[Reaver]

Yup!  I saw that.  It's why I was like "This has to be possible in Shadowrun."

remember that bit where he hit both electric blades with the 2 other swords and got a shock?

Same thing with liquid on the blades.. and on the attackers hand. It would complete the circuit causing you to zap yourself.

The reason why hitting the blades with a single blade didn't work is that it is not a compete circuit, thus the electricity had no where to go..

[Insaniac99]

Yup!  I saw that.  It's why I was like "This has to be possible in Shadowrun."

remember that bit where he hit both electric blades with the 2 other swords and got a shock?

Same thing with liquid on the blades.. and on the attackers hand. It would complete the circuit causing you to zap yourself.

The reason why hitting the blades with a single blade didn't work is that it is not a compete circuit, thus the electricity had no where to go..

A simple hand guard would stop blood from flowing onto the user.  Anywhere else and it would complete the circuit, but that's what the two blades are already doing, soon as you have flesh that is grounded it would take that path instead of the blood.

[Reaver]

Yup!  I saw that.  It's why I was like "This has to be possible in Shadowrun."

remember that bit where he hit both electric blades with the 2 other swords and got a shock?

Same thing with liquid on the blades.. and on the attackers hand. It would complete the circuit causing you to zap yourself.

The reason why hitting the blades with a single blade didn't work is that it is not a compete circuit, thus the electricity had no where to go..

A simple hand guard would stop blood from flowing onto the user.  Anywhere else and it would complete the circuit, but that's what the two blades are already doing, soon as you have flesh that is grounded it would take that path instead of the blood.

Something like a basket hilt might work.... (covers the entire hand)...

what you don't want is the free flowing blood (such as a stab) coming into contact with your hand and the blade at the same time (or even really close for that matter as the electricity can jump a short distance and still zap you....)


Electricity is a dangerous beast. I have zapped myself thousands of times over the years, and I know that I am doing! Every year, I lose about 100 brothers (I.B.E.W member) to electrocution, and these are people that are trained to handle and deal with electrical equipment and supplies!



(And for the record... that was a ballsy move he did using electrical tape. Electrical tape is NOT an insolator so depending on how he wired everything, he just might get a good zap just grabbing that thing one day!)

[Insaniac99]

Something like a basket hilt might work.... (covers the entire hand)...

what you don't want is the free flowing blood (such as a stab) coming into contact with your hand and the blade at the same time (or even really close for that matter as the electricity can jump a short distance and still zap you....)


Electricity is a dangerous beast. I have zapped myself thousands of times over the years, and I know that I am doing! Every year, I lose about 100 brothers (I.B.E.W member) to electrocution, and these are people that are trained to handle and deal with electrical equipment and supplies!

I haven't seen real blade/blood flow tests, but I think you are overestimating how much blood would stay on the blade.

I definitely agree electricity is dangerous, I work with computers and part of our safety course is seeing what can happen when you fool around with the relatively low voltages we work with.

(And for the record... that was a ballsy move he did using electrical tape. Electrical tape is NOT an insolator so depending on how he wired everything, he just might get a good zap just grabbing that thing one day!)

I doubt it was so much ballsy as pure ignorance.

[HarshRhettoric]

I would be leery of any weapon as short as a knife that was electrified along its entire length.  Any canny character who saw such a weapon (and still wanted to fight) would do their best to grapple you so that if you hit them, you would both take half the voltage.

Also, who would design this weapon?  Is this a one-off, or custom piece?  What is the market for this weapon?  Will a lot of people buy it?  How would it be marketed as anything other than a weapon of complete cruelty that would annihilate the reputation of any company that put it on the market as anything other than a gag weapon?

I thought about this, and here's what I came up with:

-Extra shocking mechanism in case they survive your first stab
(anyone who can survive your first stab and still fight back is probably not going to be put off by an additional shock) = lawsuit

-Good for taking down trolls/critters
(maybe, if it weren't so inhumane) = lawsuit

-A humane knife that does massive tissue damage, but also cauterizes the wound
(maybe, except electricity burns inside out, and leaves wounds highly susceptible to infection.  Often, you would be sealing contaminants in the wound) = lawsuit

I would probably allow it as a custom weapon, made by a truly sadistic Humanis armorer.

[Namikaze]

Fortunately, lawsuits don't matter much to:

Dead people
Megacorporations
Militaries
Shadowrunners

Of course, that's all in 2075.  Today, lawsuits have a lot of power.  As evidenced by Dana Oaks, the DA in Seattle, lawsuits don't have the teeth that they have now.  She's gotten further than anyone with bringing down Brackhaven, the local Humanis chapters, corruption, etc.  But she's still only barely touched the tip of the iceberg.

[firebug]

Also, who would design this weapon?  Is this a one-off, or custom piece?  What is the market for this weapon?  Will a lot of people buy it?  How would it be marketed as anything other than a weapon of complete cruelty that would annihilate the reputation of any company that put it on the market as anything other than a gag weapon?

I feel like you don't really understand the setting; flamethrowers were used publicly in a war against Amazonia I believe, and 4th edition had the -very- inhumane nanomachines that would essentially painfully melt you from the inside.  Combat spells consist of bursts of acid, gouts of flame, blasts of lightning...  In addition as Namikaze said, lawsuits don't do much.  A major facet of the cyberpunk genre is that people with money are beyond the law (something that's often unfortunately true now, at least in America).  While the weapon has a few things that don't make 100% sense and would make it unreliable in real life, legality and other similar things are not what would stop it from existing in Shadowrun.