Here you have an example on how you avoid an explosion (magic aoe in this example, but they use the same rules)
Example p.283
...The second ganger has caught up with the first, and Rikki must step up his game. Rikki switches to Blast at Force 7. A risky maneuver for, but he wants to end things quickly so he can curl up and hide. He rolls a miraculous 5 hits. This is an Indirect Combat spell, so its damage will be equal to Force 7 + Rikki’s net hits. Ganger 1 is a little out of it and only gets 2 hits. The second ganger is quicker with 4 hits. The three net hits make the total damage hitting the first ganger 10, while the second must attempt to absorb 8 points of damage. Both are wearing armor jackets (12), but with such a high Force, the AP of the spell reduces the jacket’s protection to 5. Both gangers have Body 5, so they each roll 10 dice to resist damage. Ganger 1 rolls 3 hits and takes a total of 7 boxes of Stun damage. Combined with the Mana Bolt, he is knocked out. Ganger 2 rolls better with 5 hits and only takes 3 boxes of stun. Ganger 2 figures it’s not worth taking on Rikki on his own and runs off to get help. Rikki hurts more from casting that spell than from being punched by the gangers, as his nose is bleeding from taking 4 boxes of Stun damage from the drain.
Blast is an AoE spell
5 hits mean no scatter since this is more or equal to 3 hits (see special rule about scatter at p.181/182)
This is the same as grenades.
Ganger 1 get 2 hits (with -2 dice for being AoE): 5 hits - 2 hits = 3 net hits = ganger 1 might take damage
Ganger 1 need to resist DV7+3=DV10 (a grenade would not get more damage on net hits though)
Armor 12 - AP of 7 = modified armor value of 5 and body 5 = 10 dice
DV10 resisted by 10 dice, 3 hits = 7 boxes of damage
Ganger 2 get 4 hits (with -2 dice for being AoE): 5 hits - 4 hits = 1 net hit = ganger 2 might take damage
Ganger 2 need to resist DV7+1=DV8
Armor 12 - AP of 7 = modified armor value of 5 and body 5 = 10 dice
DV8 resisted by 10 dice, 5 hits = 3 boxes of damage
The only difference with a grenade aoe and a blast aoe is that the grenade does not cause drain, might have a higher base damage value, get reduced damage value the further you are from point of impact and does not deal more damage with more net hits.
Grenades use the same rules as a ranged attack, except that it might scatter.... (p.181 "Ranged combat rules also apply to bows and throwing
weapons. Some special rules
also apply.")
1) Grenades use the SAME rules as ranged combat.
2) There might be additional EXTRA rules.
For grenades the EXTRA rules are that you ALSO need at least 3 hits (not net hits) or your grenade will scatter.
This EXTRA rule does not in any way shape or form invalidate all the normal ranged combat rules.
And on p.189/190 you have rules how to defend against Ranged combat. There is even a special defense modifier to avoid aoe attacks where they even explicit list spells and grenades among the examples this apply to. There are multiple modifiers that might apply when defending against an aoe. Defender running +2, defender has good cover +4, defender has partial cover +2, defender targeted by area-effect attack -2...
No where does it say that defenders suddenly does not get a defense roll (that would make grenades pretty op).
Attacker need at least 1 net hit to hit the target. This is a standard ranged combat rule.
Attacker ALSO need at least 3 hits (not net hits) or the grenade will scatter.
- This is an additional specific rule for aoe attacks such as aoe spells and grenades.
