Destructive abrasion; what damage type? (and Corrosion arguments)

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I don't see any reason to think that corrosion is supposed to reduce the DR of anything other than the targeted location or sublocation.

So, if I target the 'torso', I erode DR over an area that's something like 3' across (but miraculously, I fail to hit anything that isn't on the torso), whereas if I target the 'vitals' I suddenly only do damage to an area a few inches across?

As long as corrosive damage (a) can target the torso, and (b) has no attack penalty for follow-up attacks, it has to be quite large area, and that means if it gets through armor at all, it kills you.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Anthony

So, if I target the 'torso', I erode DR over an area that's something like 3' across (but miraculously, I fail to hit anything that isn't on the torso), whereas if I target the 'vitals' I suddenly only do damage to an area a few inches across?

The front of the Chest isn't 3' on an ordinary person. Corrosive damage can't target vitals. Variable damage rolls already account for variability in armor thickness and coverage, so a reduction in DR can be viewed as just increasing the likelihood of attacks hitting weaker areas.

[vierasmarius]

This does suggest an interesting variant of Corrosive damage, "Tight-Beam Corrosion" or something. It still degrades armor, but only over a very small area - to take advantage of the weak spot you have to target it specifically, at a penalty for the small size. However, because the corrosion attack is much narrower than normal, it can target Vitals, Eyes, armor gaps, etc. It's basically a hybrid between Piercing and Corrosion, the same way Tight-Beam Burning can be viewed as a mix between Piercing and Burning.

Anyways, for the OP's question I'd treat it as Cutting, enhanced to degrade armor like corrosion (I'd call that +20% or so). Probably has a sizable Armor Multiplier too, for the large surface area it's contacting.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The front of the Chest isn't 3' on an ordinary person.

From the base of the throat to the hips is pretty close; you might drop it down to 2' or so, but it's got to be a quite large area.

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Variable damage rolls already account for variability in armor thickness and coverage, so a reduction in DR can be viewed as just increasing the likelihood of attacks hitting weaker areas.

Yes, but -3 DR over 1 square foot and -1 DR over 3 square feet doesn't really make much difference in survivability, it's just a higher degree of horrific damage over a smaller area.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Anthony

From the base of the throat to the hips is pretty close; you might drop it down to 2' or so, but it's got to be a quite large area.
....

That's the entire torso longwise, not merely the chest.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

That's the entire torso longwise, not merely the chest.

Look at the diagram of hit locations in Basic. The entire torso is a single location.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Anthony

From the base of the throat to the hips is pretty close; you might drop it down to 2' or so, but it's got to be a quite large area.

That's why I specified sublocations the Chest stops at the waist.

I'm a little confused as to what you are arguing here. If someone steps in an acid puddle that does one point of damage are they blinded because it also hits the eyes somehow?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Look at the diagram of hit locations in Basic. The entire torso is a single location.

I specified sublocations for a reason.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I'm a little confused as to what you are arguing here. If someone steps in an acid puddle d that does one point of damage are they blinded because it also hits the eyes somehow?

Basically, 1 point of penetration works out to about 3/4" depth in flesh, with the skin counting as an extra half inch or so. If we want to get -1 DR over a location, that implies either -1 DR everywhere (about 1/4" removed across the entire area, which is to say flaying), or -X DR over 1/X of the area (1.75" removed, which will probably expose the lungs or something).

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I specified sublocations for a reason.

Corrosive damage is in Basic. Therefore, it must be capable of working with the rules in Basic.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Basically, 1 point of penetration works out to about 3/4" depth in flesh, with the skin counting as an extra half inch or so. If we want to get -1 DR over a location, that implies either -1 DR everywhere (about 1/4" removed across the entire area, which is to say flaying), or -X DR over 1/X of the area (1.75" removed, which will probably expose the lungs or something).

So what happens when you step in a puddle that does 1 point of Corrosion?

Corrosive damage is in Basic. Therefore, it must be capable of working with the rules in Basic.

That Basic Set guy has giant gonads from the waist through his hips, I'm not sure we really ought to consider him human.