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 space, area, or object)
- Any special handling (cooking, special Tags, placement)
Explosives are rolled against a Throw Difficulty (TD) rather than a target’s Evasion.
🎲 Throw Difficulty
Throwing an explosive is a Normal task under ideal conditions.
Base Throw Difficulty
TD = 15
Grenades have an optimal range of Close.
📏 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.
🧩 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
- Success: the explosive lands exactly at the intended point.
- Failure: the explosive scatters.
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
Determine scatter direction using one of the following methods:
Random Direction (Recommended)
Roll a d8:
| d8 | Direction |
|---|---|
| 1 | North |
| 2 | Northeast |
| 3 | East |
| 4 | Southeast |
| 5 | South |
| 6 | Southwest |
| 7 | West |
| 8 | Northwest |
Constrained GM Choice
The GM may choose a plausible direction, provided:
- Scatter distance follows the table
- The location is reasonable
- 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 space.
- 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.
📏 Blast Radius
Each explosive lists a blast radius.
- All creatures and objects within the radius are affected.
- Damage is modified by distance and cover.
- Cover between the blast and the target reduces damage.
🧱 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.
🧩 Special Explosives and Tags
Certain explosives modify these rules through Tags:
- Shaped Charge – Treat Full Cover as Half Cover when calculating blast attenuation.
- Impact – Detonates immediately on landing.
- Concussive – Ignores Half Cover attenuation.
- Incendiary – Uses Energy Resistance instead of Hardness.
- Delayed – Detonates after additional turns.