Stargate Zat'nik'tel

Name: Zat'ni'katel
Model: Goa'uld Zat'ni'katel
Type: Energy Weapon
Scale: Character
Skill: Blaster
Weight: 1.36 kg
Ammo: 50
Range: 1-3/15/30 m
Damage: 4D+1*

Game Notes:

• When an opponent is successfully attacked by a zat (whether the attack inflicts damage to him or not), the opponent must make a Strength check.
• Any target that is successfully attacked must make a Strength check of 10 plus the damage result of the first attack. If the check fails, the target falls unconscious. The target remains unconscious for 6D+2 rounds minus the number of rounds equal to the difference between their check result and the Difficulty, minimum 0. Otherwise, they remain upright.
• Further, when a character who has been knocked unconscious by by this effect within the last 20 minutes is successfully attacked a second time with a zat, the attack automatically reduces the character's Health to Incapacitated.
• Finally, when a character who has already been knocked unconscious by this effect within the last minute is successfully attacked a third time with a zat, their body is immediately destroyed.

Description: "This is a Goa'uld Zat'nik'tel. A weapon using a different form of energy, less powerful than that of a staff weapon. Less destructive, but still quite deadly."—Teal'c

The Zat'nik'tel, nicknamed Zat or Zat gun by Colonel O'Neill, is a handheld weapon used by the Goa'uld and their Jaffa. It is in the shape of a serpent and was first encountered by SG-1 on Apophis's ship. Its energy output, in the form of blue electrical energy, is less powerful than that of a staff weapon.

The Zat gun is a weapon of Goa'uld design. The safety is active when the zat is not in use and lays flat like a snake, but when it is turned on it stands up, alert like a snake. The weapon is unique in how it affects objects, animate and inanimate. Zats have been in production for at least five thousand years. The technology itself may be similar to an Ori stun weapon. (SG1: "Seth", "Flesh and Blood", "Moebius, Part 1", "Moebius, Part 2")

Both the zat'nik'tel and the staff weapon resemble Goa'uld symbiotes.

Zat gun specifics

Zats are fired by squeezing the bottom curve where the gun is held. The Zat gun is unique in the way it works. One shot is shown to incapacitate a victim and causes immense pain, while a second shot kills them. The shots do not have to be right after the other, as some have been killed several minutes after the first Zat blast (SG1: "Point of View"); however, an extended period of time between shots will cause the effect to wear off and two new shots are necessary to kill (as evidenced by O'Neill being shot a variety of times throughout SG-1's various exploits). A third shot will disintegrate the victim and their clothing, and also small inanimate objects with low densities, leaving no visible trace of their existence. (SG1: "Within the Serpent's Grasp", "1969").

The Zat gun has also shown to conduct to objects, stunning victims indirectly (SG1: "Memento Mori"). The weapon has also been used as a tool to boost hyperdrive speed when Jack O'Neill used Ancient knowledge and required a short, powerful jolt to the modified engines, but is used as a tool to overload electronics in most cases as many conduits are not designed to handle that much energy in one go. (SG1: "Lost City, Part 2") It is capable of disabling Aschen defense drones with one shot. (SG1: "2010")

Zat guns have been shown to have little or no effect on Kull Warriors and Replicators, but they affect all other known species, including the Wraith. (SG1: "Evolution, Part 1", "Enemies") (ATL: "Midway") It also appears that repeated attacks by this weapon causes most people to not suffer the same effects with such severity, as seen where certain people are able to withstand the effects and remain conscious after a single shot. (SG1: "Prodigy", "Lockdown") The second shot, on the other hand, is invariably fatal (on non-immune species) with only a single exception shown: When Samantha Carter's consciousness was replaced by an alien entity, two shots left her body only brain-dead, allowing her consciousness to be transferred back into it. (SG1: "Entity")

Source:

• Stargate Wiki: Zat'nik'tel
• Stargate SG-1 RPG Sourcebook (page 349)
• thedemonapostle