Handheld energy weapons

[stevebowers]

Another alternative to 'hand-held' laser weapons is the 'full-body phased-array suit'; a modosophont can wear a light-emitting layer which acts as a large aperture laser. This system might not be capable of delivering a very high-powered beam, because the waste heat would inconvenience the wearer; but it could focus a significant fraction of its energy on a single small point a long way away, because the whole suit acts as an aperture for focusing purposes.