Staser Staser weapons were the standard armament of the Chancellory Guard on Gallifrey . The Guards were normally equipped with staser pistols , although staser rifles were also occasionally used . Usage . Stasers had both lethal and non - lethal settings , and fired an unspecified type of directed energy . They were relatively harmless to inorganic matter but caused massive tissue disruption to living creatures . The corpse would be unrecognisable upon examination . ( TV : " The Deadly Assassin " ) In contrast , the sidearm of the President ' s personal security did not have a stun setting though a Time Lord shot with it could regenerate . ( TV : " Hell Bent " ) According to one account , a single staser shot could kill a Time Lord outright and ensure that regeneration could not take place . ( PROSE : " The Ancestor Cell " ) However , stasers could be modified to allow for regeneration , as the Eleven used to torture Volstrom by inducing multiple successive regenerations . ( AUDIO : " The Side of the Angels " ) Stasers were ineffective against Sontaran armour , ( TV : " The Invasion of Time " ) , android s of Kraal manufacture , ( AUDIO : " The Oseidon Adventure " ) and Dalek s . ( AUDIO : " The Apocalypse Element " ) Staser pistols apparently come in different versions . Those seen after the Sontaran invasion were significantly larger then those seen before . The stasers issued to Chancellery Guards and to security personnel were coloured red , but Castellan Spandrell and Chancellor Goth both used black pistols . ( TV : " The Deadly Assassin " ) Before his death , Andred showed his wife Leela how to operate a staser . ( AUDIO : " Extermination " ) Stasers were used during the Last Great Time War . Children in the First Segment of the War sorted out staser bolt chargers in munitions factories . ( PROSE : " The Stranger " ) Stasers were devolved into machine pistol s on the Neverwhen planet front as a result of time phasing . ( AUDIO : " The Neverwhen " ) Instances of use . A staser wielded by Commander Maxil was used to stun the Fifth Doctor . ( TV : " Arc of Infinity " ) A Castellan supposedly kept a small staser hidden on his person , and was shot dead by security personnel whilst using it to attempt an escape during Borusa ' s Death Zone gambit . ( TV : " The Five Doctors " ) A staser sniper rifle was used in the assassination of the Lord President by Goth . ( TV : " The Deadly Assassin " ) Coordinator Narvin was given a staser for a mission in Earth ' s past . President Romana forbid him from using it to stun or kill humans . He shot a wall to impress the local people and he promised to gift it to Sol in exchange for her help . ( AUDIO : " Intervention Earth " ) Commander Roxita and his Capitol Guard used stasers in vain against the Vashta Nerada on Synthesis Station . Within the Doctor ' s TARDIS , the Eighth Doctor found that Roxita ' s staser had been infested by the Vashta Nerada . ( AUDIO : " Day of the Vashta Nerada " ) During his invasion of Gallifrey following his banishment by the Doctor , Rassilon killed his successor as Lord President with a staser , reclaiming his gauntlet and the title of Lord President . ( COMIC : " Supremacy of the Cybermen " )