Throwing two grenades

By Ghostofman, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Had some grenade action last night and I got thinking about this one.

Two-weapon attack with two grenades. Can it be done? What happens? If you miss with the attack can you activate "blast anyway" with 3 advantage? What about the second grenade? Can you "blast anyway" with both if you have 6 advantage to spend on it even if you have 0 net success?

Offhand I want to say you can blast anyway with the first... but I don't know about the second since the rules say you have to hit with the first attack for the second to work.

First has to be a succesful attack, otherwise seems fine.

That was my knee-jerk as well... but I'm kinda fuzzy on if the first attack misses... does that also mean the second one did as well? If so then why couldn't you spend 3 advantage to blast-hit?

Given [circumstances] I might allow for the other grenade to activate blast too, I mean that's 6 advantages, but then again, by RAW it just completely misses.

But then, dropping a grenade into a confined and cramped space with two guys in it ... well, how do you miss that? ;) I guess I'd ignore the roll altogether and just go: yep, they're dead Jim. At least with Minions without armour...

But then, dropping a grenade into a confined and cramped space with two guys in it ... well, how do you miss that? ;) I guess I'd ignore the roll altogether and just go: yep, they're dead Jim. At least with Minions without armour...

Ignoring a roll is per RAW. A player should only be rolling if there is a chance of failure that needs to be accounted for.

That was my knee-jerk as well... but I'm kinda fuzzy on if the first attack misses... does that also mean the second one did as well? If so then why couldn't you spend 3 advantage to blast-hit?

I'm just saying RAW it wouldn't 'fly', but if you had 6 Advantages to burn it's hardly game breaking to allow it.

Ho

That was my knee-jerk as well... but I'm kinda fuzzy on if the first attack misses... does that also mean the second one did as well? If so then why couldn't you spend 3 advantage to blast-hit?


I'm just saying RAW it wouldn't 'fly', but if you had 6 Advantages to burn it's hardly game breaking to allow it.

Agreed. If I had a player try it, I wouldn't deny them on a failure with 6 advantages.

Hmm. Most grenades I know of take two hands to operate — one to pull the pin (or otherwise arm the device), and then the other to throw it.

If you had four arms, I could see throwing two grenades, just like using a pair of two-handed weapons.

Otherwise, I would think this would be rather difficult to do.

would keep it at the rules for two weapons ...

Just going to be really difficult to not only get 2 hits but even with misses to get 6 advantages. Good luck with that.....

Hmm. Most grenades I know of take two hands to operate — one to pull the pin (or otherwise arm the device), and then the other to throw it.

If you had four arms, I could see throwing two grenades, just like using a pair of two-handed weapons.

Otherwise, I would think this would be rather difficult to do.

if the grenades are small enough, then you can hold two in one hand.

Hmm. Most grenades I know of take two hands to operate — one to pull the pin (or otherwise arm the device), and then the other to throw it.

If you had four arms, I could see throwing two grenades, just like using a pair of two-handed weapons.

Otherwise, I would think this would be rather difficult to do.

Most grenades with which I'm familiar have rings on the pins. It's quite simple to loop the ring around a finger on the opposite hand, let it hang there a bit (it takes a good amount of force to remove it, usually) and loop another grenade's pin on a finger on the other hand. Then, grasping grenades in both hands, move them apart from one another, pulling both pins with fingers from opposite hands. One could argue this would take a maneuver, but is certainly not impossible -- nor even terribly difficult.

Edited by Braendig

Pins and spoons are the safety features of our tech grenades. Clearly Star Wars has least some grenades that are not using a fuse the ways ours do. Some they are using have electronics and exotic types of effects. We could make electronic explosive grenades it's just they'd be more expensive and would likely have a shorter shelf life. Point being I think it's ok to consider the pin/spoon assembly isn't necessarily used in star wars.

Edited by 2P51

Hmm. Most grenades I know of take two hands to operate — one to pull the pin (or otherwise arm the device), and then the other to throw it.

If you had four arms, I could see throwing two grenades, just like using a pair of two-handed weapons.

Otherwise, I would think this would be rather difficult to do.

LOL this reminded me of a squad discussion involving down time while I was in the Army. Pull first grenade's pin, leave on spoon, stuff it under one armpit. Pull second grenade's pin, leave on spoon, stuff it under other armpit. You can run and fire a weapon since both hands are available, but only very awkwardly and carefully so you don't drop a grenade too soon. When ready, open up armpits, grenades drop down being caught, one by each hand. Throw. Many obvious uses of Despair.

I think the conversation began with what to do if you were severely injured making one arm useless and needed to arm and toss a grenade. The conversation went wierd as often they did with young soldiers who had been hurried up only to sit and wait for long periods.

ETA: More sensible methods for one-handed tossing? I will borrow one from SWAT experience that is very, very frowned upon due to being somewhat dangerous. Grenades are typically carried in a pouch. Pull out the grenade, remove the pin making sure not to release the spoon (which activates the timer). Put the grenade back in the pouch with the spoon still attached. Snap down the top cover of the pouch so the grenade will not fall out if you tip upside down. Now, you can pull the grenade out with one hand, the spoon will automatically pop off starting the timer, toss.

Edited by Sturn

Wow some dangerous ideas bouncing around here! I smell some upgrades.

Never used a grenade, can the pins be pulled with teeth?

Wow some dangerous ideas bouncing around here! I smell some upgrades.

Never used a grenade, can the pins be pulled with teeth?

Edited by 2P51

Ok so let's say a PC is a Jawa outlaw tech, could they find a way to make them easier to pull?

Pins and spoons are the safety features of our tech grenades. Clearly Star Wars has least some grenades that are not using a fuse the ways ours do. Some they are using have electronics and exotic types of effects. We could make electronic explosive grenades it's just they'd be more expensive and would likely have a shorter shelf life. Point being I think it's ok to consider the pin/spoon assembly isn't necessarily used in star wars.

You have to have the spoon tho, its PING when it comes off is the second scariest thing a soldier can experience.

Edited by korjik

Most grenades with which I'm familiar have rings on the pins. It's quite simple to loop the ring around a finger on the opposite hand, let it hang there a bit (it takes a good amount of force to remove it, usually) and loop another grenade's pin on a finger on the other hand. Then, grasping grenades in both hands, move them apart from one another, pulling both pins with fingers from opposite hands. One could argue this would take a maneuver, but is certainly not impossible -- nor even terribly difficult.

Yeah, you could do it that way. I had thought of that. I had also thought about putting the rings from two different grenades in your teeth, and then pulling the grenades away.

But in either method, that’s awkward and most definitely not part of the normal way that a grenade would be used. So, I think I’d give that a lot of setback and/or difficulty upgrades.

Then there are grenades like the Dutch V40 where you have to use the ring to rotate the pin 180 degrees before you can pull it out. I don’t see any way to easily do that in a way that would let you throw more than one at a time.

Pins and spoons are the safety features of our tech grenades. Clearly Star Wars has least some grenades that are not using a fuse the ways ours do. Some they are using have electronics and exotic types of effects. We could make electronic explosive grenades it's just they'd be more expensive and would likely have a shorter shelf life. Point being I think it's ok to consider the pin/spoon assembly isn't necessarily used in star wars.

Yeah, I could see two Thermal Detonators being done that way, but again you get back to an awkward method of trying to throw both at once. You definitely wouldn’t get the range or accuracy that way, compared to the normal method of throwing just one.

Ok so let's say a PC is a Jawa outlaw tech, could they find a way to make them easier to pull?

Anybody with needlenose pliers and suicidal tendencies could make them easier to pull...

Pins and spoons are the safety features of our tech grenades. Clearly Star Wars has least some grenades that are not using a fuse the ways ours do. Some they are using have electronics and exotic types of effects. We could make electronic explosive grenades it's just they'd be more expensive and would likely have a shorter shelf life. Point being I think it's ok to consider the pin/spoon assembly isn't necessarily used in star wars.

Yeah, I could see two Thermal Detonators being done that way, but again you get back to an awkward method of trying to throw both at once. You definitely wouldn’t get the range or accuracy that way, compared to the normal method of throwing just one.

If I was wanting to throw a pair of knuckle balls across home plate simultaneously, but if I just wanna underhand lob a couple balls at once into a crowd of people that hardly strikes me as needing to be a master juggler.

Ok so let's say a PC is a Jawa outlaw tech, could they find a way to make them easier to pull?

Common practice to prep the pin if you think you will be tossing the grenade in the near future. Prepping simply means you bend the two tails on the pin from the normal 90-degree bend to around 45-degrees.

If I was wanting to throw a pair of knuckle balls across home plate simultaneously, but if I just wanna underhand lob a couple balls at once into a crowd of people that hardly strikes me as needing to be a master juggler.

If I was going to throw a couple of Thermal Detonators somewhere, I don’t think that I’d just casually lob them. I’d want to throw them much further away, lest I risk being caught in the blast.

But weaker grenades, like a Star Wars equivalent of Dutch V40s? Yeah, I could see a simpler/easier casual lob working fine for those. I mean the main body on those things is about the size of a golf ball.

The main things to consider are "is it cinematic" "is it not overpowered" and "does it fit the setting" if the answers are yes, then it should probably be doable. Pulling two pins out with your teeth is very much a movie thing as it just pressing a button to arm a sci-fi style grenade. I could even see throwing both explody things with one hand if the explosives are small enough. Plus most grenades in the setting can can be set to detonate on impact or set with a timer to detonate up to 3 rounds after being activated at the beginning of the attacker's action. Some
also have a "dead man's" or pressure switch that, once pressed, detonates immediately upon release. They also have a short range (several meters) as opposed the 40 or more meters an average soldier can throw a grenade in the real world (medium to long range).