[firebug]

Nah, a double attack is more problematic and works poorly against people with high soak rolls. I'd just boost the knife's attack on a hit. Or you could always include the electrical damage but make it Stun if the knife (without the added electrical AP&damage) doesn't pierce the armor.

Well, that's how it'd be in general wouldn't it?  If it says like "6P(e)" but it doesn't beat armor, it's Stun no matter what, right?

My suggestion is to treat it like the melee weapon then as long as it does any damage apply the normal electrical penalties (initiative reduction and whatever else...away from book), but no additional damage.

That would prettymuch just be it dealing electrical damage then, which works.

So the final product would just be a knife that has the same general stats as a like...  The combat knife, with maybe one higher DV and AP, also doing electrical damage, which would mean it can cause some penalties, but also allows the defender to benefit from Nonconductivity which could result in less damage than a normal combat knife.  Sounds balanced to me.  It'd also be higher availability and price, though not really enough for them to be balancing factors.

[Sendaz]

maybe have the knife have two blades sort of like THIS but with more distinct separation near the hilt between the two blades so the electricity arcs between them for added appearance or does the Jacob's Ladder look.

[Mithlas]

That's a single blade with an open fuller to allow blood to drain and help ease removal. Metal Gear Solid (4 at least) already did what I think is the most likely version of this: a standard combat knife that has a shock surface on the reverse edge and a few charges. Combine the cost of a Stun Baton and standard knife, maybe add a bit to the availability and treat it as a 4-6 charge for dealing 6S(e).

[firebug]

The weapon from MGS isn't what I want, since it's essentially just one weapon usable two different ways.  I do want something that is intended to do both at once, using the electricity to improve it's lethality.

NAME                | ACCURACY      | REACH     | DAMAGE      | AP  |AVAIL | COST Electrified Knife | 5                     | -              | (STR+3)P(e)| -4   | 10R   |1600¥

With 10 charges and a wireless bonus of letting it recharge slowly like the shock gloves.  Assumably, when used without power, it's the same stats as a combat knife.

[Namikaze]

Looks cool.  I like the idea - it's definitely using electricity damage in a different way.

[Reaver]

Very dangerous. both for the user and the person attacked.

For the person attacked, IRL, the electricity would cause the muscles to flex, basically immobilizing the person. After the first discharge, they would be disorientated, all their muscles twitching, and basically unable to offer an effective defense against a second attack.

For the attacker, IRL,  this weapon is extremely dangerous AFTER the first hit. Electricity always follows the path of least resistance, and once you introduce a liquid medium (in this case the victim's blood!! all over the blade...), that path becomes unpredictable.... and any insulation protecting the user, could fail, thus ending up shocking them!



**Note, the current in the blade would not be large enough to cauterize the wound, as the Amperage would not be able to be made large enough and portable enough to make an effective use weapon. (you need around 3 to 5.25 amps to cause instant cauterization within a combat pass [1 sec]. At which point, the cauterization is really just a secondary effect of a case of terminal Death.) Generating that much instant amperage on a constant basis is possible, but not really portable. to get your 10 charges or so, you would need something the size of a car battery.


remember, cauterization and surface burns are two different things!

[Michael Chandra]

that path becomes unpredictable.... and any insulation protecting the user, could fail, thus ending up shocking them!

In other words, on a critical glitch hit yourself?

[Reaver]

that path becomes unpredictable.... and any insulation protecting the user, could fail, thus ending up shocking them!

In other words, on a critical glitch hit yourself?

Would be appropriate.  Safety and offensive weaponry are conflicting terms, especially in melee weapons. Throw electricity in the mix and you are asking for trouble...


Im not saying you can't build the weapon, just saying there is a reason why electricity is used with blunt melee, and ranged puncturing ....

[firebug]

That definitely explains why it's not used in real life.  For me, that's the sort of thing that would be able to be overlooked or handwaved ("they found a way to not have to worry about that") in a game like Shadowrun, but it's interesting to note.  And totally reasonable for a Critical Glitch effect.

[KarmaInferno]

I've been paging through a bunch of sci-fi and cyberpunk pictures and came across one with a character wielding a knife while it crackles with blue electricity.  After some googling, it turns out it'd happened in real life, so I'm surprised something like that hasn't been in Shadowrun.

Ironically the first thing that pops up when I search for "shock knife" is a decidedy non lethal knife training device. It works on the theory that people won't take a rubber knife as seriously in knife fight training, so the shock knife creates pain at the point of contact to trigger that involuntary fear of actual injury often lacking with rubber knives.




-k

[martinchaen]

Remember that we're 70 years in the future; miniaturization tech could very likely have improved batteries to where cauterizing a wound could be possible.

I like this concept; now I want an electrified katana!

[Reaver]

Remember that we're 70 years in the future; miniaturization tech could very likely have improved batteries to where cauterizing a wound could be possible.

I like this concept; now I want an electrified katana!

you can only squeeze so many electrons in to any container

we have batteries that could in theory do it today, you just couldn't carry them around

believe it or not, but electricity has mass... and lots of the properties of water. So it's more a question of physics, and that is a weak point for me.

[martinchaen]

Miniaturization of batteries is one thing, it's not that far of a stretch that sufficiently advanced tech could allow fuel cells or generators to replace batteries, is it?

But for the purposes of suspension of disbelief, why don't we just go with "They made a small enough power source for it" and then you can imagine whatever you want

[Insaniac99]

I found this video of a homemade "Taser Sword"

http://youtu.be/fwzrWpB8_R0

[firebug]

Yup!  I saw that.  It's why I was like "This has to be possible in Shadowrun."