So the group I am running for has discovered grenades and there have been a few things that were misunderstood initially that I thought I'd point out.
One is that the number listed for the explosion is a radius not a diameter. This means that a standard frag grenade hits a 30 ft diameter circle, which is significantly more useful than how we were initially running them.
The second thing we noticed was that smoke grenades are kinda OP at low levels. If you fail a DC 15 fortitude save and don't have environmental protections activated you can to NOTHING. No actions, and the next time you try to save you are saving at a penalty of 2. At later levels this won't really be a big deal, but at low levels it's kinda ridiculous.
Also as a side note, the seeking fusion combined with smoke grenades makes a melee character significantly more protected and effective.
Thanks.
Don't smoke grenades also block lasers, and provide concealment?
So it's effectively 40 credits for an area effect save or stun that potentially does nonlethal damage and also provides concealment and blocks laser weapons through an area of a 40ft diameter hemisphere for 1 whole minute.
You're right, that is super OP. Time to update all my sample characters first level equipment lists.
Smoke provides both cover and concealment against lasers, but does not block them completely. In the case of smoke grenades, the concealment part is a bit redundant since they provide general concealment, but it would be relevant with other sources of smoke, fog, etc.
They're still among the best items in that price range.
Yeah, the concealment is great in general, and the cover vs lasers frequently appears. Once you can grab a seeking weapon if becomes even more ridiculous as you can attack without suffering the concealment penalty, but it is very unlikely that your enemies will be able to.
In the home game I'm running I nerfed the fortitude effect from where it's at to only allowing a move action, and not nonlethal damage. Maybe I'll add in a higher level version that has the original effects. Still my players are planning one covering the field every match with smokes. Their just so cheap for what they can do.
You should remember that only those who INHALE the smoke have to make a save, so they can simply hold their breath. And active environmental protection that every armor has negates it completely anyway, and it only takes a standard action to activate.
With these in mind, smoke grenades aren't actually that powerful. For most enemies, it simply makes them use up either a movement action to get clear or a standard action to activate their armor. And then the concealment.
What are the rules for holding your breath? Can you even hold your breath when it isn't your turn?
What are the rules for holding your breath? Can you even hold your breath when it isn't your turn?
I'm not sure about Starfinder rules, but in Pathfinder; "Suffocation
A character who has no air to breathe can hold her breath for 2 rounds per point of Constitution. [...] After this period of time, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution check in order to continue holding her breath. The check must be repeated each round, with the DC increasing by +1 for each previous success."
..All that occurs to me oddly enough. is a pit trap for wild animal super creatures and throwing in smoke grenades until its suffocates.
I think that would work. But in normal combat, with intelligent enemies, a smoke grenade would just make them waste a turn and then have to deal with concealment. Certainly pretty good. But not OP.
That would certainly at least be surprising. Even if they are wearing armor and can negate the breathing thing, I'd still make them take penalties for not being able to see the controls properly and not being able to see out of the ship/mecha.