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Old 08-27-2009, 10:52 AM   #1
RedMattis
 
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Default [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

What do you guys think about this house rule? Anything I'm missing?

Hit Location & Damage Types
The amount of injury caused by damage beyond DR is aside of special cases affected by two factors. Damage type and Hit Location.
The amount of injury afflicted is equal to: "(Damage type) x (Hit Location)", or "(Damage type) + (Hit Location) - 1)", whichever is less
Round up to closest multiple of 0.5.


Examples
Note that this is damage after DR.

10 point Cutting damage to the Torso
1.5 + 1 - 1 = damage x1.5 = 15 points of injury

10 point Impaling damage to the Vitals
2 + 3 -1 = damage x4 = 40 points of injury

10 point Small Piercing damage to the Vitals
0.5 x 3 = damage x1.5 = 15 points of injury

10 point Piercing damage to the Skull (Unliving Target)
1/3 x 4 = damage x 1.5 = 15 points of injury


Exceptions:
Cutting attacks to the neck function normally. It is considered altering the damage type instead of hit location (Cutting-Neck) for calculation purposes.

10 point Cutting attack to the Neck*
2 + 1 = damage x2 = 20 points of injury



Why?
I thought up this house rule because I figure that having a crossbow bolt or spear shoved through your brain is going to hurt more than getting a needle shoot through.

(10 points of impaling damage to the brain would do 50 injury, the 10 point dart would do 20 points of injury)
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Last edited by RedMattis; 08-27-2009 at 11:25 AM.
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Old 08-27-2009, 11:16 AM   #2
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Default Re: [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

Meh, I think base damage models the difference between a needle and a spear accurately, and if the needle was moving fast enough it'd have about the same effect (aka bullets).
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Old 08-27-2009, 11:22 AM   #3
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Default Re: [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk View Post
Meh, I think base damage models the difference between a needle and a spear accurately, and if the needle was moving fast enough it'd have about the same effect (aka bullets).
I think getting hit in the head by a hollow-point bullet is going to sting... er, kill you a bit more than getting hit by the ordinary kind.


Perhaps this house rule goes from one extreme to the other, but I need some more critique before I can really decide..



Edit: I'd consider "Internal Explosion" to be a damage type too by this house rule by the way.
Example:
10 point Internal Explosion damage to the Skull
3 + 4 - 1 = damage x6 = 60 points of injury

You don't want a bomb going off in your head... Heh. :P
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Last edited by RedMattis; 08-27-2009 at 11:26 AM.
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Old 08-27-2009, 11:24 AM   #4
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Default Re: [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

I like it. One interesting effect it has is to change the dynamics of AP ammunition. Previously, the modifier didn't change - so long as you hit the skull or vitals. Now, HP rounds are actually more useful for headshots (provided no helmet) than AP! Even at high skill, characters still need to make a serious decision between stopping power and armor penetration (previously, you could just go for penetration).

EDIT: One thing you could do to get the damage groupings a bit closer is to use the lower of (Damage Multiplier)x(Hit Location)+0.5 and (Damage Muliplier)+(Hit Location)-1. In this way, you'd end up with vitals hits with pi- being x2, rather than x1.5, and skull hits with pi being x2.5, rather than x2.
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Last edited by SuedodeuS; 08-27-2009 at 11:27 AM.
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Old 08-27-2009, 11:25 AM   #5
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Default Re: [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

Quote:
Originally Posted by RedMattis View Post
Perhaps this house rule goes from one extreme to the other, but I need some more critique before I can really decide..
Personally I think it's overly fiddly in play. I don't like the "calculate twice and take whatever is less" part.

I'd prefer some solution that only required one calculation.

EDIT: Isn't internal explosion automatically max damage?
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Old 08-27-2009, 11:36 AM   #6
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Default Re: [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk View Post
EDIT: Isn't internal explosion automatically max damage?
x3 by the rules.

I've always added that to hit location, if any.

If a 10mm APHEX round blows up in your skull, it should, in my opinion, be more damaging than if a .22 LR rounds enters it.
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Old 08-27-2009, 11:40 AM   #7
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Default Re: [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

Quote:
Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk View Post
Personally I think it's overly fiddly in play. I don't like the "calculate twice and take whatever is less" part.

I'd prefer some solution that only required one calculation.
It's fairly simple though. If the Damage type does more than 1x damage you add them. If less you use the multiplication variant.

Quote:
EDIT: Isn't internal explosion automatically max damage?
No, it's 3x injury (Raw says internal explosions count as vitals i noticed when I checked).

Quote:
Originally Posted by SuedodeuS
One thing you could do to get the damage groupings a bit closer is to use the lower of (Damage Multiplier)x(Hit Location)+0.5 and (Damage Multiplier)+(Hit Location)-1. In this way, you'd end up with vitals hits with pi- being x2, rather than x1.5, and skull hits with pi being x2.5, rather than x2.
I like this idea. Takes a bit more calculation, but personally I think it's alright.
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Old 08-27-2009, 11:51 AM   #8
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Default Re: [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

IDHMBWM, but don't contact explosions get maximum damage? It strikes me that an internal explosion would indeed count as contact... meaning maximum damage with a x3 multiplier! An exploding round in the vitals or skull should kill you pretty much outright, correct?

If using the +0.5 variant, I think the cutoff remains around the same - if one multiplier (damage type or hit location) is less than 1, use multiplication; if both are greater than or equal to 1, use addition.
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Old 08-27-2009, 12:17 PM   #9
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Default Re: [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

Quote:
Originally Posted by SuedodeuS View Post
IDHMBWM, but don't contact explosions get maximum damage?
I think it actually says that at some point, but I don't think that's quite what it meant. The example of that was when someone jumps on a grenade. That's a bit more intimate than just being struck with an explosive fireball.

So is an internal explosion, of course. If those rules are supposed to be combined, I think it would have been better to have mentioned it explicitly in the internal explosion box, but the case could definitely be made.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Icelander View Post
x3 by the rules.

I've always added that to hit location, if any.
I believe that x3 is described as being the vitals damage modifier...
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Old 08-27-2009, 12:31 PM   #10
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Default Re: [House Rules] Damage Multipliers, Hit Location & Damage Types

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth View Post
I
I believe that x3 is described as being the vitals damage modifier...
I believe that if that's the intention, that's nonsensical.

An explosion inside the skull is not less damaging than an explosion somewhere else. Reducing the damage modifier in such a case would be the height of foolishness.

As it happens, explosive damage inside the skull probably does qualify for x12 damage. After all, an explosion which would not do all that much outside the body will certainly kill a man if it is located inside the brain.
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