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So, it talks about explosives being more or less just grenades you've taken the time to set up. One grenade, one minute. What it doesn't talk about is wiring multiple grenades to go off at the same time. It would take longer, sure, but they could all be set to the same detonator, with the same trigger. Like, a level 1 frag grenade is not made of especially powerful explosives, but if you wired 60 of them up to a wall, would they count as a single damage source? Since they are all going off at the same time, as part of the same action, I mean. Would that single damage source go against the (half) object's hardness once, or would each individual grenade count as a separate attack?
Example: You come upon a steel door. It has 20 hardness, 60 HP. The door has been welded shut, but you conveniently have 60lbs. of explosives (60 Level 1 Frag Grenades) and an hour to kill, so you wire them all up. When the explosion goes off, does the door go flying off its hinges after taking anywhere from 60-360 damage (-10 for hardness), or does the door remain utterly untouched, as none of the individual charges dealt enough damage to overcome half of the door's hardness?
Seems like a really obvious answer to me, but it isn't addressed at all. If you can combine charges, explosives become more viable. If not, you're really not blowing much of anything up.
TL;DR: When you combine explosive charges, do they count as a single explosion?
Were I running it would be dependant on a few things.
Are you trying to cheese the rules? Then it's probably a no. Does this make the game more fun or exciting? Then it's probably a yes.
A good middle ground for me would be a fairly high DC to set up those explosives. You can't just put a bunch of fire crackers on a door and blow it off it's hinges but if you know it's structural weaknesses and how to exploit them then sure.
Were I running it would be dependant on a few things.
Are you trying to cheese the rules? Then it's probably a no. Does this make the game more fun or exciting? Then it's probably a yes.
A good middle ground for me would be a fairly high DC to set up those explosives. You can't just put a bunch of fire crackers on a door and blow it off it's hinges but if you know it's structural weaknesses and how to exploit them then sure.
My first character is supposed to have been a mine technician. (Gnome mechanic.) As such, I am starting with a handful of "mining charges" (level 1 frag grenades). That said, at first level, I could lay down on a handful of the things, set them off, and I'd probably be fine. (1d6 each, vs. 9 SP, 10HP.) Even ignoring half an object's hardness, on their own, they can't touch concrete, let alone stone. So I'm trying to figure out how industries that use the explosives get away with it. Do they really spend hundreds of thousands of credits so that each charge can be handheld? That seems really inefficient. Especially since getting their hands on those charges would take way more legwork, and it means that even blowing a door off its hinges is probably out of the reach of even high level characters.
A frag grenade is a completely different explosive device compared to a shaped charge used for blasting concrete.
You basically have a device that uses the blast to shred itself into tiny pieces and rip stuff apart compared to a bunch of explosives directed towards the stuff it needs to shred.
Oh, I know. I wouldn't conflate the two if it weren't for the bit in the Detonator's description that reads: "Explosives have the same price, effect, and weight as grenades (see page 183)." I thought it was weird, too.