Ontrix Said:  Second, since you actually want to attack my frag grenades (I was trying to be funny with regard to them in my first post, let me drop the comedy here) without EVER having seen them made, used, or anything other than what we've relayed about the damage that they cause let me clear this up.

They come with a few HUGE drawbacks. To start, I need an explosive (black powder in most cases) which is up to the DM if it is in the campaign, what the cost is, AND how much of it I can get. Then I need the gold to aquire that and all the other items I need, granted the rest is fairly cheap or character made. Third, and most importantly, I need an trigger. That is, something that will cause the explosive to go off while it is contained in order to fragment the container and send the contents out to inflict damage. A fuse would work here if I was setting something up on a timer, but for general combat purposes that won't work and thus causes another item I need from the DM. These triggers are almost always expensive, because they go a little beyond the listed alchemical devices. On top of these three other conditions that I -must- have to construct the grenades I then have to make them. Which involves needing IC time and craft rolls. They have, however, generally been exempt from the crafting system's "work per week" because, while they may require percise construction, they do not require a substantial amount of time to create.

So, let's look at the damage for the grenades now. They inflict, last we ran them, 2d6 points of initial damage, and if I was to run them again I would say targeting an intersection and dealing this damage to the 4 squares around it. We have used many different methods of the recurring damage, but I think the best way to handle it now would be a heal check (DC 5 + damage dealt) or a full round action to remove the recurring damage. If that action is not taken then they take damage due to moving around with shrapnel in their body to the tune of 1/4 the initial damage (rounded down). The initial damage is piercing, recurring is piercing/slashing.

Still think they're a problem? Simple, don't give me black power and a usable trigger. As you've noticed, I don't go out of my way to make these with what's laying around. I use them in settings that have the items I need. These settings tend to have firearms, which will almost always be better than my grenades.

What we have here is an example of what makes D&D really lame for people like me.  The idea of D&D (at least for me) is to tell a really good fantasy story.  I very much dislike trying to move modern engineering into historical settings via clever craft traps and engineering checks.

As for your grenades -AND ALL SIMILAR CONCEPTS-:  A grenade weapon that deals damage per a greatsword, attacks an intersection (which is impossible to range), and then follows it up with a retributive 1d4 for the shredder blast effect is rediculous.

My biggest issue is not with the making of "bombs", which are listed under the renaissance weapons on P. 145ish of the DMG.  It's the "AND more damage later".  The Recurring damage is a rule that you invented.  I find the rule to be a little bit onthe silly side.  1/4 initial damge for taking a move action until I make a heal check?  So everyone leads off with a grenade toss,a nd a big bad boss now takes damage that can bypass two different DR's to the tune of ~8 constand damage per turn? (assume 4 grenades hit, and deal average damage).  And you don't see this as OP?  For a high level character...why would I use anything else??

You've tried to argue for the cost and difficulty of manufacture.  As soon as you had black powder, regardless of your character's background, s/he would make a beeline for everything else s/he needed, to the point of derailing the adventure to do so.

So here is the big issue:  Engineering out the fun.  I've seen HOURS of game time be wasted to create "traps" when an excel spreadsheet would allow you tweak them in seconds.  I've also seen you say that you don't want the spread sheet.  I cannot recall the last time I say you hav a character that wasn't super focused on making ways to kill via engineering.  I'd honestly be curious what would happen if you just prepped a spreadsheet, or some data forms, and then spent all that time role playing.  I'd honestly love that.