How do you handle grenade combat?

[jburkett]

Hello, I am having troubles locating (in RUE) rules for how to handle grenade combat. Specifically, first of all, is there a W.P. that covers grenades? I do believe there is a W.P. Thrown Weapons (or similarly titled W.P.) but in the description it doesn't mention grenades. It does mention shuriken and other ancient style thrown weapons though. I would think the skill would be a bit different anyhow because the grenade is an "area affect" weapon. Also, is this a standard melee combat roll to strike or is it considered a "ranged attack"? My guess would be standard melee combat roll so a roll of 1-4 would miss but perhaps I'm wrong on this. That would seem to give a pretty high success rate for a relatively slow moving thrown object (as compared to other thrown or arrow type attacks). Does a characters P.S. effect how far a grenade can be thrown? If a defending character chooses to dodge out of the way is there a chance that they may still be in the blast radius and does any other special consideration need to be made to make sure the defending character is completely out of harms way? If two targets are close enough, can you attempt to take them both out with one grenade and, if successful, do they both take full damage? Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. I'm sure there are other aspects of grenade combat that I may be missing here as well. Thanks!

[Alrik Vas]

For strike

Hand Grenade is 100ft, it increases depending on the type of PS being used. It's in RUE pg 238. Though it doesn't describe grenades as part of the skill, their range is listed among the throwable items.

They're a ranged attack, so use the rules for those when attacking. Should require an 8 or higher if i recall correctly.

[jburkett]

For strike

Hand Grenade is 100ft, it increases depending on the type of PS being used. It's in RUE pg 238. Though it doesn't describe grenades as part of the skill, their range is listed among the throwable items.

They're a ranged attack, so use the rules for those when attacking. Should require an 8 or higher if i recall correctly.

Okay, great, found it (RUE pg 328). This does answer a couple of my questions, Thanks! I do still feel that grenades need a bit more clarification and am wondering if you or anyone else may know if these rules have been expounded on somewhere (for example: trying to hit two or more targets within the blast radius) Is there an assumption that grenades explode on impact without delay? I guess that would make things easier in terms of game mechanics.

[The Beast]

Ninjas & Superspies has a WP for grenades but instead of giving bonuses to strike it provides knowledge on the various types of grenades and how best to use them.

[Vincent Takeda]

depends on how varied and realistic you want them I think. many grenades in the real world have adjustable timers (even down to zero, where you pull the pin and it goes off, so you can use it with trip wires), and of course there are many cinematic examples of a grenade landing without going off only to be grabbed by someone and tossed back, lol.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

For strike

Hand Grenade is 100ft, it increases depending on the type of PS being used. It's in RUE pg 238. Though it doesn't describe grenades as part of the skill, their range is listed among the throwable items.

They're a ranged attack, so use the rules for those when attacking. Should require an 8 or higher if i recall correctly.

Okay, great, found it (RUE pg 328). This does answer a couple of my questions, Thanks! I do still feel that grenades need a bit more clarification and am wondering if you or anyone else may know if these rules have been expounded on somewhere (for example: trying to hit two or more targets within the blast radius) Is there an assumption that grenades explode on impact without delay? I guess that would make things easier in terms of game mechanics.

There's never been a specific rule about grenades (and trying to catch people in the blast radii) but.. you dont need one. You just need to make a called shot to hit the spot in between the two targets. They may get an attempt to dodge out of the blast radius at your GM's option (personally, i'd say unless they specifically watched you throw it, no, even if they are aware you are there, but they can still attempt to roll with the explosion); they will still get to roll with punch/fall/impact.

As for exploding on impact... id say thats likely the assumption. Particularly for any launched grenades. Your GM would have to determine if, in his game, grenades are like some modern grenades with a variable timer. I'd say.. sure. Or, at the very least, a basic demolitions roll would allow you to modify it so.

[Blue_Lion]

A grenade strike is covered in range combat sub headings modern weapon proficiency and missile combat. The target a grenade strikes or lands at the feet of takes full damage(main body). every other target in the blast takes 1/2 as per the rule that states that in missile combat sub section. So I treat the main target as hit if it is in range and a successful range strike was made. Grenades fired from a weapon use the heavy military weapon skill, while thrown weapons use the targeting skill same as any other thrown weapon(range found on page 328 in the skill).

[ShadowLogan]

Hello, I am having troubles locating (in RUE) rules for how to handle grenade combat. Specifically, first of all, is there a W.P. that covers grenades? I do believe there is a W.P. Thrown Weapons (or similarly titled W.P.) but in the description it doesn't mention grenades. It does mention shuriken and other ancient style thrown weapons though. I would think the skill would be a bit different anyhow because the grenade is an "area affect" weapon. Also, is this a standard melee combat roll to strike or is it considered a "ranged attack"? My guess would be standard melee combat roll so a roll of 1-4 would miss but perhaps I'm wrong on this. That would seem to give a pretty high success rate for a relatively slow moving thrown object (as compared to other thrown or arrow type attacks). Does a characters P.S. effect how far a grenade can be thrown? If a defending character chooses to dodge out of the way is there a chance that they may still be in the blast radius and does any other special consideration need to be made to make sure the defending character is completely out of harms way? If two targets are close enough, can you attempt to take them both out with one grenade and, if successful, do they both take full damage? Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. I'm sure there are other aspects of grenade combat that I may be missing here as well. Thanks!

W.P. Targeting (RUE pg328) does mention grenades, if you read the "Typical Effective Ragne & Damage per weapon: type" list Hand Grenade is an entry (between Dart and Javelin).

Why would it matter if Grenades are AoE compared to everything else on the list? WP. Heavy Military Weapons covers bullet weapons , but also grenade launchers, mortars, and rocket launchers. And some bullets have AoE attack when they explode.

Grenades are ranged attacks.

For simplicity it probably is best to assume that someone who dodges a AoE attack does so by leaving the radius, if circumstances would seem to prevent that (stuck or their Spd is reduced such they can't cover the distance in time) then they can't dodge and can only hope to roll with damage.

If two targets are w/n the blast radius, yes you can attempt to take them both out, though you only to need to roll one strike (personally this seems more likely in combat with grenades than say missiles).

[Axelmania]

I want rules for timed explosions where if you rush forward to catch you might throw it back or baseball bat it back.

[Vincent Takeda]

Woe betide the grenade batter if the grenade is set to 'on impact', lol.

[Blue_Lion]

I want rules for timed explosions where if you rush forward to catch you might throw it back or baseball bat it back.

Then house rule it.

[guardiandashi]

I realize it may not be totally RAW but as a general guideline I would say with a grenade full damage applies if you are within 1ft of the grenade when it detonates. from that 1ft out to the blast radius, you are in the 1/2 damage radius

for timed grenades as I understand it, most grenades are built with explosives, and a detonator, the detonator method varies of course. older designs (civil war us and before) used a lit fuse typically.
ww1 and ww2 grenades typically used a corrosive (acid) that upon pulling the pin and releasing the spoon broke the containment and then it took a certain amount of time such as 3,5, 10 seconds (depending on type and manufacturer) before it ignited the explosive
with that in mind if you "know" you have a 10 second grenade and it will take 3 seconds for it to get where you want it you can "cook" the grenade, this means pull the pin, and release the spoon then count to say 5, before throwing it. The grenade will then detonate after the remainder of its time counts down.

all of that is for hand grenades.

Rifle or shell grenades are different they are typically impact triggered, however some designs aren't fully armed when fired, some of those have to be fired then spin a certain number of times, or wait a certain amount of time before they are armed enough to detonate.
This feature was mostly intended as a safety feature (so you can't shoot yourself with your own grenades) but some skilled users use that feature to bounce the grenade off obstacles. for example you know there is someone in an alley or similar so you shoot the grenade at a wall and bounce it off into and down the alley hopefully getting close to your target.

[eliakon]

How I handle grenade combat.
1) This is a 'thrown weapon' so roll to strike 8+ hits. You get to add your WP bonus and ranged combat bonuses.

2) If the weapon hits the target area then I will allow a dodge to anyone who has sufficient movement to move out of the blast range, in a single action. If the weapon misses then I will determine scatter to figure out where it DOES land.

3) Every individual target in the blast radius takes blast damage. So your body armor takes damage to the main body, your buddy takes damage to the main body. In cinematic games I stop there, in more 'gritty' ones I will damage your rifle or sword or staff. But not your helmet (part of the body armor)

4) Targets in the blast radius may roll with blow for half damage

5) Move on to the next action

[Blue_Lion]

I realize it may not be totally RAW but as a general guideline I would say with a grenade full damage applies if you are within 1ft of the grenade when it detonates. from that 1ft out to the blast radius, you are in the 1/2 damage radius

for timed grenades as I understand it, most grenades are built with explosives, and a detonator, the detonator method varies of course. older designs (civil war us and before) used a lit fuse typically.
ww1 and ww2 grenades typically used a corrosive (acid) that upon pulling the pin and releasing the spoon broke the containment and then it took a certain amount of time such as 3,5, 10 seconds (depending on type and manufacturer) before it ignited the explosive
with that in mind if you "know" you have a 10 second grenade and it will take 3 seconds for it to get where you want it you can "cook" the grenade, this means pull the pin, and release the spoon then count to say 5, before throwing it. The grenade will then detonate after the remainder of its time counts down.

all of that is for hand grenades.

Rifle or shell grenades are different they are typically impact triggered, however some designs aren't fully armed when fired, some of those have to be fired then spin a certain number of times, or wait a certain amount of time before they are armed enough to detonate.
This feature was mostly intended as a safety feature (so you can't shoot yourself with your own grenades) but some skilled users use that feature to bounce the grenade off obstacles. for example you know there is someone in an alley or similar so you shoot the grenade at a wall and bounce it off into and down the alley hopefully getting close to your target.

If I recall most launched grenades are now using momentum triggers. They use the momentum of a the spinning to arm it and go off when momentum suddenly stops(not a contact detonation). This means skilled users can do banked shots. It also makes the minimal range typically about 40m for safety. I have heard about air burst trigger grenades but do not know if they use a momentum, radio or gps trigger.