Another unpleasant issue to consider is based on the high water content of soft tissues. A blast of energy that could burn a hole in a bulkhead or chair imparts a lot of heat, not just kinetic energy. The water in those tissues will turn to steam...instantly, and explosively. The Gods of Physics are love us not at all when we Squishies get in their path. Most Sci Fi ignores that, lasers, the phasor injuries in Star Trek, Star War's style "blasters", Babylon 5's PPG's all leave nasty burns, but burns which don't take into account the explosive damage caused by instantly turning a portion of the body's water into steam. David Drake's miltiary SciFi, such as "Hammer's Slammers" basically maintains that even if you're just "winged" by an energy weapon, you're going to go "Ploot!" Same with projectiles, such as gauss guns/rail guns (think a "Mag-lev" bullet) travelling at a significant portion of the speed of light, would turn a "graze" into Cat Food Generating Event.
"Force beams", "Gravitic weapons" or "needle focus force-field projectors, such as in Webber & White's book "Insurrection" could do an end-round on this, by claiming the weapon does not generate heat, just kinetic energy. You might want to make it a teeny-tiny energy ball, or clarify that it's some weapon that doesn't create thermal energy on impact. Even those have drawbacks in "flesh wound survivability", as "Hydrostatic shock", the reaction and sudden increase in pressure from even a standard bullet, can be more damaging to the squishy parts than the trauma caused by the bullet. There's an old barracks tale of a Viet Cong who got shot in the heal while diving for cover, the bullet came out his thigh, but the hydrostatic shock blew the top of his head off. (That one might be just a military "urban legend", but I'd rather not find out first hand.)
Most readers will not be aware of that, or will allow suspension of disbelief to cover for it, but it's something you might want to keep in mind.
Good luck with the writing!