"One-Punch Man" Striking ST?

[Phantasm]

I'm working on a character who is routinely able to knock out men much bigger than he is with a single well-aimed punch. Think Luis in the Ant-Man movies punching out the Pym Technologies head security guard or the reported KO of the large guy in prison, so we're looking at opponents who have ST/HP in the 12-14 range. What Striking ST should I give him?

More importantly, what would it take to knock them unconscious without using an Affliction?

[Kelly Pedersen]

The amount of Striking ST is going to vary based on the amount of HP the target can be expected to have. If the typical "big guy" enemy has ST and HP 15, that's going to be a very different answer than if they ST 50 and 100 HP. In general, though, attacks to the head or vitals will be the way to go, since any damage there requires an HT roll to avoid stunning, and the target will lose consciousness on a roll failed by 5 or more. That's how I'd handle things like Luis knocking a big guy out in prison with one punch - he targeted the head or vitals, and the big guy rolled poorly on HT.

You could probably design a cinematic technique, "knockout punch", based on a Targeted Attack to a head or vitals location, with an extra penalty that then gave the enemy an extra penalty on their HT roll to avoid stunning, even if you didn't inflict a major wound.

[Nereidalbel]

An alternative option if you don't want to outright kill people due to things like severe dain bramage would be to use a melee Fatigue Attack. That also has the bonus of not caring how strong the target actually is.

[Anthony]

Your simplest option is enough damage to drop them to 0 hp; 6-7 points of damage to the skull will normally do the job. 1d+1 (doable with Karate@DX+2 and Striking ST 13) has a chance to do it, but if you want it to be reliable I'd shoot for Striking ST 19 (damage 2d-1 base, -1 for punch, +4 for karate, 2d+2).

Just doing a major wound to the skull is a knockdown roll at -10, which requires about 4 points of base damage. Lesser damage still requires a knockdown roll but has no penalty so it's not likely to result in unconsciousness.

If you want cinematic knockout without killing people, you're talking Affliction or Innate Attack w/Side Effects.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

That's how I'd handle things like Luis knocking a big guy out in prison with one punch - he targeted the head or vitals, and the big guy rolled poorly on HT.

A refinement to this is the factoid that a Major Wound to the Head or Vitals reuires a -5 roll v HT. This is 6pts for 10 or 11 HP, 7pts for 12 or 13 hp and so on.

The first place to collect bonus damage to achieve these thresholds is not Striking ST. It's your unarmed combat Skill. Brawling at DX+2 gives you +1 damage per die and Boxing or Karate double that.

[Sam Baughn]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

A refinement to this is the factoid that a Major Wound to the Head or Vitals reuires a -5 roll v HT. This is 6pts for 10 or 11 HP, 7pts for 12 or 13 hp and so on.

To the skull, it's -10 for a major wound, which means most opponents are likely to be knocked out cold. With the wounding modifier for the skull, you only need to get about 2 points of damage past the DR to achieve that.

A character with 8 or more points in Boxing making an uppercut (or one with 4 points in brawling making a two-handed punch) to the skull does thrust+2 damage. With a thrust of 1d or more, that means knockouts are pretty likely even against tough targets.

[AlexanderHowl]

Well, we have to assume that some people are going to have HP 40 (which is quite possible in a Martial Arts or Supers campaign). Now, with HP 40, a major wound would be 21 damage, which is a base 6 points of damage for a skull hit (8 points of damage before skull DR). At ST 19/20 and Boxing at DX+2 though, an Uppercut deals 3d damage, which is an average of 10.5 damage.

If you want reliable skull hits though, you would need an effective minimum skill of 21, with 25 being ideal for incidental penalties (Uppercut with Technique Mastery can go up to Skill+4, so that is probably the best choice). At that point, you will have a boxer with ST 20 and Uppercut-25, which will make them a combat monster. They can kill the average person with a single punch if they do not pull their punches, as they would deal 32 damage on a skull hit.

[mr beer]

I built a 250 point character for a low point supers game set in the 1920s. His power was effectively "Face Punch". Since hits to the Face are not multiplicative like Skull hits but still trigger Stuns at -5 for a Major Wound, he was able to KO normals relatively safely in droves.

This is the character with a few CP advancement.


Attributes: ST 11 [10]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 10 [0]; HT 12 [20] [70]

Secondary Characteristics: Damage 2d+2/5d-1; BL 24 lbs.; HP 11 [0]; Will 10 [0]; Per 10 [0]; FP 11 [0]; Basic Speed 7.00 [0]; Basic Move 7 [0] [0]

Superpowers: “Tough As Nails” (DR+10: Tough Skin -40%, Super -10%) [25], “The Old One-Two-Three” (Extra Attack (Multi-Strike +20%, Single Skill: Boxing -20%, Super -10%) [23], Extra Attack (Single Skill: Boxing -20%, Super -10%) [18]), “Killer Punch” (Striking ST+14, Super -10%) [63], Speed +1 [20] [149]

Advantages: Ambidexterity [5], High Pain Threshold [10], Hard to Kill +1 [2], Style Familiarity: Boxing [1] [18]

Languages: English: Native; Polish: Accented [4] [4]

Disadvantages: Code of Honour: Fight Fair [-5], Social Stigma: Mulatto (-2) [-10], Greed (12 or less) [-15] [-30]

Quirks: Automatically attacks at the sound of a bell [-1] [-1]

Perks: Light Sleeper [1] [1]

Skills: Boxing (16) [16], Boxing Sport (13) [4], Games: Boxing (13) [2], Current Affairs: Sports (11) [2], First Aid (10) [1], Running (12) [2], Savoir Faire: Boxing Gym (10) [1], Streetwise: 10 [2], Swimming 13 [2] [31]

Techniques: Feint (Boxing) (18) [3], Targeted Attack (Boxing Punch/Face) (14) [4] [7]

Defences: Parry (11), Parry vs. non-thrusting weapons (8), Dodge (10)

Attacks: Can make 2 extra attacks per round, both additional attacks must use Boxing skill and one of the extra attacks may re-use the same limb. In practical terms, this amounts to 3 punches with no skill reduction for multiple attacks. Typical sequences might be: Feint (18), Boxing Punch/Face (14), Punch (16) or Punch (16), Boxing Punch/Face (14), Boxing Punch/Face. Punch damage is +2 per die and -1 for bare fist so cr.2d+5.

Background: Polish father, black mother. Professional boxer.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Well, we have to assume that some people are going to have HP 40 (which is quite possible in a Martial Arts or Supers campaign). Now, with HP 40, a major wound would be 21 damage, which is a base 6 points of damage for a skull hit (8 points of damage before skull DR). At ST 19/20 and Boxing at DX+2 though, an Uppercut deals 3d damage, which is an average of 10.5 damage.

2d-1 +1 +2 = 2d+4, not 3d. Optionally you can convert that to 3d, but in this case you're better off not doing so - there's a 16.2% chance of 7- on 3d, and only an 8.3% chance on 2d+4.

If you want reliable skull hits though, you would need an effective minimum skill of 21, with 25 being ideal for incidental penalties (Uppercut with Technique Mastery can go up to Skill+4, so that is probably the best choice).

Note that no style in Martial Arts offers such a perk, so it's not likely to be trivially available. On the other hand, the techniques Uppercut and Targeted Attack: Uppercut/Face are both available for via Boxing, give the same result, and cost the same. That straight-out Uppercut+4 is overall better (more target choices) for the same price makes me feel that Technique Mastery being freely available is a bad idea.

At that point, you will have a boxer with ST 20 and Uppercut-25, which will make them a combat monster.

A close combat monster, for sure.

[AlexanderHowl]

You can purchase any one combat perk for every 20 CP in combat skills and combat techniques. If you are a boxer, it would make sense to get Technique Mastery (Uppercut) for one of your general combat perks (since you probably have sunk a minimum of 40 CP in the build).