Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > The Fantasy Trip

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-22-2018, 07:17 AM   #1
Xergrell
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Default Minimum Weapon Damage?

So I was reading the be Melee rules pdf and I see that some weapon damage rolls are 1d-4 for a thrown rock. So does that mean if I roll 1-4 on the die the. I do no damage to an unarmored for even though I did hit with the rock or is there a minimum of 1 point of damage if I hit?
Xergrell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2018, 07:53 AM   #2
pyratejohn
 
pyratejohn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Columbia, Maryland
Default Re: Minimum Weapon Damage?

I've been assuming for these last 41 years that anything less than a zero is zero. I hope I haven't been doing it wrong. :)
__________________
Happily RPGing since 1976.
My Gaming and Reenacting Site (under construction)
pyratejohn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2018, 08:21 AM   #3
RVA_Grandpa
 
RVA_Grandpa's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Richmond, VA, USA
Default Re: Minimum Weapon Damage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xergrell View Post
So I was reading the be Melee rules pdf and I see that some weapon damage rolls are 1d-4 for a thrown rock. So does that mean if I roll 1-4 on the die the. I do no damage to an unarmored for even though I did hit with the rock or is there a minimum of 1 point of damage if I hit?
Sheldore the Great throws a rock at WoloWizard. He rolls a hit on 3d vs DX and then rolls one die (1d-4). He rolls a 3 for no damage (3-4=-1).

The rock tears a small hole in WoloWizard's dickie of incredible immaturity. Enraged, he raises his wand and aims a fireball at Shedore's spot (er, hex).

And the battle goes on.
__________________
RVA_Grandpa
-----------------------------------------
https://travelingthelabyrinth.blogspot.com
We never really grow up; we only learn how to act in public.
RVA_Grandpa is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2018, 10:41 AM   #4
platimus
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: behind you
Default Re: Minimum Weapon Damage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by RVA_Grandpa View Post
Sheldore the Great throws a rock at WoloWizard. He rolls a hit on 3d vs DX and then rolls one die (1d-4). He rolls a 3 for no damage (3-4=-1).

The rock tears a small hole in WoloWizard's dickie of incredible immaturity. Enraged, he raises his wand and aims a fireball at Shedore's spot (er, hex).

And the battle goes on.
LOL
In theory, that fireball will be a Big Bang!
platimus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-22-2018, 12:52 PM   #5
Skarg
 
Join Date: May 2015
Default Re: Minimum Weapon Damage?

You're doing it right; the minimum damage is zero, not one.

Missile spells in the new Wizard are the first exception that has a minimum damage roll in TFT.
Skarg is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2018, 03:01 AM   #6
RobW
 
RobW's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Default Re: Minimum Weapon Damage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skarg View Post
You're doing it right; the minimum damage is zero, not one.

Missile spells in the new Wizard are the first exception that has a minimum damage roll in TFT.
Curious, where is minimum damage == 0 specified?
RobW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2018, 05:05 AM   #7
Melichor
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Default Re: Minimum Weapon Damage?

Both Magic Fist and Fireball have this qualifying statement in their description:
Quote:
... but never less damage than the ST used.
Melichor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2018, 08:25 AM   #8
Oneiros
 
Oneiros's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: Minimum Weapon Damage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by RobW View Post
Curious, where is minimum damage == 0 specified?
It's not. It's a natural outcome of the math and in game logic assumptions. If I attack bare handed, doing 1d-4, and I roll a one. You can't do -3 damage to an enemy by in game logic, but you could do none, so that's what you do.

Missle spells calling out minimum damage implies this is not always the case, and are an exception to the base assumptions.
Oneiros is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2018, 08:59 AM   #9
Anaraxes
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Default Re: Minimum Weapon Damage?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oneiros View Post
You can't do -3 damage to an enemy by in game logic, but you could do none, so that's what you do.
Yes, but it's still not insane or dimwitted to wonder in the absence of the rules actually stating or giving an example.

Before you rolled damage, you rolled to "hit". Melee even calls damage "hits"; congratulations, you know you've done some! Some people might well think that since the dice say you've scored some hits, the logical minimum is 1 hit rather than 0. Zero hits is the amount of damage you do on every miss -- and so those zero results should all taken care of by the to-hit roll, not the damage roll. Given that there's a known hit involved, the minimum could well be 1, as that's every bit as much "a natural outcome of the math and in game logic assumptions".

I don't think anyone is suggest that a -3 means your dagger stab should heal the enemy. The question is just whether the minimum is 0 or 1. I happen to think the answer is 0, but the rules don't actually say.

(For what it's worth, GURPS actually does specify minimum damage on a damage roll as 1 for most damage types, though 0 is still permitted for crushing damage. The "Rolling For Damage" section on Melee p11 could certainly stand one more sentence to clarify minimum damage in the case of a negative modifier. But that's not errata, per that thread's definition.)
Anaraxes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-23-2018, 09:48 AM   #10
Shadekeep
 
Shadekeep's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Aerlith
Default Re: Minimum Weapon Damage?

I've taken both sides of the fence on this one in the past. I can see where a 1D6-4 weapon might be so weak that even a successful hit doesn't do significant damage (minimum of 0), or conversely that a weak weapon does minimal damage most of the time with a chance of doing a little bit more (minimum of 1). I'll defer to however it ends up spelled out in the rules, and hopefully it will be unambiguous.
Shadekeep is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:03 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.