[Supers] Damage Resistance for Brick-type heroes

[CeeDub]

Salutations!

I'm a bit uncertain which DR modifier is appropriate for the typical Flying Brick. Many of them have exposed skin, leaving them vulnerable for Contact Agent attacks (as I understand them); at the same time they can easily shrug off heavy machine gun fire without a scratch, which IMO does not fit the Tough Skin limitation.

So, how would you price a limitation on Damage Resistance that does not protect against Contact Agents (attacks that require skin contact) but does protect against Blood Agents because the skin is impenetrable unless damage exceeds DR? Is there already one that I somehow overlooked? Or do I completely misunderstand the concept of either Contact Agent or Blood Agent?

[Anthony]

Well, it mostly doesn't matter because contact agents tend to be area attacks that are only blocked by Sealed, but you can probably justify -5% for Not Vs Contact Agents.

[Varyon]

If you want Tough Skin that doesn't have the Flexible Limitation (and note that even with Flexible firearms aren't going to do any damage if DR is high enough, unless using some sort of house rules) should use the difference in the modifier for Tough Skin (-40%) and Flexible (-20%), making it -20%. I call it Subcutaneous, but you can call it whatever you'd like.

[CeeDub]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Well, it mostly doesn't matter because contact agents tend to be area attacks that are only blocked by Sealed, but you can probably justify -5% for Not Vs Contact Agents.

I disagree, many Afflictions are Contact Agents, for example. Also, that would make "not against blood agents" worth -35% on its own.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Varyon

If you want Tough Skin that doesn't have the Flexible Limitation (and note that even with Flexible firearms aren't going to do any damage if DR is high enough, unless using some sort of house rules) should use the difference in the modifier for Tough Skin (-40%) and Flexible (-20%), making it -20%. I call it Subcutaneous, but you can call it whatever you'd like.

I use this. I call it Touch Transmissive, but I'm not really any good at naming things.

[Sam Baughn]

Tough Skin can be broken down into 'Flexible', 'Not vs. Blood Agents' and 'Not vs. Contact Agents'. Since we have a value of -20% for 'Flexible' on it's own, that implies that 'Not vs. Blood Agents' and 'Not vs. Contact Agents' are worth -20% in total.

Judging the relative value of not working against Blood Agents and Contact Agents is tricky, but I'd say Blood Agents are significantly more common than Contact Agents; the latter are almost all supernatural attacks, while the former can include many natural ones as well. So I'm inclined to say something like -15% for not working against Blood Agents and -5% for not working against Contact Agents.

[Phantasm]

Blood Agent (p. B110) reads: "Your attack must reach a mucous membrane ... or an open wound.... DR always stops it." It's normally a limitation unless also coupled with Area Effect or Cone, where it becomes an enhancement. "If the attack also has Area Effect or Cone, Blood Agent works as described above and also when inhaled (like Respiratory Agent)."

(In my experience, Blood Agent and Respiratory Agent attacks that are not Area Effect or Cone tend to be Follow-Ups.)

Contact Agent (p. B111) (-30%) reads: "Your attack must touch bare skin or porous clothing to have any effect.... DR always stops it."

Of course, the Tough Skin modifier on Damage Resistance, p. B47, says, "Any effect that requires a scratch or skin contact affects you ... even if [the attack] does exactly 0 damage". This means that Tough Skin permits Contact Agents to work, but Blood Agents need open wounds, even a cat's 0-damage scratch.

Also, a flying brick that is supposed to be "bullet-proof against conventional firearms" is likely to have DR 42, possibly with one level of Hardened, accounting for 7.62mmNATO SWAT sniper rifles doing 7d pi. (7 * 6 = 42) Normally they're also given Tough Skin (even in his first appearance in Action Comics #1 (June 1938), Superman's skin could not be pierced by medical needles, so blowgun darts are out).

So, given this, I would ask the following question when determining if Blood Agent is applicable: Does the attack leave a scratch or just a bruise?

For attack types that leave scratches or open wounds that could bypass Tough Skin DR, I'd consider cutting and impaling to be the be two most likely. Crushing and fatigue attacks wouldn't leave scratches; burning attacks even cauterize the wounds preventing Blood Agent from affecting things. Corrosive attacks eat away the DR; this may leave open wounds. This leaves cutting and impaling attacks leaving scratches.

The trick with impaling is if you want your Superman expy to be taken out by a tranquilizer dart with a dose large enough to drop a dozen bull elephants. Some people say "yes, that penetrates his skin", others say "no, that would bounce off him". /coinflip.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by CeeDub

I disagree, many Afflictions are Contact Agents, for example. Also, that would make "not against blood agents" worth -35% on its own.

-15%; the other -20% is for Flexible.

[CeeDub]

I wouldn't mind Flexible, except that you can still suffer blunt trauma, which Bricks usually don't. Unless they get punched or blasted by another Super. Maybe I just don't get Flexible? as far as I understand it, it does protect against both Agents, but less against crushing damage, so it's probably more like Kevlar?

ETA: Oops. I completely overlooked that Tough Skin includes Flexible. D'oh!

[Phantasm]

Even Flexible and Tough Skin DR protect against crushing attacks; the two do not translate into "not against crushing attacks".

A person hitting someone wearing a mail hauberk with a baseball bat still subtracts the mail's DR from the injury received. Same with smacking Juggernaut or Hulk in the face with a supersonic punch; their DR absorbs the damage. Think of blunt trauma as a specialized and circumstance-specific form of IT:DR, /5 for crushing or /10 for cutting, piercing, or impaling, but only if the DR stops the attack altogether. (This is why it's often more effective to punch the brick than it is to shoot him.)