55 Gallon Drum of Jelled Gasoline Explosion Damage & Radius!!!

[socom242]

OK

 

Bear with me cause this is sick.

 

Now, you may remember in the movie “Fight Clubâ€, at the end they destroyed a number of buildings with a bunch of 55 gallon drums loaded with jelled gasoline.

 

So, I was thinking, how much would that be using HERO 5^th Ed rules!

 

Looking at the Dark Champions rulebook, pg 259, I see the damage of jelled gasoline as a 3d6 RKA Explosion per 1 liter.

 

A 55 gallon drum holds about 208 liters (Thanks Google!)

 

So, lets start with the damage math first.

 

Would that mean a 624d6 RKA Explosion?!?!?!

 

Or maybe a more conservative, yet still insane 210 RKA (3d6 base + 1d6 per extra liter)

 

This is just an exercise, I don’t really intend on TPK’ing my gaming party with this.

 

After we figure out damage, we’ll tackle the Area of Effect of the Explosion, which should be interesting!

 

Thank you for your time,

 

~ Dan (SOCOM242)

[Greywind]

If I recall right, doubling the amount only adds one damage class.

[Nolgroth]

Look at the Scaling section. Adding more does not increase damage, it increases the size of the explosion. Since the amount is 2 liters per +1/4 Explosion advantage, your 208 liters would be divided into 104/4= +26" Advantage Explosion, meaning that the explosion loses 1 DC every 27" (counting the "free" one included with the base Explosion advantage). At 9 DC, the total size of the explosion would be 243" (486 meters). At each 27" mark, the damage would be reduced by 1 DC. For RKA, I believe that is a flat rate of Body lost. Or perhaps you could just have it lose 1d6 Killing damage every 81" mark.

[socom242]

If I recall right, doubling the amount only adds one damage class.

Could you point out that rule please? I'd just like to verify, although it would bring this down to a more agreeable amount of dice! Thanks.

[socom242]

Look at the Scaling section. Adding more does not increase damage, it increases the size of the explosion. Since the amount is 2 liters per +1/4 Explosion advantage, your 208 liters would be divided into 104/4= +26" Advantage Explosion, meaning that the explosion loses 1 DC every 27" (counting the "free" one included with the base Explosion advantage). At 9 DC, the total size of the explosion would be 243" (486 meters). At each 27" mark, the damage would be reduced by 1 DC. For RKA, I believe that is a flat rate of Body lost. Or perhaps you could just have it lose 1d6 Killing damage every 81" mark.

I was gonna tackle that in my next comment, but thanks for the math. So, you're saying it would be 3d6 to everything in the first 81" (243 meter) radius if the blast [using your second suggestion]. That is pretty impressive, and should be enough to knock out/down just about anything in it's path, and if multiple such bombs go off (again, envisioning the "Fight Club" scenario) I can definitely see such a scene play out.

 

However, I feel having so many liters of explosive stuff should account for some measure of extra damage dice. Maybe I'll have to house rule it, but I'm always looking for official rules.

 

Thanks for the input!

[IndianaJoe3]

If I recall right, doubling the amount only adds one damage class.

I don't think it was ever a formal rule, but a lot of people used it as a guideline.

[Beast]

the damage in not going to get any better

But you would get a longer burn time(add continous , expand the radius of the fall off , add a limited penatration to melt tougher stuff , Sticky to spread the burning love

[TheRealDeal]

You can use a rough guide that assumes that the intensity of the blast felt by someone is proportional to the size of the blast. To double the size (in radius) of a blast you must increase its energy volume (the amount of energy) by 8 since the volume of a sphere is proportional to the radius cubed. If you assume each such doubling of size adds +1 DC, this in addition to the above mentioned scaling advantage making the explosion much larger, you could use a simple equation where DC = Damage classes added: Volume of Fuel (in liters) = 2^(DC*3). So for a +1 DC you have Volume = 2^(1*3) = 8 liters of explosive adds +1 DC (making it a 3d6+1 K). If you want +2 DC you need: V=2^(2*3) = 64 liters. If you want +3 DCs you need: V=2^(3*3) = 512 liters. Basically just keep multiplying the previous result by 8 to get the next result. So 512*8 = 4,096 liters to get +4 DCs, and so on.

 

So your 208 liter barrel is not quite +3 DCs, you would need 3 barrels to get +3 DCs, so 3 barrels of the stuff (624 liters) would give you a 4d6 K attack as a base. You would need about 20 barrels to get +4 DCs and only do 4d6+1 K. If you had them endure a massive blast from 1,261 barrels of this stuff (say a storage depot of the stuff) you get +6 DCs for a 5d6 K attack.

[Nolgroth]

You can use a rough guide that assumes that the intensity of the blast felt by someone is proportional to the size of the blast. To double the size (in radius) of a blast you must increase its energy volume (the amount of energy) by 8 since the volume of a sphere is proportional to the radius cubed. If you assume each such doubling of size adds +1 DC, this in addition to the above mentioned scaling advantage making the explosion much larger, you could use a simple equation where DC = Damage classes added: Volume of Fuel (in liters) = 2^(DC*3). So for a +1 DC you have Volume = 2^(1*3) = 8 liters of explosive adds +1 DC (making it a 3d6+1 K). If you want +2 DC you need: V=2^(2*3) = 64 liters. If you want +3 DCs you need: V=2^(3*3) = 512 liters. Basically just keep multiplying the previous result by 8 to get the next result. So 512*8 = 4,096 liters to get +4 DCs, and so on.

 

So your 208 liter barrel is not quite +3 DCs, you would need 3 barrels to get +3 DCs, so 3 barrels of the stuff (624 liters) would give you a 4d6 K attack as a base. You would need about 20 barrels to get +4 DCs and only do 4d6+1 K. If you had them endure a massive blast from 1,261 barrels of this stuff (say a storage depot of the stuff) you get +6 DCs for a 5d6 K attack.

Very good. It increases the damage for having so much of the stuff, but not so much that it is disproportionately large. As good a House Rule as any I could think of.

 

EDIT: And having 3 barrels of that stuff would make the explosion size massive to boot.

[Tasha]

Look at the Scaling section. Adding more does not increase damage, it increases the size of the explosion. Since the amount is 2 liters per +1/4 Explosion advantage, your 208 liters would be divided into 104/4= +26" Advantage Explosion, meaning that the explosion loses 1 DC every 27" (counting the "free" one included with the base Explosion advantage). At 9 DC, the total size of the explosion would be 243" (486 meters). At each 27" mark, the damage would be reduced by 1 DC. For RKA, I believe that is a flat rate of Body lost. Or perhaps you could just have it lose 1d6 Killing damage every 81" mark.

Just always remember that any explosion you see in a movie has no basis in Reality. Most explosions are around half the size than you see in movies with far less fire. (Of course a gasoline explosion would generate flame). Also for a really huge explosion you need liquid gas. With a primary explosion that sprays the gasoline around first, then something that ignites the flame. That's how you get a frightening explosion. The US bomb MOAB uses the Fuel Air explosion to great distruction.

[Greywind]

Look at the Scaling section. Adding more does not increase damage, it increases the size of the explosion. Since the amount is 2 liters per +1/4 Explosion advantage, your 208 liters would be divided into 104/4= +26" Advantage Explosion, meaning that the explosion loses 1 DC every 27" (counting the "free" one included with the base Explosion advantage). At 9 DC, the total size of the explosion would be 243" (486 meters). At each 27" mark, the damage would be reduced by 1 DC. For RKA, I believe that is a flat rate of Body lost. Or perhaps you could just have it lose 1d6 Killing damage every 81" mark.

Gas doesn't burn, Tasha. The fumes explode.

 

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/19317652/2012/08/20/siblings-die-in-graduation-party-bonfire-explosion

[Tasha]

Look at the Scaling section. Adding more does not increase damage, it increases the size of the explosion. Since the amount is 2 liters per +1/4 Explosion advantage, your 208 liters would be divided into 104/4= +26" Advantage Explosion, meaning that the explosion loses 1 DC every 27" (counting the "free" one included with the base Explosion advantage). At 9 DC, the total size of the explosion would be 243" (486 meters). At each 27" mark, the damage would be reduced by 1 DC. For RKA, I believe that is a flat rate of Body lost. Or perhaps you could just have it lose 1d6 Killing damage every 81" mark.

Actually that's basically true of anything that burns. The heat from the fire causes flammable gasses to issue forth from the item. The flames are burning that gas.