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Lafcadio
I am playing a mage who is the primary medic on the team and was currently on a run pinned down across a street from a dying friend who failed to stabalize. Running across would have been suicide (4 or more security types with SMGs trained on the open street) so I got to thinking how I could have stabalized him sooner. Then I browsed M&M and saw the splash grenades and DMSO rules. Then remembered my mage had a reasonable throwing skill.

The question is: If the chems from a trauma patch were used in the splash grenade, would it be good enough to stabalize a downed comrade, and what would the side-effects be? I was considering that the target number for stabalizing may be higher since the dose wouldn't hit just the heart, and maybe some stun damage from the adrenaline and other chemicals being pumped into the whole of the body instead of just the heart. It would be an expensive little sucker( 2,110 nuyen after SI), but it might be nice to have one lying around. Any ideas if this is possible?
Fortune
I'd say no.

Personally, I take a LOS-variant Treat spell (+1 DL) for occasions like those.
Morgannah
My combat mage always had an "oh shit" expendable anchoring focus on hand, with an AOE heal linked and ready to go, set to activate upon impact. Although it's only really useful once in a blue moon, the tactic saved our group on several occasions.
Sandoval Smith
Although it's a rather cool idea, and within game mechanics it might be feasible, I'd tend to say no. There's no way to predict how much of a dose the target would recieve, since instead of a patch delivering all its meds in a concentrated does through skin contact, it's being sprayed into the air every which way.

I'd say the expendable focus is a great idea, since it's either that or look for a dumpster or other large piece of mobile cover you can use to scoot across the street behind.
Mercer
Or, for that matter, put it in a dart or squirt gun.
Backgammon
I believe the trauma patch says it has to be placed exactly over the heart of a person, so splashing or injecting someone at random wouldn't be recommended.
toturi
No, but I'll allow something similar... Use the Splash Grenades with DMSO Immortal Flower. Now there's a one in six chance of not only will the guy be okay, he'll probably jump right back up on his feet.
mfb
five-in-six chance. one-in-six chance that his dying words will be "i sure smell pretty."
toturi
Oops, you're right. smile.gif
Lafcadio
I am at work without source material, what is the availability and cost for Immortal Flower?
Kagetenshi
None listed. It is special stuff.

~J
Austere Emancipator
It doesn't have either. Up to the GM.

[Edit]Argh, that's what I get for opening a thread and then reading it only 6 minutes later. Nope, that wasn't me being slow.[/Edit]
Mercer
You know, I'm kind of thankful I'm the only one in my group that reads the location books, because I'm the only one in my group who knows about the Anasazi Critter Power Herbs. The Immortal Flower DMSO Squirt is pretty much the reason I never mentioned it to anybody. I mean, who needs the headache?
mfb
ah, i dunno. an item that has no listed cost/availability is pretty much the thumbs up for a GM to say "you can't find any".
Siege
They don't really describe how a trauma patch works or the reasoning behind it - I tend to believe it has a specific cocktail of drugs that has to be injected into or near the heart that will keep critical systems stabilized until the medics can apply proper attention.

On the bright side, this is a wonderful reason for biomonitors and autoinjectors.

-Siege
Fermun
i'd say there is no way it could work... trauma patch would be a very exact concentration, very direct dose of the meds. if you were to do it in a grenade, it loses the directness (ie, it is now spread throughout the body) and it also has no assurance of proper concentration. the grenade would either OD the person as you got too much meds too fast, or it would disperse too soon and not give the person what they needed.

another problem is that the trauma patch gives the meds over a long period of time, the grenade would be giving it instantaneously and then going away...

i dont see any good way to do ranged stabilization...
Fortune
LOS Stabilize spell. wink.gif
Crusher Bob
You could probably also rig up a small drone with a robotic pilot, and a medikit and/or trauma patches and tell it to 'go stabilize' that guy over there.

Since the medkits already provide the biotech skill, the drone just need to follow the medkits directions (it'll need some arms).
KarmaInferno
I can see even better use for the Trauma-Grenade as a nasty anti-spellslinger device.

...

What?


-karma
mfb
i don't believe trauma patches have any negative effects on mages. that's stimpatches. regardless, a stim grenade is less directly effective than a narcojet grenade. narcojet will knock the mage out; a stim grenade will slightly lower the mage's effectiveness, but piss him off really, really badly.
Lafcadio
Ahhh...but the stim grenade could both help and hinder as I could use it on my non-awakened allies and stim patches don't need special applications as far as I know.
BitBasher
I do believe a trauma patch causes an extra roll for magic loss.
mfb
a stimpatch is a single dose of the stimulating chemicals. a stim grenade would be many, many doses of the stimulating chemicals. overdosing and underdosing would be a big enough problem to make this unfeasible.
KarmaInferno
QUOTE (BitBasher)
I do believe a trauma patch causes an extra roll for magic loss.

That's what I was getting at.

smile.gif


-karma
Jrayjoker
I've got to sound off with a "too much trouble for little effect" As all our comrades have indicated, there are a lot of other ways to skin that particulat cat.
Lafcadio
So would the range of damage for say, narcojet or cyanide be equally impossible to predict? Assuming of course that a larger dose of the narco or cyanide would be more potent. Isn't that taken care of be staging/scatter rules? Perhaps someone with the biotech skill could gauge the dosage properly.
mfb
gauge the dosage of a splash grenade properly? i'm thinking no.

the point of narcojet or cyanide is to take people out of action. if that's accomplished, overdosing really isn't an issue. they'll just sleep longer, or be more dead. with stimulants, you run the risk of Exploding Heart Disease, and also Jesus Christ His Blood Is On Fire Syndrome. these maladies run contrary to the goal of making someone not-unconscious.
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