So I initially looked into making my Archer more deadly as Shooting 1 Arrow per Action is no where near as effective as firearms mechanically (No bursts to remove dodge pool, low overall Armor Penetration) when I was looking at some alternatives to Narcojet injection arrows.
In Chrome Flesh there are two candidates for new nastiness to inject into your targets: Cutters from Weaponized Nanotech and Smart Corrosives from Nanogear.
Cutters initially sound like an amazing option based on their description, however with an activation time of 1 minute after they are injected, the combat will be well over before they have a chance to take out your target. They seem like a better option for subterfuge poison or dissolving a body in a bathtub than shooting out of an arrow.
Smart Corrosives though. Wow. I feel bad for even thinking about injecting these into some poor sap.
Let's look at how they work, when purchased you order them pre-programmed for a certain material (let's go with muscle tissue), when the nanites contact said material they release their payload of acid. 10P of acid, which as the core rulebook states on p.170 the damage continues until removed (unlikely due to being injected) or until it burns out (-1P per combat turn).
So let's give an example of this killer arrow.
Let's run a hypothetical test using a Wakyambi archer with a modified Str/Agi of 10/10 with Archery at 6 and a Specialization in Bows and a Rating 10 Bow.
So the Archer throws 18 Dice for an attack roll with an accuracy limit of 6 from the bow (7 if you put on a personalized grip). Damage on the Arrow is 12P with an AP of 2.
The mook you're shooting at is a Professional Rating 6 with modified Bod/Rea/Wil/Int of 6/8/5/6 and an armor pool of 18.
Your 18 Dice get on average between 4-6 Hits, the NPC gets between 3-4 Hits netting you 1-2 Hits for Damage to your arrow.
13-14P with AP -2 vs NPCs 27 (29 -2 AP) results in somewhere between 4-8P damage (A noteworthy hit but not going to drop a NPC with 11 Physical Boxes in one hit).
Now for the real nastiness. As long as at least 1P of damage gets through armor, the chemical/drug/nanites are injected into your target to take effect.
The NPC has taken between 4-8P already this round, and immediately gets hit with an extra 10P of Acid damage resisted by only Body + Willpower.
The acid is internal so it shouldn't benefit from armor (unless the GM allows a bonus from some type of Cyber/Biowear and it's not a toxin so no toxin resistance gear/ware).
10P resisted by an 11 dice pool averaging 2-3 hits will cause an additional 7-8 boxes of Physical damage that same initiative pass.
This takes our NPC to somewhere between 11-16P of Physical dropping them into unconsciousness at the least and possibly killing them via physical overflow.
But the acid isn't done yet, once per combat turn the Acid continues doing damage at -1P each time resulting in our NPC turning into goo before the Acid burns out.
(Next turn they resist 9P then 8P then 7P etc.. until the GM decides to stop rolling or the acid starts eating into their armor from the inside out and then the floor).
The arrows can do a theoretical maximum damage of around 69P with a more realistic resisted damage of 33P before the Acid burns itself out.
There are really only two downsides to the arrows: Firstly their cost, the arrows themselves cost about 4,200 NuYen with an availability of 12R.
Secondly the arrows need to be able to penetrate the armor of the target in order to get the acid working away at the NPC from the inside out. (So don't shoot the tank).
That's right, you can carry these things legally with your requisite fake license and go about your day of liquefying baddies.
This turns a bow into a weapon on the scale of AA Missiles with chunky salsa in full effect.
[Edited for format and clarity.]
