Fragmentation Damage

Many
grenades,
bombs,
and
artillery shells have metal casings
designed to shatter when they
explode, producing a storm of sharp
fragments. Some are packed with
extra material (pellets, nails, etc.) to
enhance this effect.
Fragmentation damage, if any,
appears in brackets after explosive
damage; e.g., “[2d]” means 2d frag-
mentation damage. Everyone within
(5 ¥ dice of fragmentation damage)
yards is vulnerable. For example, that
[2d] attack would throw fragments
out to 5 ¥ 2 = 10 yards.
The farther a target is from the
blast, the less likely the fragments are
to hit him. A hit is automatic if the
explosive attack actually strikes the
target. The fragments attack everyone
else in the area at skill 15. Only three
modifiers apply: the range modifier
for the distance from the center of the
blast to the target, the modifier for the
target’s posture (prone, etc.), and the
target’s Size Modifier. It is possible for
several fragments to hit! For every
three points by which the attack roll
succeeds, one additional fragment
strikes the target.
The only active defense against
fragments is to dive away from the
explosion that produced them; see
Dodge and Drop (p. 377).
For each hit, roll hit location ran-
domly. If that location is behind cover,
the fragment hits cover.
Fragmentation damage is cutting.
Note that if an explosive attack has an
armor divisor, this does not apply to
the fragments it produces.
Airbursts: Against an airburst, do
not apply posture modifiers – lying
prone under an airburst does not
decrease the body area exposed to the
rain of fragments! Only overhead
cover protects.
Incidental
Fragmentation:
An
explosion with no listed fragmenta-
tion damage can still create fragments
if there is any loose or frangible mate-
rial at the explosion site. Incidental
fragmentation damage ranges from
1d-4 for ordinary earth to 1d for an
explosion on loose scrap.
Hot Fragments: White phosphorus-
type smoke warheads produce this
effect. The fragments typically inflict
1d(0.2) burning damage every 10 sec-
onds for one minute.