Phasers are hand-held energy weapons used by the Federation as the primary personnel weapon. Phaser is an acronym that stands for PHA Sed Energy Rectification. The Phaser beam is a coherent energy beam that travels at sublight velocities (assuming the absence of a subspace field, such as that generated by a warp drive).

Phasers come in three types. The Type I Phaser Pistol is a small device that can fit in the palm of the hand. It is designed for covert operations and is easy to hide on one's person. The Type I only has 8 power settings, including three Stun settings and one Kill setting.

The Type II Phaser Pistol is a larger unit and is the standard side arm in Starfleet. It bears only a passing resemblence to traditional pistols. The Type II has 16 power settings, including the Stun and Kill settings of the Type I, as well as six Thermal Disruption settings that can cause massive explosions in normal matter.

The Type III Phaser Rifle was the standard long arm of Starfleet until the introduction of the Compression Rifle shortly before the Dominion War. Both rifles have the same 16-level power scheme as the Type II pistol. The Compression Rifle is capable of firing multiple pulses of phaser energy each second, using a technology similar to the Pulse Phaser array developed for the Defiant- and Sovereign-class starships.

Beam Weapons/TL10 (Pistol)

Beam Weapons/TL10 (Rifle)

Notes

1: Type I Phaser Pistols can be set to one of 8 power levels. Each attack that hits deals the normal damage multiplied by the power level of the phaser.

2: Type II Phaser Pistols and all Phaser Rifles can be set to one of 16 power levels. Each attack that hits deals the normal damage of the phaser type, multiplied by the power level of the phaser. Each attack uses a number of shots equal to the power level times the ROF of the phaser. For example, a Compression Rifle set to level 10 would use 40 shots per attack, and each 10-shot blast that hit would deal 12d+3 burning damage.

3: Phasers on level 1 through level 3 are on “stun” settings. If the shot penetrates DR, the victim must make HT-4 roll or be knocked unconscious for a number of minutes equal to his margin of failure.

4: Phasers on level 11 through level 16 cause a secondary explosion when they hit. Treat phasers at these levels as burning attacks with the Explosion modifier (p. B104).