My PCs are a group of bounty hunters tracking down a bad guy. This bad guy likes to play with explosives, and he's quite good at it. The players have tracked him to a small cave system that they have just entered. The bad guy has already fled the cave and left an explosive device behind. In addition, the cave has been flooded with shvash gas (something like methane or propane) to increase the destruction. The players have just set off the device...

OK, I plan to use the rules for explosives from Dangerous Covenants. The base charge is intended to be a Plasma Charge (possibly two Plasma Charges). The bad guy has Intellect 3, Mechanics 3, and Powerful Blast 2 (as from the Demolitionist specialization). So far, that's either Difficulty 1 to do Damage 11 + Successes with Burn 1 (for one Plasma Charge) or Difficulty 2 to do Damage 17 + Successes with Burn 2 (for two Plasma Charges). As I understand it, Burn has to be activated per target (costing two Advantages or a Triumph each), so it's pretty unlikely that more than one or two characters will be hit with Burn.

I'm looking at the setup and thinking that the cave and gas could be used to add Boost to the check since both will enhance the blast. Together, I'm thinking that two Boost would be appropriate for these conditions.

My PCs (and their allied NPCs) have the following:

PC #1 WT 21, Soak 7

PC #2 WT 19, Soak 6

PC #3 WT 15, Soak 4 (5?)

PC #4 WT 14, Soak 3 (4?)

NPC #1 WT 21, Soak 5 (6?)

NPC #2 WT 21, Soak 5 (6?)

All of the characters except PC #1 and PC #2 have soaking wet heavy clothing (there's a heavy storm going on outside the cave), and I was thinking of having this increase their Soak by +1 against this attack (as noted above with the "?") and I've already ruled that its Encumbrance is +2 higher right now. PC #1 and PC # 2 have Laminate armor and only have some water beaded up on the surfaces, and wouldn't get any added protection (nor do they have any added Encumbrance).

The intent is that the blast is supposed to inflict significant damage and dissuade them from recklessly pursuing the bad guy immediately. I don't want it to kill the characters outright, but I don't mind if the group takes some critical hits from exceeding WTs. The time needed to heal up - even if it's just by needing the rest to 'reset' the stimpack limit - is a part of the story.

I'm considering using the two charges right now. With the increased Soak I'm offering from the wet clothing, this is going to be quite hard on PC #3 and PC #4, but they should still be on their feet a few stimpacks later. The NPCs will be the first ones to take the Burn if enough Advantages come up, and it will be up to the PCs to try and save them.

Anything I'm overlooking?

In close quarters, the danger from explosives is not the fire of the explosion, but the pressurized shockwave that can pulp organs, including the brain. Wet clothing would not provide a bonus to that; it would provide a bonus to being set on fire or the like.

for a more cinematic feel you could have them make athletic checks to give them a chance to negate some of the damage. Successes -1 damage, for each advantage convert one damage to strain damage. the whole "Jumping from the Movie style gasoline explosion"

In close quarters, the danger from explosives is not the fire of the explosion, but the pressurized shockwave that can pulp organs, including the brain. Wet clothing would not provide a bonus to that; it would provide a bonus to being set on fire or the like.

Of course, but the damage doesn't separate the heat from the blast, and I didn't want to have it only apply against Burn (which is unlikely to hit more than one PC once the NPCs are already alight). However, this could be combined with the next option...

for a more cinematic feel you could have them make athletic checks to give them a chance to negate some of the damage. Successes -1 damage, for each advantage convert one damage to strain damage. the whole "Jumping from the Movie style gasoline explosion"

I've considered this, but using Vigilance instead of Athletics. Essentially, damage would be 15 -1 per success, and Burn 1 which could be negated with 2 Advantages or a Triumph.

With this, wet clothing could grant an Advantage.

Strictly speaking, Powerful Blast only effects weapons with the Blast quality.

I'm not saying it shouldn't effect normal explosives, but that's how it is written.

Strictly speaking, Powerful Blast only effects weapons with the Blast quality.

I'm not saying it shouldn't effect normal explosives, but that's how it is written.

After rereading it, Powerful Blast does apply to explosives - if they have the Blast quality. However, none of them do...

Not really a big deal. Damage of (15 + Successes) is enough for what I'm trying to do.

I do think that it's odd that the Difficulty goes up with the number of charges. This means that the chance of the explosion actually hitting any given target with the blast is inversely effected by the amount of explosives used. I understand that they wanted to make it more difficult to put together massive charges, but the idea that you're relatively safe from five charges rigged together (since it has to hit against Difficulty 5) compared to one charge seems odd. However, if the larger charges do hit, the effect can be devastating.

I'm wondering if I should roll the check for the explosive once per character. This way some may take more/less damage and/or be hit by Burn. It will even be possible for some to be miraculously unaffected by the explosion (by whatever description they tie to a failed Mechanics check against them).

If it is one check for everyone, then the two Advantages would seem to activate Burn on everyone. If it were otherwise, then the explosion would have a very strange effect indeed that only a few of the targets would ever be in danger of being subject to Burn.

I think I'm going to stick with a Boost die from the cavern channeling the explosion, but the gas in the caverns is going to grant +1 Burn (raising it to Burn 3) instead of another Boost die.

Possibly consider adding in falling debris / cave in as well?

About the Burn quality, considering that this is inside tunnels I wouldn't think it unreasonable to let one Burn activation affect everyone, or decrease the advantage cost to 1. Also, while the talent only improves Blast, inside caverns like that - at least how I imagine it - I'd say that the Burn is pretty similar to Blast, particularly with the gas, so why not convert the Burn into a Blast effect? or a combination for some real punishment. It will definitely scare your players. Either way I'd say that one activation is enough to affect everyone in the caves at least within short range of an explosive device. If they're medium or further they could require their own activation of Burn.

Suffereing a massive amount of damange should be enough to dissuade them from persuing their opponent, but PCs can be reckless.

I like the thought of using wet armor to their advantage. Very clever.

Also, for one massive roll, there's a decent chance that no one would be affected, so don't get too upset if the explosion misses everyone.

I recently did sometthing similar - the PCs were fleeing from an exploding space station (in 0g). I set a limit of 10 successful maneuvers needed to escape. The blast began in 6 rounds. The PCs with Inspiring Rethorics felt really useful by giving orders (extra man.). The PCs had to pass an athletics or coordination check to move on.

I think escaping from the blast is more exciting than actually being hit by it. At least the players have an option to do something - perhaps one of yours will decide to stay and try to disarm the trap, all the while a huge holo with countdown and grinning Target hangs in the air?

Also, for one massive roll, there's a decent chance that no one would be affected, so don't get too upset if the explosion misses everyone.

And that's a big part of the reason why I'm thinking that rolling for each of them independently is going to be the better option. If the explosion goes off as one roll and it gets no successes on that roll, it'll be terribly anti-climatic. However, the rules do seem to indicate that it's supposed to be one roll, so...

It's looking like a dice pool of PPPBDD with the possibility of spending a Destiny point on the Mechanics check to get APPPBDD. That's fairly likely to succeed, but when the dice are rolled, nothing is certain.

Should I have the gas reduce the Advantage cost to activate Burn by one (to 1 Advantage), or should I have it add a +1 to Burn (for Burn 3)? The former makes some burn more likely, so it's probably the best option.

Should I have the gas reduce the Advantage cost to activate Burn by one (to 1 Advantage), or should I have it add a +1 to Burn (for Burn 3)? The former makes some burn more likely, so it's probably the best option.

Being able to make burn activate on 1 advantage would be your best bet, that would abate some of your worries that you might not get much use out of the burn quality.

You could do one roll per target, if you do, I would flavor it as a series of explosions.

If the explosion is supposed to serve a purpose (not kill the PCs & dissuade them from being reckless with this enemy), then why not narrate the results? If you roll, you risk things being too severe or not scary enough. Just decide on a result (e.g., 15 damage, a Resilience roll to avoid unconsciousness, and a critical hit for everyone) and execute it. Make it part of the story.

Our GM does this on occasion. The first couple of times it bothered us, but we got use to it and saw it as a big time saver and served the story well.

Maybe make a roll against a predetermined amount of damage...

Vigilance or Resilience vs. PPP (Mechanics) upgrade to RRP (Powerful Blast 2). Successes reduce amount of damage taken and Despair equals Burn? Something like that. It gives the player some control, but should hurt them pretty bad and serve the purpose of slowing them down. Could use a DP to increase your chances of a Burn for dramatic effect, or simply state that one of the NPCs catches fire for climatic purpose as well.

Something like that?

If the explosion is supposed to serve a purpose (not kill the PCs & dissuade them from being reckless with this enemy), then why not narrate the results? If you roll, you risk things being too severe or not scary enough. Just decide on a result (e.g., 15 damage, a Resilience roll to avoid unconsciousness, and a critical hit for everyone) and execute it. Make it part of the story.

I have a player that wants to use explosives. I'd like to test out the rules for them and also to give him a peek at how they work. Besides, I'm OK with some randomness to the effect; I just don't like the prospect of a single roll making the entire explosion 'miss' everyone.

Maybe make a roll against a predetermined amount of damage...

Vigilance or Resilience vs. PPP (Mechanics) upgrade to RRP (Powerful Blast 2). Successes reduce amount of damage taken and Despair equals Burn? Something like that. It gives the player some control, but should hurt them pretty bad and serve the purpose of slowing them down. Could use a DP to increase your chances of a Burn for dramatic effect, or simply state that one of the NPCs catches fire for climatic purpose as well.

Something like that?

I'm trying to test the rules out for explosives since I have a player that intends to use some in the future, and I'd like to stay consistent.

Why not bake a pair of advantages into the roll ahead of time so that the blast quality is basically pre-activated. As swheelock mentioned, narrating the results are your best best given that you want it to explode, but not kill characters. I fully get why you want to roll the dice to show how it works, but at the same time rolling always risks changing the narrative. Any roll could risk the bomb just straight up fizzling, whereas a narrated result provides the results you need without them killing the characters. As others have mentioned, having players effectively doing a dodge behind cover might reduce damage, but that would be about it.

It's a neat idea, and I'd be stuck in the same place between a roll and a narrative outcome.

Hm... What about pre-rolling a couple times to see what is likely to come up?

Why not bake a pair of advantages into the roll ahead of time so that the blast quality is basically pre-activated. As swheelock mentioned, narrating the results are your best best given that you want it to explode, but not kill characters. I fully get why you want to roll the dice to show how it works, but at the same time rolling always risks changing the narrative. Any roll could risk the bomb just straight up fizzling, whereas a narrated result provides the results you need without them killing the characters. As others have mentioned, having players effectively doing a dodge behind cover might reduce damage, but that would be about it.

It's a neat idea, and I'd be stuck in the same place between a roll and a narrative outcome.

Hm... What about pre-rolling a couple times to see what is likely to come up?

With explosives, there is no Blast quality - the Damage is simply applied to all targets within range (Medium for the Plasma Charge). Advantages need to be spent to activate Burn. The lack of the Blast quality is why Powerful Blast appears to be useless with explosives despite the fact that it obviously should have an effect.

Rules Question sent:

The Powerful Blast talent from Dangerous Covenants adds to the Blast quality of explosive weapons.

Explosives (as described on pages 54-56 of the same book) do not have the Blast quality but inflict Base Damage (and Additional Damage if multiple charges are used) to all targets within a set range.

Should Powerful Blast be added to the Base Damage for explosives that use these rules (as opposed to explosive weapons with the Blast quality, where the effect of adding to Blast is clear)?

Awaiting answer.

Good question to ask. In reading the talent, I would think it does, as functionally it's an auto-blast quality. Granted, that would make a Baradium charge exceptionally dangerous.