Name: Rodian Blade-Pistols
Model: Chekla Arms Consortium B2 Blade-Pistol
Type: Combination blaster pistol / combat blade
Scale: Character
Skill: (blaster) blaster: blaster pistol; (blade) melee combat: blade-pistol
Ammo: 50 (1 power pack)
Cost: 1,100 credits
Availability: 3
Difficulty: (blade) Moderate
Range: (blaster) 2-10/25/100 meters
Damage: (blaster) 4D; (blade) Str+1D+1

Description: An uncommon sidearm created by the Chekla Arms Consortium of Rodia, the blade-pistol has recently become popular as an exotic signature weapon of bounty hunters and hired guns, Rodian or otherwise. Although not the first combination blade / blaster pistol, the blade-pistol has been the most successful thanks to its rugged design. Conventional wisdom was that the intricate component alignment of personal blaster technology would not hold up to the rigors of use as a melee weapon. Indeed, this was exactly the case for the blade-pistol’s predecessors. Field reports consistently showed that extended melee combat caused a variety of problems when the user returned to using the blaster, ranging from sight misalignment to outright discharge failure. In designing the blade-pistol, Chekla Arms made a conscious effort to address all these concerns. The power pack was minimized and the barrel heavily reinforced. This reduced the effective range of the weapon, but the increased structural support prevented the problems of other melee-blaster weapons.