Hi all.
One of my players is planning to use liquid thermite in Splash rounds, using Zap rounds to set it off. I have been trying to come up with a fair system that doesn't involve him doing 3d10+5 damager per bullet to targets for an indefinite period.
Here are the rules I've settled on for now; do they seem fair? Do any of you have any ideas for improvements?
1) A dose of liquid thermite (or Scrapper's Gel), enough to significantly damage a human sized target, can't fit in fewer than 3 splash rounds (i.e. 1d10 + 1 damage per round for 1 bullet, 3d10+5 for a full dose from a 3-round burst for thermite).
2) Liquid Thermite (and Scrapper's Gel) burn for 3 turns.
3) Adding additional 'doses' of thermite (or Scrapper's Gel) to a target who is already burning from an earlier attack does not increase the damage but rather prolongs the duration (otherwise the damage would rapidly multiply to truly horrific levels).
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Weaponising Liquid Thermite
Wed, 2011-02-23 08:24
#1
Skimble
Weaponising Liquid Thermite
Wed, 2011-02-23 08:44
#2
Decivre
Re: Weaponising Liquid Thermite
One thing I would mentiont is that both scrapper's gel and liquid thermite are gels, not liquids. A splash round with the stuff probably wouldn't spread much at all. I'd suggest that the zap round that's used to trigger the splash round requires a called shot to successfully activate the thermite (-10 to target number, +30 MoS required to succeed).
Thermite is designed to burn as fast as possible, so prolonging the duration doesn't make too much sense. However, you do not need to stick to a static increase of damage per round. I would recommend that the damage tapers off after 3 rounds, to the point that your player only really wants to use 3 rounds at a time for maximum efficiency. I might go with this formula:
1-2 rounds: 1d10+1 per round (as you wrote).
3 rounds: 3d10+5.
4+ rounds: +1d10 damage per 3 rounds after 3, +1 damage for the remainder.
So, 7 rounds of liquid thermite would cumulate to 4d10+6 per turn that it is ignited (3d10+5 for first 3 rounds, 1d10 for next 3, 1 for 7th round).
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Wed, 2011-02-23 08:51
#3
Skimble
Re: Weaponising Liquid Thermite
I take your point regarding the difficulty of hitting the patch of gel, but my player is actually planning to fire zap rounds in parallel by essentially taping two guns together, more or less.
As to the other point, when I say that new rounds will prolong the damage what I mean is best illustrated with an example:
* Target is dosed with a shot of thermite
* After two rounds he is shot with a second dose of thermite.
* He will now continue burning for a total of 3 rounds rather than the 1 round previously remaining.
I didn't mean that durations would be cumulative, just that essentially you can't increase the damage beyond 3d10+5 by adding more doses of thermite; that's the maximum damage and worst-case scenario.
To be fully realistic I think the damage system would be based on the percentage of the target covered, with 3d10+5 representing, say, 50% cover... but that's a bit complicated to eyeball so I'm going for something a little simpler.
Wed, 2011-02-23 18:02
#4
CodeBreaker
Re: Weaponising Liquid Thermite
This might be my fault, especially if it is something that has come up in the last few days. If so, sorry :P To keep the players in my game who insist on using this tactic in line, I applied a few rules.
1) Liquid Thermite/Scrappers Gel only burns for 3 Action Turns, after which it is essentially inert.
2) Only one application of LT/SG per target at any one time.
3) Setting the LT/SG off with anything that isn't a melee weapon requires a called shot that has no other advantages.
4) Damage is applied at the end of the shooters action turn.
5) Each application of LT/SG requires a separate called shot to ignite.
If he demands an explanation, keep things narrative and claim game balance. At the moment LT/SG is amazing against almost all targets, it is entirely unbalanced (And has been for ages, its just I never posted about it before :p). But do not punish them for coming up with an effective target, they should still be able to use it, especially against heavily armored foes, where it is one of the few useful things the combat monkies can do.
It also is a fun tactic when you have one extremely accurate member and a few who can hardly point and click. The sniper uses his actions to ignite the LT/SG, the others pray and spray with capsule rounds.
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Thu, 2011-02-24 15:15
#5
savaze
Re: Weaponising Liquid Thermite
I hope they aren't firing Thermite on board a ship, that could be the least of their problems...