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I had an Apocalypse game yesterday in which a Carnifex managed to score 5 penetrating hits on a Rhino and rolled 4 "Destroyed - Explodes" results on the damage table.

It raised the question: can a vehicle cause multiple explosions? Or do you apply one result, then the next, then the next and so on until the vehicle is destroyed and then stop applying the results?

We ended up going for the more spectacular interpretation in the end, killing ten Orks and four Berzerkers with the resulting explosions but for future reference it'd be good to know what we were supposed to do.

i'm going to say that you don't stack the explosions. No other damage result stacks... multiple weapon destroyed results don't stack, they all destroy different weapons. multiple stunned results don't stack...

as there is no precident for stacking damage results on vehicles, I say the blasts do not stack.

A vehicle can only really follow the 'explode' result once. A single roll would be the likely choice, but i'd be happy to roll all 4 explodes and apply the highest! Not a series of explosions though.

I agree with Ridcully. The best way to resolve it is roll xD6 for range (where x = the amount of assplosions) and pick the highest.

To be honest, i would only roll it once.
The idea of a vehicle exploding is to show its a wreck and considerable damage has been caused to a vital section of it.
Why would a vehicle explode moer than once?

On the flipside, if it was something that carried a flammabble liquid or explosives (hellhound) then i could see how the vehicle explodes, causing the fuel compartment to ignite aswell.

JD21290 wrote:To be honest, i would only roll it once.
The idea of a vehicle exploding is to show its a wreck and considerable damage has been caused to a vital section of it.
Why would a vehicle explode moer than once?

On the flipside, if it was something that carried a flammabble liquid or explosives (hellhound) then i could see how the vehicle explodes, causing the fuel compartment to ignite aswell.

A Vehicle explodes for one of three reasons:
The Ammo Explodes
The Fuel Explodes
Both Explode.

Either way, it isn't gonna have two distinct explosions

Real life comparison fail by definition.

I have seen several explosions go through what can only be described as stages, all of which can be described as seperate explosions in their own right (8 years as an EOD Tech in the army).

Anyway, I would roll for several explosions and choose the largest.

Interesting opinions, though it definitely seems to be a muddy RAW area. If you can apply the other damage results multiple times, then why not the Explodes result? On the other hand, the alternatives pointed out in this thread also make sense, if not from a RAW perspective but certainly from a gameplay efficiency perspective.

I justified our actions at the time as simply representing one explosion, just more powerful than expected (and there were many jokes about the Berzerkers inside playing with explosives), maybe followed by smaller secondary explosions.

Even if the explosion is in stages, it is still one explosion.
Thus only 1 roll.
Yes I know its a poor comparison, but you get my meaning.

Cheexsta wrote:Interesting opinions, though it definitely seems to be a muddy RAW area. If you can apply the other damage results multiple times, then why not the Explodes result?

You don't apply the other damage results multiple times. Weapon Destroyed results all go to different weapons, and getting 1 Wrecked is the exact same as getting 75,876,566 of them. The only reason Crew Shaken/Stunned don't "Stack" (i.e. two don't cause you to miss two turns) is because the rules say so.

I don't know why you would apply the highest roll of XD6 (other than fluff). I think the better way to play it may be to allow the destroying player to choose which one is used.

I agree that they don't stack. None of the other results stack.

This is something that went round for a bit in 4e, and a perusal of the 5e vehicle rules seems to indicate that things haven't really changed.

Basically, it boils down to whether you resolve a set of shots from one unit against a vehicle sequentially or simultaneously; the rules themselves don't really indicate which way is necessary against vehicles.

To have multiple explosions, you must resolve them simultaneously, as if you do it sequentially, the first explosion resolves destroys the vehicle, and any further explosion results can't be resolved (as there aren't rules for shooting at craters (or wrecks, for that matter -- if you do it this way, if you roll up a destroyed before an explosion, you don't get the explosion)).

Now, the other issue is that if you resolve them simultaneously there is one pretty notable side effect -- Immobilized/Weapon Destroyed results won't auto-promote from the same batch.

As in, you shoot a pristine Predator with a squad with multiple heavy weapons. You roll hits, and AP, and then roll on the table, both come up Immobilized. End result? The Predator is immobilized, no Weapon Destroyed result is generated. Why? Because if you're resolving them simultaneously, each one happens to a pristine Predator, and thus doesn't promote the result.

Now, I've never seen anyone play that way (and I'm not advocating it!), but just pointing out that if you want to do anything to a vehicle after the first result that destroyed the vehicle gets rolled, you have to ignore the promotion of multiple simultaneous effects as noted above.

So, if you want to play the game consistently, pick one -- either have the possibility of multiple explosions and multiple Immobilizeds don't promote, or the first destroyed/exploded result ends the shooting.

Once the vehicle Explodes it is removed from the table.

Until it leaves the table, the Destroyed - Explodes results have not been completed.

shrug