From:	Ralph and Ivy Ryan <sgmpaws@*******.COM>
Subject:	Re: SR Lethality Follow-up
Date:	Tue, 23 Dec 1997 21:51:03 -0500

Hi,

The system that we have is better. The unskilled aren't dangerous anyway.


Ivy K

----------
> From: JonSzeto <JonSzeto@***.COM>
> To: SHADOWRN@********.ITRIBE.NET
> Subject: SR Lethality Follow-up
> Date: Tuesday, December 23, 1997 5:22 PM
>
> Okayyyyy, let's see what we've gotten here....
>
> In answer to the question "Is Shadowrun lethal enough?" the general
consensus
> I've gotten has run around the form of "Yes, but...." Most people seem to
> think that it's lethal enough at the "normal" level but breaks down at
the
> higher end of the scale.
>
> With that in mind, I'd like to toss around a couple of ideas:
>
> (1) Currently the basic combat test (in other words, for ranged, melee,
magic,
> and so on) is an Opposed Test: whoever gets more successes (attacker or
> target) stages up or stages down the damage, as appropriate. How about
> changing this back to a Resisted Test: The attacker makes his test and
stages
> the damage up, based on the number of successes. Then the defender makes
his
> resistance test, staging down the damage from the result (after the
attacker's
> test).
>
> (2) For both the Attack and Resistance Tests, every two successes stages
the
> Damage Level up (or down) by one step. Consider this idea: during the
> Attacker's Test, every *single* success stages the Damage Level up by one
> step; for the Resistance Test, it still takes two successes to stage the
> damage down one step.
>
> This should address two problems that have been mentioned: it's a lot
easier
> for characters with low Combat Skills to achieve enough successes (before
> including Combat Pool dice) to do real damage, and now light pistolsand
knives
> are a real threat (it only takes 3 successes to score these up from Light
to
> Deadly damage, instead of 6). By leaving the Resistance Test unchanged,
it
> shouldn't make it Shadowrun more lethal than it already is.
>
> (3) Currently any additional successes (after scoring damage to Deadly)
have
> no effect, unless using the optional Deadlier Over-damage Rules (either
the
> FoF version or the SRComp version). Consider this idea: any "leftover"
> successes, after staging up the damage to Deadly, increases the target
number
> for the Damage Resistance Test, at a rate of +1 for every *two* successes
> above and beyond.
>
> This does not necessarily nullify the Deadlier Over-damage Rules. Those
rules
> require that the Power be greater than a threshold (2x Body or 1.5x Body,
> depending on the verion used). The +1 modifier/2 successes may apply to
> weapons that do not meet the Deadlier Over-damage criteria.
>
> One final note: as they stand, ideas (1), (2), and (3) are not
interlinked
> together and can stand apart from each other.
>
> Let me know what you think. Are any of these ideas worth considering? All
of
> them? None of them? Some of them? Why or why not?
>
> Thanks,
> -- Jon