“The Explosives skill determines the power of any set mines, the ease of disarming any hostile mines, and the effectiveness of any thrown grenade.”

Explosives aren’t very useful. They do good damage, but they come in extremely limited quantities. They’re annoying to aim, and they take too long to detonate. Yeah, yeah… “aim better!” Most situations in which an Explosive could be used, it always seemed easier to simply use a gun, or a missile. As for other uses for Explosives , the higher your skill is, the longer you’ll have to disarm hostile mines after they become live., which isn’t a big deal. Higher scores will also allow you to disarm some Explosives -based traps (grenade bouquet, anybody?), and one rather big bomb during the quest “The Power of the Atom” . Even then, your skill doesn’t have to be very high. Seriously, 25 in Explosives to disarm a tentative and malfunctioning nuclear device? Whatever… for combat purposes, it might just be the least useful weapons skill. Outside of combat, it has a few helpful uses, but nobody should rush to make this skill a priority… after 25 points, anyways.