2. Don't worry it's only a heavy frag grenade!

(Or also known as Don't worry it's only a SK-44 plasma missile!)

A quick look at Wikipedia gives a deadly blast radius of 5 meters and an injury radius of 15 meters for a modern grenade. (I also asked a friend who has actually thrown the real thing...)

To put thinks in perspective, a basketball court is 29 meters by 15. So, if a grenade explode in the center, you would be in the injury radius if you are standing anywhere in the court and probably dead if you are a few steps outside the center circle.

The engaged range seems way too short!

House rule: Blast radius is short range, if the blast quality activates, all targets in short range are affected unless they have cover from the original target, all engaged targets are affected without concern for cover.

This will make all the grenades and rockets much scarier. Maybe a few weapons should have Blast[Engaged], I'll handle them in a case by case basis.

I think you may want to double check the range of thrown weapons before implementing this...

Thus the cover part in the house rule. I have been told that you find very good cover, then you throw the grenade.

Thus the cover part in the house rule. I have been told that you find very good cover, then you throw the grenade.

This is a Despair result waiting to happen...

... that's not to say it's a BAD thing. Well... it IS a bad thing... but in a GOOD way.

I'd be ok with this but we do this thing a little differently. Not really critiquing or suggesting. Just presenting another perspective.

First, we made this change to Navicomputers:

NAVICOMPUTER

Ranging from the sophisticated and powerful computer arrays used aboard military capital ships to the astrogation buffer in an R2 astromech droid, navicomputers are primarily used to generate and solve the incredibly complex calculations needed to make a safe jump through hyperspace. Left on its own, a Navicomputer can take the Plot Hyperspace Jump action (see Plot Hyperspace Jump), rolling YG when they do so but they can not assist an astrogator who is actively plotting a route.

And then we added these Actions:

Plot Hyperspace Jump

Pilot Only: No

Silhouette: Any

Speed: Any

To jump to hyperspace, an astrogator must plot a (hopefully safe) course to the destination of the jump. Each turn, the character may make an Astrogation check against Average (PP) difficulty. He then adds the number of (S)uccesses and (F)ailures (separately) to the number rolled on any previous turn. This is called the Plot Tally. If a roll fails, the number of F's is subtracted from S's in the Plot Tally (it is possible to get negative results). Likewise, if a roll contains (T)hreats, whether it succeeds or fails, the number of T's rolled reduces the tallied (A)dvantages in the Plot Tally. Again, it is possible to have negative results.

Example: Hawal is plotting a course to Formos and makes his Astrogation check. He rolls SSSSAAA. His Plot Tally is 4/3. On the next turn, Hawal rolls FAAA so his Plot Tally is 3/6. Continuing to plot the course, he rolls SSTT. This brings his Plot Tally to 5/4.

The player is trying to tally a number s equal to the Jump Threshold for the route being plotted. The GM determines the Jump Threshold based on the distance being jumped, familiarity of the route, etc. A short jump on well-known route may have a threshold as low as 10 while more difficult jumps may have Thresholds as high as 50 or even more. Once the Jump Threshold is reached (any extra S are lost), the pilot may use the Jump to Hyperspace action or the astrogator can delay the jump by taking the Hold Hyperspace Route action.

It should be noted that, in order to safely enter hyperspace that a ship must be well outside any strong gravity wells. Unless an extraordinarily strong field is present or the ship is not putting as much distance between it and a planet as it could, by the time a route is plotted, the ship should be free of any gravity wells and able to make the jump to hyperspace.

Note: Galaxy Mapper talent halves the number of s necessary to plot a jump. However, it does does not reduce the time required for a ship to exit a gravity well. It is entirely possible for a jump route to be plotted and ready but, due to various local conditions, the ship still can not jump to hyperspace.

Hold Hyperspace Route

Pilot Only: No

Silhouette: Any

Speed: Any

A plotted route may be held but doing so is not without peril. Each turn a plotted route is not used, the astrogator may hold the route by making an Astrogation check against a difficulty that starts at Average(PP). If this roll succeeds, then the route is held and the ship remains ready to jump. If the roll fails, then the number of s tallied in the Plot Hyperspace Jump tally is reduced by 1 plus the number of F rolled. In this case, the Plot Hyperspace Jump action must be taken on immediately subsequent turns to update the course per the rules for that action. A roll that succeeds but includes TT is held but the difficulty of subsequent rolls to hold the route is increased once.

Example: Hawal is holding a plotted jump so he makes an Average (PP) Astrogation check. It succeeds but includes TT. On the following turn, the difficulty to hold the route is Hard (PPP). This time he fails. The roll includes FF so the Plot Tally is reduced by 3. Beginning next turn, Hawal must use the Plot Hyperspace Route action to bring the Plot Tally back up above the Jump Threshold by re-adding the 3 points lost.

If this action is not taken, and the ship does not jump to hyperspace, a plotted route's Plot Tally automatically degrades by 5. Remember, however, that the navicomputer has Astrogation (YG) and, in most cases, can take this action to maintain the route.

We actually liked this rule enough that it led to us adding similar checks (we call them Complex Skill Checks) for other things, as well.

Thus the cover part in the house rule. I have been told that you find very good cover, then you throw the grenade.

As long as you keep your fights super small, and Rival oriented that'll probably work. But it'll get weird if you use the advanced rules for larger fights.

Engaged isn't a range band extending a few feet, but more a condition that you can apply within the short range band, so lots of people within a Short band can be engaged with each other. Remember that minion groups can go pretty big, like 10 or 11. Those guys aren't all clustered together shoulder to shoulder. Using Engaged for the Blast effect makes it so you can do things like large Minion groups and Squad rules, and have Grenades be a big scary thing that can wipe out the entire squad. If you extend th eblast radius of average grenades to Short, I can knock out several squads with a single hand grenade, and not just one... I mean it's one thing for a thermal detonator to do that, it's another thing when I can do it with a pipe bomb.

Additionally how are go going to decide who has cover from the grenade and who doesn't? Do you just assume every character that's "taken cover" has it? Do you assume that all minions in a group don't have cover from each other even when taking cover? Do you only play on maps with interpretable features that will allow this?

I get where you're coming from, but I think it might be easier to try running Engaged as a larger space then you have been before you solidify this house rule. Otherwise the players might abuse it.