have fumbled the throw and the explosive will detonate at your location.
Throwing back a live explosive is a high-risk gamble. At 7 AP, most characters commit nearly their entire turn to this action. If the fuse expires while you are holding the explosive (because you failed the throw), it detonates at your location with no Cover protection.
Note: Explosives with the Impact tag cannot be thrown back — they detonate immediately on landing.
Other Interactions
The GM may allow other creative interactions with live explosives based on the situation. Examples include kicking the explosive away from you, diving on the explosive to shield allies with your body, or shooting the explosive to detonate it prematurely (see Precision Shot perk below).
Shooting Explosives
Explosives can be shot to trigger premature detonation. This requires the Precision Shot perk.
Shooting a Grenade on a Target
With Precision Shot, you may target an explosive equipped on an enemy’s belt or Quick Slot as a Precision Target. On a damaging hit, the explosive detonates at the enemy’s location. The enemy is at the center of the blast with no Cover.
Special Explosives Tags
Certain explosives modify the standard rules through Tags:
| Tag | Effect |
|---|---|
| Impact | Detonates immediately on landing. Cannot be thrown back. |
| Shaped Charge | Treat Full Cover as Half Cover for blast attenuation. |
| Concussive | Ignores Half Cover attenuation entirely. |
| Incendiary | Uses Energy Resistance instead of Hardness for Cover attenuation. |
| Delayed | Fuse timer is extended by additional turns beyond the default. |
| Fragmentation | Extended blast radius but reduced damage at edge (GM discretion). |
Milestones That Affect Explosives
| Milestone | Level | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Timed Fuse (💣 Explosives +3) | 3 | Set detonation delay up to 3 turns |
| Blast Awareness (💣 Explosives +5) | 5 | Self damage and friendly fire from Explosives reduced by 50% |
| Ready To Blow (💣 Explosives +7) | 7 | Unlock Detonation Watch — detonate explosives as a Reaction on the enemy’s turn, works with any explosive without a physical detonator |
| Shaped Charges (💣 Explosives +10) | 10 | Cover resistance is halved for blast attenuation against your explosives |
Perks That Affect Explosives
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Demolition Expert | +4 damage with explosives. Unlocks Explosives crafting recipes. |
| Precision Shot | Shoot explosives on enemies’ belts or mid-air (see Shooting Explosives above) |
| Duck and Cover! (Book Perk) | Once per Long Rest, fall Prone as a Reaction to reduce incoming Explosive damage by 50% |
Quick Reference
To make an Explosives Attack:
- Declare explosive, target point, and any special handling
- Roll d20 + Explosives Skill + modifiers vs Throw Difficulty
- Success: explosive lands on target. Failure: explosive scatters.
- Explosive detonates based on fuse timing (default: end of your next turn)
- All creatures in blast radius take full damage
- Apply Cover attenuation if Cover is between blast and target
- Calculate target’s Average DT (sum of limb DT ÷ 6, rounded down). Subtract from damage.
- Apply DR to the remainder.
- Full damage to HP. 1/6 of damage to each limb’s Cripple Threshold.
- Glancing Rule does not apply.