The Fragger - Insane Custom Weapon Design, Someone should take away my copy of arsenal... Options

[Rad]

This idea was spawned over the course of our last two gaming sessions. Last week, someone brought up the idea of using monowire-edged bullets to bypass armor. I pointed out that monofilament swords only get -1 AP, which indicates that monowire can't be backed by anything if you want the full 8P -4 AP damage code, and suggested monowire bolas instead.

Our next (last) session ended with us deep inside a Mitsuhama black research facility, with alarms going off everywhere and a milspec armored strike team on their way to enforce MCT's "Zero-Zone" policy. While discussing our need for Jabberwocky missiles to shoot down the troop transport when it arrives, I mentioned that I had found both monofilament bolas and underbarrel bola launchers in Arsenal. Our team's demolitions/weapons expert suggested replacing the bola weights with grenades, and the horror evolved from there. 24 hours later, I had finished statting this abomination with the weapon modification rules in Arsenal. If we survive, we are building it, if only to see the look on the GM's face when he bans it from the game.

-THE FRAGGER-

This heavily-modded underbarrel bola launcher is used only by dangeous psychotics with no regard for their or anyone else's safety. It launches special bola rounds consisting of two gecko-gripped frag grenades connected by a length of monowire. The round uses the same rules as a monofilament bola, detonates as a frag grenade with double the normal DV, and is capable of full autofire. The strength of The Fragger for the purposes of knockdown tests is 5. The weapon is fired using the exotic ranged weapon skill, and uses heavy pistol ranges. Upon firing, the grenades' voice activation/response system hums "The Ride of the Valkyries" in two-part harmony, followed by the announcement "You are fragged!" just prior to detonation.

A less lethal version of Fragger ammo, "Fragger Jr.", uses regular cord instead of monowire and is available at chargen, while an even more dangerous version, "Skull Fragger" uses White Phosphorus Grenades and comes in ammo drums decorated with a white skull.

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The Fragger:

Underbarrel Bola Launcher (Availability 8R) 350 nuyen
Extended Clip, 50 round Drum (Concealability +2, Slots Used 2, Availability 6R) 1,000 nuyen
Firing Selection Change, FA (Slots Used 4, Availability 12F) 2,350 nuyen
Total: 3,700 nuyen

Fragger Ammo:
Monofilament Bola (Availability 16F) 2,500 nuyen
Frag Grenades, x2 (Availability 10F) 70 nuyen
Gecko Grip, x2 (Slots Used 1, Availability 6) 200 nuyen
Internal Smartgun System, x2 (Slots Used 1, Availability 6R) 70 nuyen
Voice Activation/Response, x2 (Slots Used 1, Availability 2) 100 nuyen
Total: 2,940 nuyen per round

Fragger Jr. Ammo:
Bola (Availability 6) 75 nuyen
Frag Grenades, x2 (Availability 10F) 70 nuyen
Gecko Grip, x2 (Slots Used 1, Availability 6) 200 nuyen
Internal Smartgun System, x2 (Slots Used 1, Availability 6R) 70 nuyen
Voice Activation/Response, x2 (Slots Used 1, Availability 2) 100 nuyen
Total: 515 nuyen per round

Skull Fragger Ammo:
Monofilament Bola (Availability 16F) 2,500 nuyen
White Phosphorus Grenades, x2 (Availability 12F) 240 nuyen
Gecko Grip, x2 (Slots Used 1, Availability 6) 200 nuyen
Internal Smartgun System, x2 (Slots Used 1, Availability 6R) 70 nuyen
Voice Activation/Response, x2 (Slots Used 1, Availability 2) 100 nuyen
Total: 3,280 nuyen per round

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Design points:

> Using bolas as the base weapon eliminates pesky grenade scatter. There was an issue last session where a rocket fired down a cooridor at a steel door landed behind the firer due to scatter. The GM agreed this was rediculous, and let us have a spirit hold the muzzle of the rocket launcher against the door and pull the trigger instead. If required by the GM, the heavy barrel weapon mod or somesuch could be applied to indicate the grenades had been specially modified/balanced to serve as bola weights, but he'll probably outlaw this anyway so I didn't bother. Other designs are possible, such as various explosive/detonator combos instead of actual grenades. This could actually make it a more powerful weapon, depending on how many kilos bola weights weigh.

> The weapon functions like a monofilament bola, wrapping around the target and slicing them up, with the same possibility for causing knockdown. The grenades detonate in the next pass on the attacker's inititave as normal. The gecko grip on the grenades and the monowire connecting them makes it very hard to free a target before the grenades go off. The Voice Activation/Response I added just for fun. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

> Since two grenades are detonating at essentially the same point, it makes sense to apply the "blasts in a confined space" rule to combine the DV of the two shockwaves. If the blast from one grenade being reflected back at point-blank range doubles the DV, it makes sense that two grenades going off right next to each other would have a similar effect.

> The ammo drum and full-auto modifications were added specifically for allowing suppressive fire: An area attack with no penalties that can hit everyone in the area with the weapon's standard damage code? Think about it. I was planning on adding the foregrip mod and a smartgun system to make the Fragger a stand alone weapon, but the drum and firing selection change use up all six slots, and I didn't want to overmod. Besides, six slots for an underbarrel weapon is slightly pushing it anyway. An alternate (and more sane) version could drop the autofire and drum, and instead add a foregrip, integral smartgun system, and airburst link to make a more precise single shot muzzle-loading weapon. This version would benefit from being more concealable, (especially since it wouldn't be mounted on a rifle) and would probably be the same size as a heavy pistol.

So, the results of being hit by this thing are quite nasty:

First you've got the damage from the monowire (8P, -4 AP) as the bolas wrap around you. If you were moving, you've got to deal with the knockdown rules for bolas: Attacker's net hits + 3 (half the launcher's strength, rounded up) if that's equal or higher than your body, you go down. Regardless, you've now got two gecko gripped grenades stuck to you, humming merrily. Next IP, they explode. (24P +2 AP for standard Fragger and Fragger Jr. Ammo; or 16P -half AP for Skullfragger, with an additional 8P -half AP for the next 10 turns.)

A person with the minimum 6 body to be wearing heavy milspec armor without penalty (and no other modifications to his damage resistance test) has a dicepool of 22 to resist impact damage while in heavy milspec with the helmet on. (6 body + 14 heavy milspec + 2 helmet).

First, the monowire damage: 8P minus an average of 6 hits (22 dice -4 for AP divided by average 1 hit/3 dice), that's 2 boxes of physical damage. With a body of 6, our hapless trooper has a total of 11 boxes, so 9 boxes remain. Now, the grenades: 24P minus an average of 8 hits (22 dice +2 for AP divided by average 1 hit/3 dice) is 16 boxes of damage. The remaining 9 boxes, minus 16, put the target squarely at -7 boxes, which is one past his overflow limit.

Conclusion: Against a body 6 human in heavy milspec armor (with helmet), standard Fragger ammo does an average of 18 boxes of physical damage, which will kill the target in one hit. Even a body 20 augmented troll in heavy milspec armor will take 11 boxes of physical damage from the Fragger on average, requiring a total of four hits to exceed his condition modifier.

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The Fragger: 3,700 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)
50-Round Fragger Ammo Drum: 147,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)
50-Round Fragger Jr. Ammo Drum: 25,750 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)
50-Round Skull Fragger Ammo Drum: 164,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)
Cheap Assault Rifle to mount it on: 500 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)

The ability to take out a milspec-armored strike team with one burst of autofire?

Priceless.