Imp vs. Pi++

[oneofmanynameless]

Is there any functional difference in the rules between Impaling and Huge Piercing damage? I haven't been able to find any...

[Nereidalbel]

There are a handful of armors with different DR for Imp vs Pi. It also matters for IT:DR, but, that may not come up as often.

[Bruno]

It matters for bullet proof vests, DR limited with eg impaling only, when dealing with unliving targets (machines) and homogenous targets (walls nd doors), for vulnerabilities and Achilles's Heels...

[oneofmanynameless]

Alright, so what is the actual difference between them aesthetically (rather than mechanically)?

[The_Ryujin]

As others have said there are plenty of game mechanics behind the reason to separate Imp and pi++. The "IRL" reason for the split is that they cause their damage through different mechanisms. Imp attacks do their damage through slow but high momentum impacts while pi type attacks do damage through low momentum but high velocity impacts. The reason they both double penetrating damage is that the relative wound channels are the same volume (well at lest in the same ballpark).

That being said there is a strong case that Imp attacks should be broken up into different sizes as well since not all blades are made equal.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by oneofmanynameless

Alright, so what is the actual difference between them aesthetically (rather than mechanically)?

Impaling weapons are a lot bigger than piercing weapons. Even when you account for the diameter of the actual penetrating item, I expect impaling weapons are much bigger, ie a spear is wider around than a pi++ bullet. Second, of course, most impaling weapons have a lot more mass in general than a piercing weapon (ie, the spear has a shaft that piercing weapon doesn't). I imagine this is why we hear about things like "Swung impaling weapons get stuck" but not "Swung piercing weapons get stuck."

[GodBeastX]

Until you deal with cannons that have PI++ damage (Low Tech is full of them).

I'd also like to point out that Imp weapons can be very fine for +2 damage where PI can't.

[Dammann]

I have always thought that the fact that an imp weapon is likely to have a shaft or something attached to the impaling point may be a significant difference from pi++ weapons. As drag acts on the impaling point, force is still being applied. With pi++ you are probably talking about a large bullet or something, where the force imparted is not being applied after it hits the target. Just my narrative interpretation of what distinguishes them.

[Varyon]

Personally, I see impaling as being something sharp that cuts through armor/tissue, while piercing is something blunt that crushes through armor/tissue. They both get their high damage and wounding more as a function of how deep into tissue they go - an impaling attack that doesn't go very deep is something akin to cutting (but at reduced damage), while a piercing attack that doesn't go very deep is something akin to crushing (but again at reduced damage).

A blunt iron rod thrown with enough strength to punch through a body would do Pi++ damage, and a DR 20/5* piece of Kevlar would have DR 20* against it. A sharpened iron rod would instead do Imp damage, and that same Kevlar would have DR 5* against it (although properly layered Kevlar probably performs as well against impaling as it does cut/pi).

[AlexanderHowl]

The difference can also be seen in the customization of the ammunition that can be used with a Pi++ weapon versus an Imp weapon (though there are a lot of different arrows for bows). A large aesthetic difference would be in the obvious danger of the weapon for people who are not familiar with the technology. The ammunition of an Imp weapon appears deadly while the ammunition of a P++ weapon does not seem that dangerous to the uninformed.