Explosive Warheads vs Force Sword Parry

[Kallatari]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

The question, of course, then becomes whether the not-Jedi can use the not-Force to not-psychokinetically knock the grenade back at the person who shot/threw it, since it only takes one or two not-Jedi dying that way with witnesses before the not-Jedi start looking for better options than not-lightsabre parries.

My pseudo-Jedi likes using TK to pull the pins off the grenades of his opponents before they use them.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Kallatari

Maybe on Cyrano, though...

The divergence poinbt for Cyrano is late enough that they'd have black powder for that reason if no other. I'm pretty sure black powder would ignite when exposed to 8D burning.

Of course you've cut through the black powder's containment vessel when you do that so you might get a jet of flame and smoke in your face instead of a "real" explosion.

Those skilled in the Ways of Neccesary Grace on Cyrano probably use the Dismissive Gesture (You know, wave your hand and the person/object flies across the room? Very cheap if bought as Innate Attack/Crushing Double Lnockback, Knockback only) in these cases rather than their force sabers.

[Anthony]

Doesn't have to be 'detonate on impact'. Force swords are high energy weapons, anything that does tight beam burning damage with power sufficient to penetrate armor will detonate even extremely stable explosives (they won't generate a 'proper' detonation, which means they won't trigger a nuclear weapon or produce a directional jet from a shaped charge).

[weby]

Originally Posted by Kallatari

Yeah, a grenade that goes off on impact. My players have wanted those for some time, not because of pseudo-jedi parries, but because they don't like the delay from the fuse before it detonates. In a second by second game, even a 2 second fuse can sometimes feel like it takes forever. They'd love a toss-and-boom weapon. But most have opted not to in case of that rare fumble so that way they have time to get out of the way of their own grenade.

Historically they have been used in anti-tank grenades as that allows designing fuses that are likely to explode when hitting hard things like tanks, but a lot less likely if hitting soft ground.

Also if such hits something it is not supposed to and explodes, it is less likely to kill the user than a fragmentation grenade.

And yes, fumbles with grenades happen in real life. When I was in the army the second company had a scare where in grenade exercise the grenade flew only about 2 meters and thus exploded way closer than was supposed to.. of course in the exercise we threw from a dug in position so 2 meters is just uncomfortable as you hunker down, not directly fatal.

But in that case an impact fuse might have been a bad idea as the thrower and instructor would not have had time to duck likely...

[weby]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Doesn't have to be 'detonate on impact'. Force swords are high energy weapons, anything that does tight beam burning damage with power sufficient to penetrate armor will detonate even extremely stable explosives (they won't generate a 'proper' detonation, which means they won't trigger a nuclear weapon or produce a directional jet from a shaped charge).

Well, some explosives are very hard to get to explode even on purpose and do not explode when burned, so I am not so sure. They tend to require proper shock wave and and a too well cutting burning could well just slice them and maybe cause them to burn..

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Kallatari

My pseudo-Jedi likes using TK to pull the pins off the grenades of his opponents before they use them.

That's okay, because the anti-Jedi grenades have Force-sensitive proximity fuses so they only blow up next to active Force wielders. You're just saving them a Ready action before they throw them at you.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by weby

Well, some explosives are very hard to get to explode even on purpose and do not explode when burned, so I am not so sure.

'Flame' doesn't on 8d(5).

Now, you could have alternate force swords that are gravity shear effects (probably doing cutting damage, and technologically more related to graviton beams), and something like that would probably just chop an explosive in half, but actual energy swords are gonna set them off.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by weby

But in that case an impact fuse might have been a bad idea as the thrower and instructor would not have had time to duck likely...

Impact fused HE grenades have existed, usually 'offensive' grenades (i.e. no or limited fragmentation models). Having a short arming delay so it has time to get clear of the thrower (or stop bouncing if they fumble and drop it) were also normal. In WWII they tended to be less than reliable, being both too sensitive and not sensitive enough, resulting in such lovely things as the 'Red Devil'.

[seycyrus]

Any munition that relies on shaped charge formation (perhaps your arrowheads) for its penetration mechanism will be highly affected by being cut in half.

Any resulting explosion from the charge going off would be far less damaging than what the armor penetrating potential of the shaped charge might otherwise imply.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Rupert

Impact fused HE grenades have existed... In WWII they tended to be less than reliable, being both too sensitive and not sensitive enough

Some impact-fused grenades also had a timed detonator as a backup in case the impact fuse didn't set off the grenade. Arm it, throw it, and it blows up when it hits (if the impact fuse works, in which case the timer becomes irrelevant) or a few seconds after it was armed (even if the impact fuse didn't work, because the timed reaction occurs). At least that encourages errors on the "not sensitive enough" side while still retaining some use for grenades that don't have to be in contact with their target.