| From: | HUTH@***.EDU |
|---|---|
| Subject: | More drek than you're probably interested in. |
| Date: | Tue, 6 Apr 93 05:54:21 CET |
independently on deadly+ damage and combat pool usage at the same time. There
must be something in the air.
Anyway, myself, J. Carter, E. Matuskey, and a few of our friends out here
have been working on a pretty large set of modifications to the rules. I'm
going to post some of the more interesting ones in hopes of generating more
discussion, since the diseased minds at this univeristy have started arguing
about the same things over and over.
Send comments and criticism to Huth@***.edu.
Send flames/thwaps to Matuskey@***.edu (honest, he won't mind)
Problem: Spectre (pretty competent street sam) gets in big trouble. He is
lightly wounded, and has only a Streetline Special Holdout. He is being
stalked by a sec guard in full heavy armor w/ helmet. In his favor, he is
able to spend two simple actions aiming, to offset the wound. The target
number for his two shots (1 shot/simple action) never goes above two (after
Smartgun links and the like). With his combat pool he can generate more
successes than your average sec guard could possibly dodge (especially since
the guard loses dice from his combat pool since he is wearing heavy armor--
SRII, pg. 84). Anyway, when you work the math out and take average successes
for both people, Spectre easily kills the sec guard with his puny holdout.
Possible solution: If the armor of the defender reduces the power of the
attack to LESS THAN 1, the attack bounces off, unless the called shot
modifier (+4 to hit) is taken, at which point the shooter can legitimately
place the shot in the weak points (though I think that a holdout shouldn't
be able to penetrate Full Heavy, period, but that's a GM call)
(oops--I mean,
full heavy can be environmentally sealed fairly easily, which means
weak points where the armor isn't there are somewhat lacking).
It is important to note that the power level used is figured after burst but
before staging. A single shot from a SMG will bounce off full heavy, but a
burst will not. The thinking there is that the armor can spread the impact
from a single round out, but a full burst, even if it doesn't penetrate the
armor, will certainly be able to do physical bruising damage.
Problem: "Hey GM, I got enough extra successes to do more than deadly damage!
What do you mean they're dropped? Well, I know he's dead, but I WANT it to
do more! That was a good shot."
Supplementary problem: A character can live for 10 minutes per point of body
after taking deadly damage.
Possible Solutions: Well, first off, I like Powrhouse's idea about
reducing (whoops, damn--the following idea is not Powerhouse's, it belongs
to Janne Jalkanen, sorryy about that) the person's effective body by one
point for every staging level beyond deadly.
Second, every extra staging level damages the armor by one point (this is
really only important to scavenger types).
Third, the effective time you can stay alive after taking damage level is
(oops, I mean "of") deadly is 1 min/point of body OR 1 combat rd/point of
body (as a GM, I like that, as a player, I wince) OR 1 min/(1/2 body) OR
1 combat round/(2*body) (whew-good thing I'm not an English major concerned
with sentence grammer).
Note that these three (body reduced, armor damaged, and reducing life time)
can all be in effect at once.
Problem (mentioned by many): Logically, the ability to dodge an attack is not
related to the power of the weapon, so Combat pool dice should have a different
target number.
Supplementary problem: Do wound modifiers affect current damage resistance
rolls ("Yes!", "No!", "Yes!" ..........Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
As far as wounds go, I've come to the conclusion that its a GM call/
matter of preference. Both sides have good arguments. We've worked out two
possible compromises: 1. When resisting physical wounds, previous damage
does not apply (the ability to resist damage is related to your BOD, which
is not affected by previous damage)--but, when resisting Mental damage,
previous wounds do apply (you're hurting and less able to resist--I know,
"Well, mental resistance is (usually) based off willpower, which, like
BOD, is not affected"--we're trying to come up with a compromise here).
2. If you use the combat pool in the "normal" way (i.e. target number=
power-armor): Combat pool dice are affected by previous wounds (it's tougher
to dodge when you're hurt and wounded), but BOD resistance dice are not (see
previous argument).
Both of these options may or may not be in effect at the same time.
As far as changing Combat Pool target numbers, I was thinking alone the same
lines as Powerhouse (uh, let me check...yep, it was Powerhouse this time),
i.e. target number for dodge= (some set number)-(firer's target number).
The thinking obviously is that the easier the shot, the harder it is to
dodge. Powerhouse posted a set number of 10 or 12. I feel this is to
high, as so many target numbers (thanks to Smartlinks and other mods) end up
being 2-4, which leaves a dodge target number of 6-10. It would be
virtually impossible for ANYONE (even some of our shadotk deities) to get
enough successes to dodge the attack. I personally prefer a set number of
8.
A variation I thought of on this scheme is to have the dodge target number=
10-(8-minus firer's successes). This relates the difficulty of the dodge
not to the ease of the shot, but to the attacker's actual success in the
shot. Some quick examples: Due to a variety of factors, Spectre (normally a
good shot) only gets 2 successes on the Firearms test. To dodge is
10-(8-2=6)=4 (not hard). Example 2: Spectre gets 10 successes on his
Firearms test (love that combat pool) (Ahh, back to normal). Target number
for dodge is 10-(8-10=-2)! That was a good shot.
Note that all these suggestions on changing the dodge target number (not just
ours here at UPS, but Powerhouse's and whomever Jason has been arguing with--I
believe his idea is to make the dodge target number=attacker's Firearms Skill)
make dodging MUCH MORE DIFFICULT. Even the PC's will have some serious
difficulties dodging certain attacks with these rules.
Problem: Has anyone besides us at UPS noticed that SRII tasers (particularly
the Yamaha Pulsar from NA Guide to Real Life) are ridiculously powerful.
Unless we are reading the rules wrong NO ONE, NEITHER PC or NPC has ever
been able to avoid being helpless from convulsions if not downright
unconscious when hit by a taser shot (some players in our game almost never
use regular firearms anymore--just Taser 'em and slit their throats while
they are helpless. We read the rules as follows. The Firearms test for the
attacker is normal. To resist (not using any of the rules listed above)
is 10 (power level of taser)-(1/2) impact armor (usually 2 or 3, at best) or
a target number of 7 or 8. No one has yet been able to generate enough
successes to overcome the attacker's successes and stage the damage down
lower than a mod stun (at which point you not only take the stun, but are
incapacitated by convulsions for 3d6 turns)! If we are missing something,
please tell us. If we have the rules right, we have come up with the
following modification.
In order for the attack to succeed the attacker must have enough net successes
(that is, successes after defender has rolled to resist) to overcome the
defender's impact armor. Hmm, to restate in a clearer way: If the defender
has 3 points of impact armor, the attacker must get 4 (1 greater) NET
successes on the firearms test for the attack to have any effect. A simple
variation would be to say that the attacker only needs 3 successes (equal to
impact armor) to succeed.
Well, I know this is alot, but I'd appreciate any comments. You don't have
to comment on everything, just whatever grabs your attention. I'll post
more when we finish modifying (By the time we are done, I think the system
may be damn near unrecognizable from the original). BTW, can someone tell
me how to contact NAGEE--I'd like to send them some of this stuff after a
while, with our names on it (for those following the copyright discussion on
Shadowtk).
Sincerely,
Steve Huth (Spectre, Eclipse)
Jason Carter (Nightstalker, Raven TM, Cerise)
Jeremy Roberson (Jaez, Cooper, RAMboy)
Ed Matuskey (Highlander)
Judy Mackenroth (Lucky)
Matt Drago (Whisper)
Stefan Hahn (Ralph, Blindside, Kinada)
