We were equipping some characters on Sunday using some gear from the IH and our Redemptionist was looking for some grenades. We ended up comparing the Inferno/Thermal grenades with the Fire Bombs from the core book.

I don't have my books in front of me, but as I remember they have identical stat lines with two exceptions: Fire bombs have a blast radius of 2 compared to 1 for the Inferno, and Fire bombs cost 5 compared to 60 for the Inferno.

We really didn't notice any other differences in the text, tables or FAQs. Did we miss something? Have people house ruled this in any way?

Thanks,

Munch

Fire Bombs are ridiculous. I've seen a lot of different house rules, most either making the damage primitive, or reducing the penetration.

In my group we've reduced the penetration to 2. There's just no way a home made fire bomb that cost the same as a cup of cofee should be nearly as effective as a military-grade inferno grenade. Or a prometheum spewing flamer for that matter.

I totally agree. In reading, my issues really were with the Fire Bomb rather then the Inferno. When I carefully read Fire Bomb and thought of the implications - well, those things are crazy!

Fire Bombs most definitely need a fix. They're very cheap and ridiculously effective.

Wow. Considering I just made a post in the House Rules forum about fire bombs, I feel a bit stupid for not picking up on this myself.

You're right - Pen 6 is absurd. It should be Pen 2 at most. 3m blast also seems too much to me.

On the other hand (as per the House Rules forum) I think fire bombs should have a chance to, well, set you on fire.

I've always considered fire bombs effectively as molotov cocktails? So whenever one of my players decides to take one of them, I ask where they're storing it. If they get hit with an energy round in the location they told me it's a 50% chance the fire bomb goes off centered on the character.

I've also figured that the high penetration stems from the fact that it's flammable liquid that will leak into the nice creases and crevices in the armor. There's no shrapnel or impact involved it's all splash.

Zarkhovian_Rhythm said:

That doesn't explain why the fire bomb has so much better penetration than a flamer, then. If 'random household flamable' is really superior to military-grade flamer fuel, you have to wonder why the military even bothers.

Slaunyeh said:

I only allow the full 6 pen when the fire bomb hits the target directly, as in it explodes on the target. Any thing in that 3m radius drops the pen down to 3. Strictly speaking this doesn't follow the rules but it makes more sense to me that way.

But I do agree the flamer is underpowered in the RAW, which is why the penetration in my games for the flamer is doubled against armor that isn't sealed environmentally.

Although now that I think about it... and after some research on the effects of molotov cocktails (which likely means my ip just got flagged )

I'll have to change how I've been working with the fire bomb.

A fire bomb is a molotov cocktail. Go on youtube and you can see them in action (from footage of various riots etc). I think you will have to agree that actual performance does not even remotly live up to the stats given. Especially in blast radius. If you want to do any real damage with one you have actually hit the target and have it break on them (or at least be VERY close).

Here is a good example. Of one used in as close to a true combat situation we are likely to find on youtube. ( the police are not using true combat tactics)

The best use of a molotov is against buildings and vehicals, or to disrupt enemy formations/short term area denial (people WILL move away from the fire).

Your best bet in anti personnel in using one is to throw it at the ceiling ABOVE the target person. There are also some videos of the athens police in a large clump under some trees when the protesters start throwing them at the tree. This was more effective but you can still see that the riot armor was effective in giving the cops time to put out the fires before it did any real damage. (IE has a low or even NO pen value).

In conclusion they make poor battlefield weapons.

After 40,000 years of drinking alcohol and building a tolerance, maybe they need REALLY strong stuff, making it **** near jet fuel.

In my game, I've just made them primitive... so that Pen 6 applies fully against things like archaic plate, gang leathers and grox hide... but is quite a bit less effective against more sophisticated armour.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

I've been toying with a similar idea, but in the end I just don't think it's nearly enough to bring them down to a reasonable level.

N0-1_H3r3 said:

I think that's quite cunning. I think I'd drop the Pen to 4 as well, though.