Explosions and Blast Radius

[Killer Cyborg]

One of the things that is glossed over or ignored in the Rifts books is the actual blast radius of explosives, and the implications of it.
A standard CS Light Explosive Grenade, for example, lists a damage of 3d6 MD to a 6' area.
This is the kind of listing that exists for simplicity, not for accuracy. It's to make game play simpler, not to create versimilitude or realism.
Because when you look at it, it doesn't really make much sense.
RUE 363 states:
...Everyone and everything in the blast radius suffers half damage. So a grenade or mini-missile that does 5d6 MD inflicts the full 5D6 MD to the target it strikes (or lands at the feet of), and everything else within the rest of the blast area suffers half the Mega-Damage rolled for the explosion.

So with that CS LE Grenade, if it lands at your feet, you take 3d6 MD, for an average of 10.5 MD
The guy standing 5' away from you takes half damage: an average of 5.25. MD
The blast radius is listed at 6'. So what about the guy who's standing 6'1" away from the grenade when it goes off?
Taking the grenade information and rules in the strictest sense, nothing at all happens to him.
Realistically, though, there would still be a lot of explosive force beyond the official blast radius.

First, I'd tend to round off distances even if there was an invisible wall at the edge of the blast radius. I'd say that 6'1" away counts as 6' away, and inflict the damage for the blast radius, and I'd count somebody who was 6'7" away as being 7' away, outside of the blast radius.
But it doesn't matter where you draw that line- what matters is how firm that line actually IS.

Logically, we know that there would still be explosive force radiating beyond the official blast area.
Logically, we probably all understand that Palladium went with a single damage for simplicity's sake, and that somebody at the 7' mark should still take some damage.
The question is what exactly should happen.

Ninjas & Superspies, p. 153 describes the AN-M14 TH3 Incendiary Hand Grenade.
This is one of the few explosives that I am aware of that has multiple blast radii, and it is designed for a setting where even 1 point of Mega-Damage is incredibly powerful, and SDC damage is significant enough to keep careful track of. Consequently, it is the only weapon that I am aware of that includes both a MD blast radius and SDC blast radii.
(Each radius picks up where the last one left off- the 24' radius, for example, covers the radius of 12'-24' away, and does not overlap with any other damages listed)
The blast radii of the grenade are as follows:
12' = 1d100+20 SDC or 1 MD
24' = 1d100 SDC
36' = 3d10 SDC
120' = 1d10 SDC.

Granted, this weapon is incendiary, not exactly a normal explosion. But we could still use those radii as a basis, applying a similar formula to other explosives.
N&S has essentially the same rules for grenades as Rifts does (N&S 135): anybody directly hit by the grenade takes full damage, but other people in the radius take 1/2 damage.
Applying that rule to the Incendiary Grenade above is problematic, as beyond the first blast radius, there is nobody directly hit by the weapon.
So I would instead assume that the first radius would be an exception to the 1/2 damage rule, and that everybody within that radius would take full damage (unless they dodge) as if the grenade were sitting directly at their feet when it went off.
Counting the initial 12' radius as the Direct Hit zone, that changes things to:
Direct Hit = 1d100+20 SDC or 1 MD
+1 Blast Radius = 1d100 SDC
+2 Blast Radius = 3d10
+10 Blast Radius = 1d10

Which, using Palladium Dice Math, would probably mean:
Direct Hit = Full Damage
Blast Radius = 1/2 damage (This is a little tricky, since 1d100 is not exactly half of 1d100+20. But the average damage of 1d100 is 55, which is about half of 1 MD.)
x2 Blast Radius = 1/3 damage
x10 Blast Radius = 1/10 damage.

Going back to that CE LE Grenade, that would mean:
Direct Hit = 3d6 MD (average of 10.5 MD)
Targets with 6' = 1/2 damage (average of 5.25 MD)
Targets between 6' and 12' away take 1/3 damage (average of 3.5 MD)
Targets between 12' and 60' away take 1/10 damage (average of 1.05 MD)

What this would mean is that if you threw a CS LE Grenade, and you were within 60' of the grenade when it went off, you might still take damage from the blast.
There'd be roughly a 50% chance that you would lose 1 MD.
Of course, 1 MD is not generally significant damage (especially with the GI Joe Rule), and there's a lot of number-crunching to do for little real result.
I don't expect anybody to really follow this pattern to a T when playing Rifts- battles take too long as it IS.

But I think that it would be a good thing to think about.
Because I think that a lot of the time, people underestimate the effects of a grenade, and don't think about the sheer power of Mega-Damage grenades.
Because while 1 MD to people/objects within 60' of the blast of a light grenade isn't necessarily worth all the number crunching, it is worth considering when it comes to story-telling.
You don't just chuck a Mega-Damage grenade at somebody 10' away from you, or even 50' away from you, with the only effects being damaging THEM.
Think how big of an area 60' actually is. Think about your house or apartment building.
Think about how powerful even 1 MD is.
You throw even a light grenade in a forest, trees could be destroyed and/or knocked down well beyond the 6' blast area.
You throw such a weapon inside an SDC building, the odds are good that the building will collapse.

[Akashic Soldier]

I think you're taking it a little far with the math and extending the blast radous. It just feels forced and unnecessary. Also, most S.D.C. buildings have pretty solid S.D.C. values. You're likely to bring down a small hut or house but most buildings can whether a 5D6 M.D. blast or two before they're going to come down.

[guardiandashi]

I know I remember reading something about this in one of the books somewhere but I want to say it was a say a he grenade (or missile) had a primary mds blast radius and had a sdc blast radius of ~3x the mdc radius I just can't remember where... mabie rifts underseas? I do remember the same book talking about full up nukes also like the modern ones not the pewee nukes in the "nuclear or nuclear multi warhead" on the long range missile table

[ShadowLogan]

A standard CS Light Explosive Grenade, for example, lists a damage of 3d6 MD to a 6' area.

This is one of the things that makes some items (spell/power/explosives) hard to use when they use #-unit area, because it could be 6' Radius/Diameter or even a literal interpretation of 6' area (so units are square even if not indicated).

Logically, we know that there would still be explosive force radiating beyond the official blast area.
Logically, we probably all understand that Palladium went with a single damage for simplicity's sake, and that somebody at the 7' mark should still take some damage.
The question is what exactly should happen.

I think for simplicity the radius/diameter/area could simply be seen as an increment out from the center, with each additional increment after the 1st one doing 1/2 damage of the next one in (eventually the damage will become inconsequential after like 5 or 6 unless it is a very powerful blast).

This is one of the few explosives that I am aware of that has multiple blast radii, and it is designed for a setting where even 1 point of Mega-Damage is incredibly powerful, and SDC damage is significant enough to keep careful track of. Consequently, it is the only weapon that I am aware of that includes both a MD blast radius and SDC blast radii.

Other examples that come to mind are:
REF M.A.C.3 in the Robotech Sentinels RPG (1E line) has mutliple blast radius when using its drum bomb, and for that the next increment is like 1/10 the result of the main.

The HU APS: Fire sub-ability of Nova is an explosion and has multiple blast radii ratings (at 1/2 damage per increment for the most part)

CS Nuclear bombs (Strategic) also have multiple radii ratings (no easy way to put the main/extended though), but like the RT MAC3 has only 2 radii (one of which is 3miles).

[Armorlord]

With the MD explosives, I usually think of it as the effective MD radius, dropping off to SD effects after that, so still a terrible idea in populated areas or urban environments. So I only have to worry about the 'serious' damage within the area of effect, but still get to play with extra collateral damage from time to time.

[jaymz]

I like simple so I sometimes use the following

Blast - damage
Blast radius - 1/2 damage
blast radius x2 - 1/10 damage.

Makes the lath easier and, at least for me, keep some of the "realism" if you will.

However, technically by the rules if you get hit in the main body with a weapon with a blast radius, shouldn't all your limbs also take half damage as well? I don't play it this way and I believe there is a line somewhere that says this is not the case but that, to me, fails the logic test of how blast radius is supposed to work. It would certainly make missiles and explosive a LOT more threatening to Robots and PAs.

[azazel1024]

There is no way to make it realistic with explosives.

A real world frag hand grenade might have a lethal blast radius of 5 meters. That just means it is likely to kill anyone unprotected within 5 meters of the blast. Body armor, partial cover, etc reduces the likelihood of death. You could also be standing 20 meters away and happen to catch a large piece of frag from it and kill you (for example, maybe a large chunk of the fuse happens to blast off as a solid piece and catches you in the neck). Or maybe where the grenade lands, it happens to land just behind a fist sized piece of granite and the blast splinters it in to a couple of large pieces and one of them smacks you in the forehead 30 meters away killing you.

Or you could be standing 3 meters from it and a fluke causes all of the frag to miss you and the worse that happens is some punctured ear drums (happens. Example, read band of brothers. Joe Toye twice had hand grenades blow up just a few feet from him and he escaped pretty much without catching a piece of frag at all somehow).

Explosions are wierd and unpredictable some of the times. Especially when the primary injury/kill method involved is fragmentation. Straight blast or incendiary is somewhat more predictable.

I don't disagree that the current rules aren't the most realistic. I'd prefer full damage to the target it hits, half damage to the stated radius, quarter damage at double the radius and out to triple the radius it has a a percentage chance to knock you off your feet of the damage dealt times 500 divided by the character's weight including gear on them (so if it was 5d6 to a 10ft radius hand grenade and rolled a 21, if it landed at a characters feet, they'd take 21 damage. A character standing 9 feet away would take 10 damage. A character 15 feet away would take 5 damage and a character standing 25 feet away and all the ones closer would have a chance of 21,000/char weight% of being knocked off their feet and knocked back. So a 200lb character would have a 52% chance of being knocked down from the blast).

However, I don't hate the PB model for explosions. It is simplistic, but it isn't the worst I've seen.

[Dog_O_War]

Just... no.

I mean that in a most positive manner.

See, there are too many factors that cause too many problems when you attempt to inject real-world physics into Rifts.

For one, even a single (1) MD explosion would pulp any human within 50 feet of it thanks to the concussive wave that would emanate from it.

Now imagine a 3d6 MD explosion.

Beyond that, it would be physically impossible for an MD explosion to propel jagged bits of metal a mere six feet from it, unless those bits of metal weighed an impossible amount - and then; how would a trooper carry it?

Grenades and explosions in this game were created outside of physics, because the reality of it is that they would be too deadly otherwise.

However, if you're looking to affix a more realistic (if not necessarily "real") approach, you can always attempt a more stepped damage.

How this works is that the explosion does its full damage to everything within the first radius; 2/3 that in the next increment, and 1/3 the original damage in the final increment (you can divide the increment however you like, but figuring things out to the 10th increment and such is bureaucratic and paper-heavy). Only a tamped or otherwise focused explosive charge will do more on a direct hit (as it is acting like an armour-piercing attack at that point).

[Alrik Vas]

I don't do half damage.

First, unless a grenade is some kind of special armor piercing job with a shaped charge, it's going to blow up and hit everything withing 120ft, doing full damage to all parties involved. People within' the originally listed blast radius take double damage.

Megadamage kills like crazy.

[Killer Cyborg]

I think you're taking it a little far with the math and extending the blast radous. It just feels forced and unnecessary.

How so?

Also, most S.D.C. buildings have pretty solid S.D.C. values. You're likely to bring down a small hut or house but most buildings can whether a 5D6 M.D. blast or two before they're going to come down.

Hm. I'm skeptical, but I can look up the SDC values for walls and such when I get back to my books at some point.
A lot of it would depend on what kind of building, and what it was made out of.

[azazel1024]

I think you're taking it a little far with the math and extending the blast radous. It just feels forced and unnecessary.

How so?

Also, most S.D.C. buildings have pretty solid S.D.C. values. You're likely to bring down a small hut or house but most buildings can whether a 5D6 M.D. blast or two before they're going to come down.

Hm. I'm skeptical, but I can look up the SDC values for walls and such when I get back to my books at some point.
A lot of it would depend on what kind of building, and what it was made out of.

Yeah in regards to damage capacity, a house would easily be shreded by suffering 5d6MD. That's 500-3,000SDC. A 10ft section of 2x4 wall is probably on the order of 200-300SDC, so it'll basically shred all walls, and probably floor and ceiling within the blast radius. That sounds like a pretty good way to collapse a house.

Heck, in the right place, a 5D6MD plasma hand grenade could possibly bring down a very large building (SDC) by shredding a major structual support.

[Alrik Vas]

I think a plasma grenade would destroy a house regardless because it would burn down anything it didn't blow up.

[Colonel_Tetsuya]

depends on the material of the house, but yeah, pretty likely. Itll melt most things it wont burn, but there are some exceptions.

[Thinyser]

Too much work. K.I.S.S.
Either play it as is or work out something REALLY easy.

Easy way:
Point Blank (in contact with explosive and/or within 3 feet of explosive if its MD) does MAX POSSIBLE damage, so a 5d6 grenade does the full 30 damage.
Listed blast radius does the listed damage (roll 5d6)
Beyond listed radius out to double the listed radius is half the listed damage [(5d6)/2].

[Daeglan]

of course because palladium is not map friendly those radiuses are difficult to determine.

[Alrik Vas]

of course because palladium is not map friendly those radiuses are difficult to determine.

While this is true, i still manage to play combat on a map. It helps us keep organized and to determine where things occur. Really, it's mostly for me so i don't forget who is trying to kill who.

I do movemently slightly different as well (you get to move half your speed in feet as a part of any action, your full speed if all you do is move. We use 5' squares on graph paper and round up to determine number of squares moved), so blast radii come up quite often. Basically, in order to dodge a blast attack, you need enough movement to escape it (getting to cover works). If you can't move far enough, your dodge fails.


Back on topic: I like max damage for target, then rolled for full radius, then half for double radius. Though i like my system of just using more modern equivalent blast area and doing damage like the book suggests...however, i might combine the two...

[Killer Cyborg]

...using Palladium Dice Math, would probably mean:
Direct Hit = Full Damage
Blast Radius = 1/2 damage (This is a little tricky, since 1d100 is not exactly half of 1d100+20. But the average damage of 1d100 is 55, which is about half of 1 MD.)
x2 Blast Radius = 1/3 damage
x10 Blast Radius = 1/10 damage.

Looking at the RUE entries on grenades, the LE grenade does indeed simply state "6' area," not "6' radius" or "6' diameter."
Of the blast areas described on p. 260 of RUE, though, those that describe more specifically what the measurement represents refer to "diameter."

So let me amend my previous calculations...

CS Light Explosives Grenade
Direct Hit = 3d6 MD, average of 10.5 MD
3' radius = 3d6/2 MD, average of 5.25 MD
3'-6' radius = 3d6/3 MD, average of 3.5 MD
30' radius = 3d6/10 MD, average of 1.05 MD

An interior Plaster Wall has 75 SDC per 10 square feet. Even at the full radius, an average blast will destroy a standard interior plaster wall.
Knowing a bit about construction, I consider lathe and plaster walls to actually be a bit sturdier than modern drywall walls. Either way, it's pretty clear that even at the maxum radius, there is more than enough damage to destroy the interior walls of a normal house or building.
In a large enough building, in the right spot, you might not take out a load-bearing wall... but then again, you might.

An exterior wood wall has 150 SDC per square feet, so in order to destroy that at maximum range, you'd might need to roll above average damage. I say "might," because at one point the rules were that 1 point of Mega-Damage blew through more SDC than just a flat 100: you'd round the SDC off when calculating destruction, so if you had 150 or less SDC, 1 MD would still destroy the target.
Either way, at the 6' radius, the damage would be more than enough to destroy an exterior wood wall.
For that matter, it would also destroy an exterior brick wall (200 SDC), or a cinder block wall (300 SDC).
Reinforced Concrete (400 SDC) might be safe. Again, note the use of "might"- for the same reasons.

[Alrik Vas]

On a simple note I did demolitions work for years, an sdc house or building is not going to stand after an MdC blast. I can bring down many homes and buildings with jut a sledge hammer, and let's face it MdC weapons deal way more damage then I can with a sledge hammer.

The comparison is funny, but i see your point. Though since you've done demo work, it's simpler for you to know where to take a structure down from. Hardly everyone chucking a grenade at someone inside a house knows what you do. it's an interesting insight though.

[guardiandashi]

An exterior wood wall has 150 SDC per square feet, so in order to destroy that at maximum range, you'd might need to roll above average damage. I say "might," because at one point the rules were that 1 point of Mega-Damage blew through more SDC than just a flat 100: you'd round the SDC off when calculating destruction, so if you had 150 or less SDC, 1 MD would still destroy the target.
Either way, at the 6' radius, the damage would be more than enough to destroy an exterior wood wall.
For that matter, it would also destroy an exterior brick wall (200 SDC), or a cinder block wall (300 SDC).
Reinforced Concrete (400 SDC) might be safe. Again, note the use of "might"- for the same reasons.

actually re the mega damage it used to be that 1 MDC would destroy anything with less than 200sdc and in I shoot a car 199 sdc (its a little beat up) and I do a measly 1 mdc, the car is blown in half and destroyed. (it was actually an example in one of the books)

[Killer Cyborg]

CS Fragmentation Grenade
Direct Hit = 2d6 MD, average of 7 MD
10' radius = 2d6/2 MD, average of 3.5 MD
10'-20' radius = 2d6/3 MD, average of 2.33 MD
20'-100' radius = 2d6/10 MD, average of 70 SDC

CS Heavy Explosive Grenade
Direct Hit = 4d6 MD, average of 14 MD
3' radius = 4d6/2 MD, average of 7 MD
3'-6' radius = 4d6/3 MD, average of 4.6 MD
6'-30' radius = 4d6/10 MD, average of 1.4 MD

CS Plasma Grenade
Direct Hit = 6d6 MD, average of 21 MD
6' radius = 6d6/2 MD, average of 10.5 MD
6'-12' radius = 6d6/3 MD, average of 7 MD
20'-100' radius = 6d6/10 MD, average of 2.1 MD

CS Rifle Grenade
Direct Hit = 2d6 MD, average of 7 MD
6' radius = 2d6/2 MD, average of 3.5 MD
6'-12' radius = 2d6/3 MD, average of 2.33 MD
12'-60' radius = 2d6/10 MD, average of 70 SDC

CS Type One Fusion Block
Direct Hit = 1d4x10 MD, average of 25 MD
5' radius = 1d4x10/2 MD, average of 12.5 MD
5'-10' radius = 1d4x10/3 MD, average of 8.33 MD
10'-50' radius = 1d4x10/10 MD, average of 2.5 MD

CS Type Two Fusion Block
Direct Hit = 2d6x10 MD, average of 70 MD
5' radius = 2d6x10/2 MD, average of 35 MD
5'-10' radius = 2d6x10/3 MD, average of 23.33 MD
10'-50' radius = 2d6x10/10 MD, average of 7 MD

CS Type Three Fusion Block
Direct Hit = 4d6x10 MD, average of 140 MD
5' radius = 4d6x10/2 MD, average of 70 MD
5'-10' radius = 2d6x10/3 MD, average of 46.66 MD
10'-50' radius = 2d6x10/10 MD, average of 14 MD

CS HE Mini-Missile
Direct Hit = 5d6 MD, average of 17.5 MD
5' radius = 5d6/2 MD, average of 8.75 MD
5'-10' radius = 5d6/3 MD, average of 5.833 MD
10'-50' radius = 5d6/10 MD, average of 1.75 MD

CS Fragmentation Mini-Missile
Direct Hit = 5d6 MD, average of 17.5 MD
20' radius = 5d6/2 MD, average of 8.75 MD
20'-40' radius = 5d6/3 MD, average of 5.833 MD
40'-200' radius = 5d6/10 MD, average of 1.75 MD

CS Armor Piercing Mini-Missile
Direct Hit = 1d4x10 MD, average of 25 MD
3' radius = 1d4x10/2 MD, average of 12.25 MD
3'-6' radius = 1d4x10/3 MD, average of 8.33 MD
6'-30' radius = 1d4x10/10 MD, average of 2.5 MD

CS Plasma Napalm Mini-Missile
Direct Hit = 1d6x10 MD, average of 35 MD
15' radius = 1d6x10/2 MD, average of 17.5 MD
15'-30' radius = 1d6x10/3 MD, average of 11.66 MD
15'-150' radius = 1d6x10/10 MD, average of 3.5 MD

TK-16 Pump Rifle
Direct Hit = 4d6 MD, average of 14 MD
6" radius = 4d6/2 MD, average of 7 MD
6"-1' radius = 4d6/3 MD, average of 4.66 MD
1'-5' radius = 4d6/10 MD, average of 1.4 MD

Explosive Shotgun Shell: Fragmentary
Direct Hit = 2d6 MD, average of 7 MD
5' radius = 2d6/2 MD, average of 3.5 MD
5'-10' radius = 2d6/3 MD, average of 2.33 MD
10'-50' radius = 2d6/10 MD, average of 70 SDC

Explosive Shotgun Shell: Fragmentary (Double-Blast)
Direct Hit = 3d6 MD, average of 10.5 MD
10' radius = 3d6/2 MD, average of 5.25 MD
10'-20' radius = 3d6/3 MD, average of 3.5 MD
20'-100' radius = 3d6/10 MD, average of 1.05 MD

[kaid]

I can understand wanting a bit more complexity for blast radius weapons and that is fine for house ruling but other than the weird only hitting the main body part I never had much complaints about the blast radius usage in rifts. One has to remember that even the lightest MDC armor is basically light tank grade armor. Blast effect weapons have never been terribly useful vs that armor type and the actual kill zone capable of harming that level of armor is understandably pretty small. Its not so much that the blast just stops at the 6ft radius it is that if you are wearing any MDC body armor at all it lacks the penetration capability at that range to do more than scuff the hell out of your paint job.

[Killer Cyborg]

Its not so much that the blast just stops at the 6ft radius it is that if you are wearing any MDC body armor at all it lacks the penetration capability at that range to do more than scuff the hell out of your paint job.

Exactly.
But unless you're in an entirely Mega-Damage environment, something is likely to end up a lot more than scratched.
As I said in my initial post, this isn't about "Hey, let's all calculate all of this every time!"
This is about "Here's something to keep in mind when you run and play, because there should be a lot of impact when MD explosives are used, to a lot more than just the 1d4 guys who happen to be standing in the immediate blast area."

[Dog_O_War]

One thing that I should mention (which kind of got muddled in my other post) is that I agree with, and think that there should be a stepped damage to the radius of most explosions.

And four increments (as KC has sampled above) is both easy to deal with and not exceptionally math-heavy.

[Prysus]

There is no way to make it realistic with explosives.

A real world frag hand grenade might have a lethal blast radius of 5 meters. That just means it is likely to kill anyone unprotected within 5 meters of the blast. Body armor, partial cover, etc reduces the likelihood of death. You could also be standing 20 meters away and happen to catch a large piece of frag from it and kill you (for example, maybe a large chunk of the fuse happens to blast off as a solid piece and catches you in the neck). Or maybe where the grenade lands, it happens to land just behind a fist sized piece of granite and the blast splinters it in to a couple of large pieces and one of them smacks you in the forehead 30 meters away killing you.

Or you could be standing 3 meters from it and a fluke causes all of the frag to miss you and the worse that happens is some punctured ear drums (happens. Example, read band of brothers. Joe Toye twice had hand grenades blow up just a few feet from him and he escaped pretty much without catching a piece of frag at all somehow).

Explosions are wierd and unpredictable some of the times. Especially when the primary injury/kill method involved is fragmentation. Straight blast or incendiary is somewhat more predictable.

I don't disagree that the current rules aren't the most realistic. I'd prefer full damage to the target it hits, half damage to the stated radius, quarter damage at double the radius and out to triple the radius it has a a percentage chance to knock you off your feet of the damage dealt times 500 divided by the character's weight including gear on them (so if it was 5d6 to a 10ft radius hand grenade and rolled a 21, if it landed at a characters feet, they'd take 21 damage. A character standing 9 feet away would take 10 damage. A character 15 feet away would take 5 damage and a character standing 25 feet away and all the ones closer would have a chance of 21,000/char weight% of being knocked off their feet and knocked back. So a 200lb character would have a 52% chance of being knocked down from the blast).

However, I don't hate the PB model for explosions. It is simplistic, but it isn't the worst I've seen.

Greetings and Salutations. Since you mentioned fragmentation grenades being so unpredictable ... have you considered a % roll? Just reading what you wrote (without any real world knowledge), off the top of my head (without playing testing or ironing out flaws) I'm thinking something like ...

Point Blank: 100%; double damage.
Blast Radius: 90% (maybe 98%?); full damage. If 91-00 is rolled; no damage.
Blast Radius x2: 75%; 1/2 damage. 76-00; no damage.
Blast Radius x3: 40%; 1/3 damage. 41-00; no damage.
Blast Radius x4: 20%; 1/4 damage. 21-00; no damage.
Blast Radius x5: 05%; 1/5 damage. 06-00; no damage.

% can be modified as you see fit to simulate realism (I did just randomly make them up afterall). For simplicity, I divided damage by the blast radius (so x5 is 1/5). Anyways, was just a thought based on your comment. Again, I have no practical experience on the subject, but I understand game mechanics.

Anyways, anyone can take it, mod it, or leave it as they please. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys to all.

[torjones]

Greetings and Salutations. Since you mentioned fragmentation grenades being so unpredictable ... have you considered a % roll? Just reading what you wrote (without any real world knowledge), off the top of my head (without playing testing or ironing out flaws) I'm thinking something like ...

Point Blank: 100%; double damage.
Blast Radius: 90% (maybe 98%?); full damage. If 91-00 is rolled; no damage.
Blast Radius x2: 75%; 1/2 damage. 76-00; no damage.
Blast Radius x3: 40%; 1/3 damage. 41-00; no damage.
Blast Radius x4: 20%; 1/4 damage. 21-00; no damage.
Blast Radius x5: 05%; 1/5 damage. 06-00; no damage.

% can be modified as you see fit to simulate realism (I did just randomly make them up afterall). For simplicity, I divided damage by the blast radius (so x5 is 1/5). Anyways, was just a thought based on your comment. Again, I have no practical experience on the subject, but I understand game mechanics.

Anyways, anyone can take it, mod it, or leave it as they please. Thank you for your time and patience, please have a nice day. Farewell and safe journeys to all.

Combat already takes a long time. Do you really want to encourage players or GMs to have to break out a calculator every time someone pops off a missile or a grenade?

What I'm thinking of using, if we change anything in my game, is Max/full/half/quarter at each of the first 4 range increment. This way, it's only 1 die roll at the full level, there winds up being both a bit more encouragement to use explodie bits (YAY!) and a bit more discouragement in some situations (Aw...) and it doesn't slow things down too much. Pretty much everyone can figure out half of something in their head really quickly. Quarter is just half again. Lot's of people though don't do thirds so well, unless it's obvious (like 60/20). 1/10 is good, everyone can figure it out really quickly, but it will die out too quickly.

Then again, doing this would increase the lethality of combat, so you'd have to take that into account when you design your encounters. Explosives will get a lot more lethal...