Electrical Weapon clairifications

[Razorwing]

We know that the Electrical and Lightning Discharger weapons for Host Armor and such do not have a weapon port as such... and thus can be discharged through any portion of the Armor's body. We also know that this discharge can happen at either long or melee range (maximum range will depend on the type of discharger and upgrades).

My question is, when delivering a discharge at melee range through another strike... say with a fist, a tail strike, or even through a bone blade (let's not worry about whether or not it can travel through the bone), does this cost an extra attack beyond that which is used (striking with a fist costs 1 attack, but does discharging an electrical burst when that fist strikes also cost an attack)?

I am guessing that it does add an extra attack to discharge the electrical burst, but since the attack that it is being discharged with hit, one doesn't need to roll to strike with the electrical discharge. One can still roll with the impact of the initial strike and thus reduce the damage from the electrical attack as well as the initial attack.

Next, should someone making such a charged attack need to declare it before the initial strike is made, thus costing the character 2 attacks regardless of whether the attack hits or misses?

Lastly, in the case of an entangled opponent (with whips or harpoon tentacles imbedded in them), would they be able to resist an electrical attack discharged through the entangled appendage? I'm guessing such an attack would be considered an automatic hit given that the opponent is wrapped or stabbed.

I have a character idea where the host armor pilot uses the electrical discharge of this weapon to enhance the damage his melee weapons deal... effectively adding electrical damage to the physical damage he is inflicting with each strike.

[kaid]

Probably depend on your GM but honestly I would have no problem just adding the discharger damage to melee attacks. Basically going for the lightning eel type mod and in that case pretty much anything touching you or that you are touching would be fair game.

[Shark_Force]

i'd say it takes an attack to activate or deactivate.

it would add the damage to successful entangles and similar attacks as well, imo, and if you have entangled someone through a part of your body or specifically modified external weapon (which will generally be done if creating the character with the electrical system, otherwise some relatively minor cost should be incurred), you could spend an action to automatically deal the electrical damage an extra time.

[Razorwing]

The concept of this character was to do a lot of damage in a short amount of time without having to worry about reload times. Most of the weapons that can be added to Host Armor really can't be used at the same time... you can launch volleys of organic missiles and such... but eventually you will run out of ammo until you can give the armor time to reload (which can take minutes to hours).

Then I saw the Electrical Weapons and the fact that they don't have a weapon port... meaning the electricity can be discharged through any portion of the armor rather than through a specific spot like almost all other weapons. This meant that adding the damage from this weapon in conjunction to a melee attack could increase that attack's overall damage considerably. Then I read up recently on the Griffin war mount and how it attaches itself to robots where they can then tear the robot apart... and I wondered how much more damaging they would be if they could deliver electrical bursts as well... especially with the upgrade that lets the electricity short out some of the robot's systems. The idea just snowballed from there.

The main focus of this character is the Electrical weapons that he uses to enhance his melee attacks. While he can use it at range, he prefers to use it as a melee damage enhancer, delivering a powerful shock to his opponents in addition to the damage the attacks that deliver the shock do. He will upgrade the electrical discharger to lightning, and add the mega upgrade as well as the upgrade that can stun host armor/war mounts and short out robots. His main melee weapons are a pair of bone blades and a hammer-like combat tail through which he channels these electrical attacks. Thanks to his combat training, he can deal a fair bit of damage with these... especially when energized with electricity. Like the Griffin, he will also get a pair of tentacle harpoons to impale opponents with to deliver direct shocks... and to secure himself to robots for him to slice into with his blades and pound on with his tail (and will enhance with the opti-upgrade to maximize the likelihood of impaling the target). To prevent the tentacles and the blades from interfering with each other, a second pair of arms are added... with the blades on one pair and the tentacles on the other. Organic thrusters give him the ability to fly and take on aerial targets with similar tactics the Giffins use (especially with the tentacle harpoons). This should allow him to do a lot of damage to his opponents very quickly while also debilitating them to some degree while he does so while other enhancements (like a bio-force field and increased armor regeneration) can help him survive long enough to finish the job.

True, it will likely take time to maximize the effectiveness of these tactics, but the potential once done should be quite impressive.

[Shark_Force]

well, if you're looking to dish out maximum damage per action, and you don't mind very short range (as implied by being willing to enter melee combat), i really must recommend the flying blades. you can volley them, as many as you have, and they are not ammo-based. they work against pretty much anything, too.

of course, if you decide you want 200 of them or something like that, the GM will probably decide to limit them much the same as light cells, but so long as you don't get too carried away you should be fine.

[flatline]

well, if you're looking to dish out maximum damage per action, and you don't mind very short range (as implied by being willing to enter melee combat), i really must recommend the flying blades. you can volley them, as many as you have, and they are not ammo-based. they work against pretty much anything, too.

of course, if you decide you want 200 of them or something like that, the GM will probably decide to limit them much the same as light cells, but so long as you don't get too carried away you should be fine.

Beat me to it.

But on the original topic, I'd have to look at the numbers to see if electrical discharge is competitive from a points perspective. I mostly ignored the electrical powers when doing my splicers analysis because they didn't grab my imagination like flying blades did (I love the idea of splitting an attack between multiple targets).

It occurs to me that since the flying blades are still attached to your armor, perhaps you could use flying blades and electrical discharge together.

--flatline

[Razorwing]

The problem I see with combining the Flying Blades with the Electrical Discharge weapons is that even though you can fire many blades in a single action, you only get to discharge once... not once per blade. This means that the electrical discharge will be spread out along all the blades... and if fighting multiple opponents, it will be spread out amongst them as well.

Additionally... it is the visual impact of the fighting style that the character is going for. Slashing and bashing an impaled robot apart seems a lot more impressive than merely poking it with a bunch of tiny blades. Yes... this is a preference on the character's part... and may not be as efficient as the flying blades, but then bio-technology is all about options and preferences... not what is the most efficient and quickest means to maximize damage. If it were... then the Engineers and Librarians would only equip people with the most powerful and efficient weapons to do the most damage... not offer a range of options (some of which are less optimal than others from a Bio-E cost perspective).

To be honest... I had thought about adding the Flying Blades... and while it may be more efficient use of Bio-E for an -in-your-face fighting style... it just doesn't fit the visual the character is going for.

This character will charge in with the organic thrusters, targeting one of the larger bots with his tentacle harpoons (hopefully impaling it thanks to the Opti-Upgrade to them) and delivering his first electrical discharge to knock out some of the robot's systems. He will then pull himself to the robot... blades out to start slashing it (while again delivering more electrical attacks to keep its systems impaired... and possibly knocking more systems offline). He will also start bashing it with his tail... again, delivering more electrical damage. Any attacks left that can not be combined with the slashing and bashing will be used to deliver more electrical bursts through the still impaled tentacles (which doesn't need a strike roll since they are already imbedded into the robot). The visual appears that he is like a berserker tearing through the robot he's targeted... and the speed at which he can do this inspires his men... to wade into the other minions of the machine with brutal efficiency. The visual from the flying blades poking at a machine just doesn't seem as inspiring.

Of course... adding flying blades to the arm with the tentacles would give him another weapon to use while the harpoons are imbedded into his opponent but since he is dividing his remaining attacks with sword slashes (dual strikes thanks to paired weapon training) and the extra attack he gets with his tail; another weapon system would just further divide his attacks.