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Old 08-05-2011, 11:19 AM   #41
Ze'Manel Cunha
 
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Default Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk

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Originally Posted by vierasmarius View Post
Getting shot in the torso by a shotgun slug for 25 damage is not equivalently lethal to being shot in the head for 50 damage.
Should be, plenty of examples of people surviving after taking spikes or bullets through the head/brain.
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Old 08-05-2011, 11:23 AM   #42
Kromm
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Default Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk

In the course of taking damage, you definitely roll to avoid death at each full multiple of -HP, not just once. This is entirely intentional . . . you are supposed to be more likely to die from a wound that takes you to -(n+1)×HP than from one that takes you to -n×HP, and the mechanism for this is the extra HT roll that bump entails. The problem of players complaining about having to roll too many times to avoid death is less with the game than with a campaign where dropping well below -HP is common enough for this to come up! Extensive HT rolls to avoid death are meant to be rare, dramatic, life-threatening situations worthy of all the rolling – not another day on the farm. We actually had that discussion during the Fourth Edition playtest.

You definitely do make all of those survival rolls, one for each increment of -HP, at HT+4 when Berserk. When you snap out, you don't make them all again. You make just one roll at HT. This seems to need an example:
Angie the Barbarian has HT 12 and 14 HP. She goes berserk and starts whacking people. In the course of doing so, she takes four hits herself.

The first delivers 8 HP. Who cares . . . Angie can't be stunned, suffer shock, or slow down due to injuries. She's at 6 HP.

The next does 9 HP. That's 17 HP total injury, putting Angie at -3 HP. At every turn past this one, she must roll at HT+4, or 16 or less, to remain conscious. At those odds, she does, of course.

The third blow strikes the vitals, and inflicts 24 HP! That's 41 HP total injury, putting Angie at -27 HP. She hit one threshold at -14 HP (-HP), but not quite a second at -28 HP (-2×HP). She rolls at HT+4, or 16 or less, not to die. She doesn't die.

The fourth and final blow deals another 15 HP. That's 56 HP total injury, putting Angie at -42 HP. She hit thresholds at -28 HP (-2×HP) and -42 HP (-3×HP), and rolls twice more at 16 not to die. She doesn't.

Then Angie snaps out of berserk. Being at -HP or worse, she must immediately roll once vs. her unmodified HT of 12 to be alive. She does, luckily for her. Being below 0 HP and not dead, she must also roll once vs. HT to stay conscious – but at -3 for being so far in the hole. That's 9 or less, and she rolls a 10 and fails, passing out immediately.
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Old 08-05-2011, 11:33 AM   #43
vierasmarius
 
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Default Re: Rolling to stay alive at the end of a Berserk

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Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha View Post
Should be, plenty of examples of people surviving after taking spikes or bullets through the head/brain.
We hear stories about people surviving traumatic head injuries because they are noteworthy, not because they are common.
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