Sonic Swords and Shock Gloves in action
Sonic Blades are a category of Sonic Weapons used in close quarters personal combat (i.e. "melee") that uses focused sound to inflict cutting injuries upon a target.
They look like a golden tube, 15 cm long and 4 cm in diameter. The tube is actually only the weapon's handle. When a small button on the side of the tube is pressed (along with the safety pressure plate), a powerful "blade" of focused sound[1] is created at one end of the tube. The sound blade ranges between 20 to 100 cm long, and is invisible. It emits a high-pitched whine, however. The blade is turned off when the button is released. They are powered by a 20 SEU clip, but can be hooked into a beltpack (50 SEU) or powerpack (100 SEU) by a power cord. Anyone wearing a Sonic Screen cannot be injured by sonic blade-weapons.
As with stunner pistols, sonic disruptors, and sonic devastators, sound blades will trigger the dreaded Armageddon Effect if they intersect a gauss screen.
They include the following types:
- Sonic Knife (aka Dagger). This weapon projects a 20 cm blade when it is turned on. Unlike a regular knife, a sonic knife cannot be thrown.
- Sonic Sword. This weapon projects a 1 meter long blade when it is turned on.
Sonic scalpels, found on medkits and robcom kits, work on the same principle, but are unsuitable for use as weapons.
(As a house rule, this type of weapon could be treated as a single weapon with an adjustable blade setting and cost equal to a Sonic Sword.)
Notes
- ↑ Sonic bladed weapons do not actually have a continuous "blade" of sound; when the button is pressed they generate a Johnson Field fixed to the specified length holding a magnetic field; when an object interrupts the magnetic field, the sonic generator discharges within the Johnson Field, remaining active for a few seconds (depending on model) and rapidly slicing anything in its path. The whine heard is the magnetic field in operation. Sonic Screens function by generating an anti-sound wave (sound in opposing frequencies), and by interfering with the electromagnetic field of the sword, unfocusing the sound.