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Improvised Explosives

Started by Brother_Brimstone, March 05, 2010, 11:04:56 PM

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Brother_Brimstone

I was looking at the LRB's section on explosives and it has stats for demo charges, smoke grenades, frag grenades and other interesting explosives, but one area in which i found it lacking was improvised explosives.

Because my warband is composed of terrorists, insurgents and generally guerilla fighters, i wanted to create a character who embodied the 'guerilla' aspect of this, complete with homemade pipebombs and molotov cocktails.

So i suppose my question would be; does anyone know of any rules for pipebombs, molotov cocktails, and other improvised explosives, or will I have to come up with the rules myself?

DapperAnarchist

There is the "firebomb" device from Emissary Fabian - who might appear in Marco's collected articles, I'm not sure. If not, PM me, I have the WD tucked away somewhere...
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Brother_Brimstone

Ah, thanks very much, it is in the signature - i'd never noticed that piece of equipment before. Do you think a pipebomb should have the same stats as a frag grenade, or do you think i should change them slightly?

On a similar note, I've been thinking about this, and I think it would be rather interesting to come up with some 'guerilla warfare' rules for inquisitor. For example, I was thinking about setting traps, such as a grenade with a wire copnnecting to the pin, being set along a hallway. You have to make a check to notice, and if you fail, you fail to see the trip wire in front of you. Another 'guerilla tactic' which I would be intereted in getting rules together for would be punji traps and other forms of 'home made' traps.

Perhaps things such as this have no place in inquisitor, and if so, feel free to tell me, but if not, i think it would be interesting area which I have yet to see be explored.

Kaled

There's a Booby Traps ability in the Pathfinders article...
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Brother_Brimstone

Ah, thanks very much - well, that makes things easier then!

Sorry, from the looks of things, I think I need to read around a bit more - i consulted the LRB and the expanded Armory, but from the looks of things, the information I was looking for was easily acquired.

THanks for the help, anyway.

Kaled

No problem - there's quite a lot of material to dig through.  If you continue asking for things then we can tell you whether they already exist or help you with rules if they don't.

Going back to your pipebomb, you could just make it like a frag grenade - or if you want it to be less powerful, change the damage to D6.  It all depends on exactly how big they're meant to be - perhaps the character has a big one and a couple of smaller ones or whatever...
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TheNephew

I don't think there's much need to make the characters more complex that they need to be, so frag grenades for the pipe bombs and stuff like that should work.
The Emissary Fabian article has rules for his home-made fuses for the firebombs, which may be something you want to consider, but otherwise re-labeled rulebook equipment should suffice, and keeps stuff simple.
Molotov cocktails and the like I don't see as very portable, generally, since they're fragile, volatile and open-topped. Not sure where I was going with that point, now that it's in black and white. But the firebomb rules minus the fuse should cover them.

RobSkib

Quote from: TheNephew on March 07, 2010, 01:26:50 PMNot sure where I was going with that point, now that it's in black and white.

I see where you're coming from - what you're saying is that characters aren't likely to be lugging them around with them anyway. Rules should still exist for them however - if your characters are taking part in a bar brawl and the pub owner has a particular weakness for moonshine, then improvised mollies are going to be the norm! If your character is a particularly big whiskey drinker, or carries flammable liquids in sizeable containers for whatever purpose, it'd be good to have some of those rules on standby just in case.
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Myriad

Molotov cocktails are just bottles of half flammable liquid until you set a match to them.  Assuming said revolutionary has come prepared they're portable enough, although I agree not the sort of thing most characters carry all the time. 

I'd make a pipe bomb a bit less powerful than a frag grenade, and maybe a risky action.
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MarcoSkoll

Quote from: Myriad on March 07, 2010, 09:17:30 PMI'd make a pipe bomb a bit less powerful than a frag grenade, and maybe a risky action.
Grenades are already a risky action.
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Brother_Brimstone

#10
Quote from: TheNephew on March 07, 2010, 01:26:50 PM
Molotov cocktails and the like I don't see as very portable, generally, since they're fragile, volatile and open-topped.

While I appreciate your input, i'm not sure I agree with your sentiment. To make a molotov all you need to carry is a bottle of flammable liquid, a rag (soaked in spirits for best effect), and a lighter. The bottle need not be left open (You need not carry it around with the rag in, ready to ignite), and the liquid need not be volatile (in the sense of 'will explode with little provocation). To put it another way, imagine you were carrying a glass bottle which you had filled with petrol, and you tripped and fell. The bottle would smash, but it wouldn't explode. The worst you would get would be to be covered in petrol (not entirely desirable, but hardly a lethal condition in isolation). Similarly, despite what hollywood says, even if a bottle of petrol were shot, it would not explode.

The molotov is not even a danger until fire is introduced, and you would only prepare and ignite the molotov when you want to use it.

For me, a character who specialises in home made weaponary could easily carry around several bottles filled with petrol in his backpack if he thought he might need them, and this wouldn't be any more of a danger than when you carry a shopping bag filled with bottles of spirits etc... (i know there is a difference between petrol and spirits - my point is that neither would spontaneously combust if you dropped it).

You also have to factor into account the mindset of this character (which I know you could not have done, obviously, not knowing the character) - he's a bombmaker, an anarchist, a revolutionary. Home made explosives are his hobby, and since being turned to a cause, his livelihood. He is the demolitions specialist
and as such, if he's going out with the leader of his revolutionary cell, he's going to go armed with his 'signiture weapons'.

Thank you for your input everyone.