The Hurt Locker: Fusion-Powered Chainsaw

I know, you’re reading this and thinking “What and the hell has Christopher come up with this time?” Honestly, I don’t know, man. Something happened. Then something else and now I’m here staring at this crazy thing. This bit of gear is the result of a story one of my players (+Travis Ellis) wrote about his character’s “Uncle Zeke” (played by +Christian Gelacio). TL;DR they decided to build a fusion-powered chainsaw to get the hedges trimmed faster so they could do other things. What was wrought was…terrible. And thus was born of the Hedge Clipping incident of 1988. Travis calls the one Ezekiel has “Columbo.” No, I don’t know why. Go ask him.

More seriously, this is an amusing bit of mad science and might not fit all campaigns. If that’s the case, simply remove the Unreliable modifier. This increases cost by $24,000.

This large, incredibly bulky bizarre looking chainsaw is fueled by a miniaturized fusion reactor. While the idea of chainsaw with a perpetual power source seems like a good idea. It’s probably not. When turned on it does the listed amount of damage or temporarily multiplies the target’s jumping distance with a rocket-assisted boost from its vents. This requires the user jump the full distance! He cannot choose to jump less. Either way, a roll of 15 or more on the die indicates a malfunction: on a 1-3, it’s a temporary malfunction with the machine itself which shuts down for 3d seconds before it can be started again (a Ready maneuver); on a 4-6, the user must make a DX-6 roll. Failure means the chainsaw is still on and has gotten away from the user. In such cases, treat it as if it has a skill of 16, a Basic Move of 5, a Basic Speed of 5.00, and a Dodge of 8. Use the rules for Scatter (p. B414) to determine the direction it moves. Every round roll a 1d to determine if it activates it’s “rocket jump” capabilities kick in: On a 1-4, nothing happens, otherwise it shoots off into the air (it can go straight up in the air 8 yards or leap across the field at 35 yards).

This comes with another drawback: It completely blocks hearing rolls if within 25 yards or less, gives a -9 for 26 to 38 yards, gives a -8 for 39 to 50 yards, gives a -7 for 51 to 63 yards, gives a -6 for 64 to 76 yards, gives a -5 for 77 to 89 yards, gives a -4 for 0 to 90 yards, gives a -3 for 91 to 103 yards, gives a -2 for 104 to 116 yards, and gives a -1 for up to 128 yards, Portable, $1,028,000, 30 lbs., Self-Powered.

Statistics: Burning Attack 5d (Armor Divisor (5), +150%; Cosmic, Multiple Incendiary levels, +50%; Incendiary 2, +20%; Link, +10%; Melee Attack, Reach 1, 2, -20%; Superscience, -10%) [70] + Cutting Attack 3d (Armor Divisor (5), +150%; Cosmic, Erodes DR, +100%; Link, +20%; Melee Attack, Reach 1, 2, -20%; ST-Based, +100%; Superscience, -10%; Unreliable, Malf 15, -10%) [91] + Super Jump 4 (Full Power, -10%; Nuisance Effect, Superscience, -10%; Unreliable, Malf 15, -10%) [28] + Obscure Hearing 10 (Always On, -50%; Area Effect, 128 yards, +350%; Dissipation, -50%; Superscience, -10%) [68]. It’s self-powered (x2 base cost).