Seeker Weapons & Grenades

Seeker weapons are a combination of automatic grenade launcher, micromissile, coilgun, and smart munitions technology in personal weapon sizes. Seeker rounds are fired at high-velocity via rings of magnetic coils, after which the micromissile or minimissile uses scramjets or solid-fuel rockets to propel itself and maintain high velocities over great distances. Seekers are fired using Guns skill.

Disposable Launcher: This launcher is pre-packed with one standard missile.

Seeker Armband: Worn on the arm like a bracer, this weapon fires micromissiles via an entoptic interface.

Seeker Pistol: This pistol-sized seeker fires micromissiles in semi-auto mode.

Seeker Rifle: The seeker rifle comes in a bullpup configuration and fires either micromissiles or minimissiles.

Underbarrel Seeker: This seeker micromissile launcher is commonly attached to the underbarrel of SMGs or assault rifles.

Seeker Missiles and Grenades

Seekers and grenades are both compact, multi-function, explosive devices. Seekers are packaged in standard missile, minimissile, or micromissile sizes and fired from seeker weapons using Guns skill. Grenades are designed to be thrown using Athletics skill or placed as traps using Hardware: Demolitions. Grenades come in standard form or as minigrenades.

Minigrenades and micromissiles are the baseline for listed effects. Adjust the effects for minimissiles and standard grenades/missiles as noted on the table. Most are area-effect weapons. Each can be set for different trigger conditions or to adjust the blast radius. Seekers/grenades that miss or that hit but are not sticky and are not set for impact or airburst detonation will scatter. Listed complexity is for 5 grenades/missiles.

Each seeker missile can function as either accushot or homing ammunition.

BASELINE STATS ARE FOR MICROMISSILES AND MINIGRENADES.

Dazzler: Dazzlers are spinning laser devices, designed to blind targets and defeat surveillance. Anyone within line of sight in the radius of effect (50 meters) who is not equipped with anti-glare mods must succeed in a REF Check or be blinded for 1 action turn, +1 per superior failure. A critical failure results in permanent blindness (until repaired/healed). Any visual light/infrared cameras are overloaded for the dazzler’s duration. Unless set to a timed deactivation, dazzlers continue to blind for 1 hour or until wirelessly turned off or physically destroyed (DUR 10, AV 5/10).

EMP: EMP munitions fire off a strong electromagnetic pulse when they “detonate.” Since most electronics in Eclipse Phase are built with optical technology, and power supplies and sensitive microcircuits are shielded and surge-protected, this has no major damaging effect. Antennas, however, are vulnerable, especially finer wires like those used with mesh inserts, as are nanobots and microbots. Every radio within the blast radius (50 meters) is disabled until repaired with an appropriate Hardware or Medicine: Biotech Test or a fixer nanoswarm. Every nanoswarm within range suffers DV 3d10 and −10 to actions until repaired.

Gas/Smoke: Gas/smoke munitions rapidly spew out a dense cloud with a 10-meter radius. Smoke impedes sight (−20) with thick fumes of a chosen color and is heated to obfuscate heat signatures moving through the smoke as cover. Smoke clouds remain for 3 minutes, though they may drift or dissipate more quickly depending upon environmental conditions (wind, rain, etc.). Gas munitions deliver a dose to anyone within the cloud, but they dissipate after 3 action turns.

High-Explosive Armor-Piercing (HEAP): A design only available for seekers (not grenades), HEAP warheads use high explosives to blast a path for a penetrating tungsten-alloy round. HEAP rounds have no blast radius, but are very effective at penetrating armor.

Plasmaburst: These munitions release a burst of plasma upon detonation that causes searing heat and fire damage across the area of effect without the devastating shockwaves of explosions that might rebound in an enclosed environment and/or breach a habitat’s infrastructure.

Splash: Splash devices spread a contained substance (a drug, chemical, nanoswarm, paint, etc.) over a 10-meter blast radius when they detonate. Each contains 5 doses of a toxin/drug (targets are affected by 1 dose) or 1 nanoswarm.

Stun: These enhanced versions of flashbangs release a concussive blast and a cloud of rubber “stingballs” designed to stun targets and knock them off their feet. This blast also releases a blinding flash and a deafening thunderclap. Treat as a shock effect. Stun seekers/grenades can also be set into “overload mode,” inflicting an all-out sensory assault for a full minute. In addition to blinding glare, the device releases nausea-inducing malodorants and infrasonic frequencies that trigger unpleasant emotional responses (anxiety, uneasiness, extreme sorrow, revulsion, and fear).

Tactical Multipurpose (TMP): TMP devices can be set to detonate in either fragmentation or high-explosive mode. Fragmentation explosives spread a cloud of lethal flechettes over the area of effect. High-explosive seekers/grenades create a destructive shock and heat wave.

Thermobaric: Thermobaric munitions disperse a cloud of aerosol explosive over an area and then ignite, literally setting the air on fire, generating a devastating pressure wave, and sucking the oxygen out of the area.

Seeker and Grenade Rules

These rules apply to grenades, seeker missiles, and similar weapons.

Adjusting Blast Radius

When engaged in offensive operations, the blast radius of grenades and seekers can be dialed back, so that attackers are not caught in the area of effect. For uniform area effect weapons, simply declare a blast radius less than the one listed. For centered area effects, increase the DV reduction per meter, up to a maximum −20/meter. Such adjustments require a quick action and can be set remotely.

Jumping on Grenades

You can take one for the team and throw yourself on top of a grenade to protect others. You must be within movement range of the grenade’s location, take a complex action, and succeed in a REF Check to fall on the grenade and cover it with your morph. You suffer an extra DV 1d10 when the grenade detonates, but the grenade’s damage is reduced by your Armor Value + 10 when applied to others within the blast radius.

Sticky Coating

Grenades and some seekers have a special adhesive coating that sticks to almost any surface when activated. Sticky munitions that hit their target do not scatter. They can even be stuck to an opponent with a successful melee attack to be detonated later.

Throwing Back a Grenade

You can reach a grenade before it detonates and throw it back or away in a safe direction. You must be within movement range of the grenade’s location, take a complex action, and succeed in a REF Check at −20 to catch the rolling, sliding grenade. If successful, you can throw the grenade in a direction of your choice with the same action (treat as a standard throwing attack at −20). If you fail, however, you may find yourself at ground zero when it detonates.

Trigger Conditions

Modern grenades, seekers, and similar explosives do not necessarily detonate the instant they are thrown or strike the target. The user sets the trigger option when deploying the weapon and can alter it via wireless link. Missed attacks or attacks that do not explode in transit or when they strike are subject to scatter.

Airburst: Airburst means that the device explodes in mid-air as soon as it travels a distance programmed at launch. Resolve such attacks immediately when fired. At the GM’s discretion, such attacks ignore cover modifiers. Note that airburst munitions are programmed with a safety feature that will prevent detonation if they fail to travel a minimum precautionary distance from the launcher, though this can be hacked or overridden with Hardware: Demolitions.

Impact: The grenade or missile goes off as soon as it hits something, whether that be the target, ground, or an intervening object. Resolve the effects immediately.

Proximity: The explosive uses simple electromagnetic sensors (Perceive 30) to detect movement and targets (biological, synthetic, or both) within a pre-set radius range out to 3 meters and immediately detonate. There is a 3-turn delay between initiating a proximity trigger and its activation.

Signal: The munition is primed for detonation upon receiving a command signal via wireless link. The device simply lays in wait until it receives the proper signal (which must include the cryptographic key assigned when the explosive was primed), detonating immediately when it does.

Timer: The device has a built-in timer allowing the user to adjust exactly when it detonates. This can be anywhere from 1 second to days, months, or even years later, effectively making the device a bomb, but also increasing the likelihood it will be discovered and neutralized. Timed explosives go off at the end of the turn. The minimum detonation period is 1 action turn, meaning the device will detonate at the end of the next turn.