[Powers] Fixed ST Dmg: How to do it?

[JCurwen3]

ST-based dmg is randomized, dice-based. What if it'd be in-concept for a character to exert the same force (do the same damage, down to the point) with each blow?

I thought, based on the Fixed Duration modifier from Psionic Powers, that this might be worth just +0% if I treat each die as either 3 (or 3.5 maybe) damage (the average for a die). So to achieve a character that did some of his ST-based dmg as a fixed invariable number, sum up the extra dice and multiply by 3 (or 3.5 maybe) and then add or subtract any "adds" in the ST dmg, and there you have it. Or for a character with all fixed damage, make it a feature (technically involving selling ST down to 0, and then buying back up Lifting ST and HP to 10, and Striking ST to 10 but with some Fixed Damage modifier, +0%).

Or, you might argue it should be worth more points, or less points, or done a different way. Thoughts on best approach?

[lexington]

That would be very hard to justify. Damage is randomized for a number of reasons, variability in how hard the attacker hits is only one element of it.

That said 0% for 3.5 damage per die sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

ST-based dmg is randomized, dice-based. What if it'd be in-concept for a character to exert the same force (do the same damage, down to the point) with each blow?

Yeah that's a feature. And yes, it's a very problematic concept because the variability of damage is also about whether or not the attack hit an artery or something.

[Mailanka]

Setting aside what you're trying to represent: The partial dice rules under Innate Attack cover this well enough, in my opinion: 1 die translates to 3 points of damage (in fact, the conversion is probably more complicated than that, but I think it's a solid rule of thumb. You're sacrificing a little damage for extra certainty).

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by Mailanka

Setting aside what you're trying to represent: The partial dice rules under Innate Attack cover this well enough, in my opinion: 1 die translates to 3 points of damage (in fact, the conversion is probably more complicated than that, but I think it's a solid rule of thumb. You're sacrificing a little damage for extra certainty).

Fixed Duration does the same - it's 3 [whatever duration unit is, usually minutes] rather than 3.5.

I think I'll go with that, Fixed Damage, +0%: Multiply number of die by 3, and then add any "adds" for ST damage, with it being a feature if that's what you do with all your ST dmg.

Just want to give some background on why I asked: I am introducing a new race into my game (one that even might day become playable or transformable-into by PCs, plus I prefer statting stuff anyway), and they're meant to do everything perfectly; there is never any randomness in anything they do. For examples of this in other game settings, think of Nobilis using Level 0 Aspect miracles to do damage (it shouldn't have any variability, it should be maxed), or an entity from The Primal Order deciding to primally lace an attack. Gods and angels in many fictional settings work with little or no variability.

Now, that said, that leads me to another question. What if I want it to be selective: sometimes it's fixed (3 instead of 1d) sometimes it's variable, as per character choice? Would just Selectivity, +10% do it? I normally wouldn't ask, but I'm not sure if Selectivity is balanced when using +0% mods... I mean, I think it is, but then again, by RAW it's only for enhancements, and I'm not sure that +0% is technically an enhancement or a limitation (could just as easily be written as -0%), or something else, like a "feature" mod. And switchable feature traits in GURPS use Alternate Form or Morph. Might be overthinking this and Selectivity is fine for balance, I just don't want to one day pull at my hair realizing I've made something cheaper than it should be.

[Kyra]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

Now, that said, that leads me to another question. What if I want it to be selective: sometimes it's fixed (3 instead of 1d) sometimes it's variable, as per character choice? Would just Selectivity, +10% do it? I normally wouldn't ask, but I'm not sure if Selectivity is balanced when using +0% mods... I mean, I think it is, but then again, by RAW it's only for enhancements, and I'm not sure that +0% is technically an enhancement or a limitation (could just as easily be written as -0%), or something else, like a "feature" mod. And switchable feature traits in GURPS use Alternate Form or Morph. Might be overthinking this and Selectivity is fine for balance, I just don't want to one day pull at my hair realizing I've made something cheaper than it should be.

I just wanted to ask abouth something on that line too: how much would it cost an advantage that let's you go fixed damage - random damage as you like?

As an enhancement, i'd eyeball it at significantly more than +10%, just cause it WILL be exploited ruthlessy by your players (i know i would).

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Kyra

I just wanted to ask abouth something on that line too: how much would it cost an advantage that let's you go fixed damage - random damage as you like?

As an enhancement, i'd eyeball it at significantly more than +10%, just cause it WILL be exploited ruthlessy by your players (i know i would).

It shouldn't be any more than +20%, which is how much it'd cost to buy the 'variable' attack damage as an alternate attack to the origin (really, x1.2 cost, rather than a +20% enhancement, but whatever).

[Ts_]

Originally Posted by Kyra

I just wanted to ask abouth something on that line too: how much would it cost an advantage that let's you go fixed damage - random damage as you like?

As an enhancement, i'd eyeball it at significantly more than +10%, just cause it WILL be exploited ruthlessy by your players (i know i would).

Well, you could use the above-mentioned +0% for fixed and then the usual +5% (?) Variable to drop that feature when desired.

Also, I think it's not too bad. The more dice you have the less point there is to use the fixed dmg thingy because the random distribution narrows as the number of dice increases. So you get a very steady output, which happens to be 3.5/3 higher.

Regards
Ts

[Gnomasz]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

Now, that said, that leads me to another question. What if I want it to be selective: sometimes it's fixed (3 instead of 1d) sometimes it's variable, as per character choice? Would just Selectivity, +10% do it? I normally wouldn't ask, but I'm not sure if Selectivity is balanced when using +0% mods... I mean, I think it is, but then again, by RAW it's only for enhancements, and I'm not sure that +0% is technically an enhancement or a limitation (could just as easily be written as -0%), or something else, like a "feature" mod. And switchable feature traits in GURPS use Alternate Form or Morph. Might be overthinking this and Selectivity is fine for balance, I just don't want to one day pull at my hair realizing I've made something cheaper than it should be.

My first thought was to make Alternative Attack to characters' ST-based damage, but I think that your idea with Alternate Form is more elegant. Still, AF seems like unnecessary big caliber for me, with it's appearance change. So I'd just eyeball it as 15 points (without 10-second change time). It seems less useful than Elastic Skin.

[cmdicely]

Originally Posted by Langy

It shouldn't be any more than +20%, which is how much it'd cost to buy the 'variable' attack damage as an alternate attack to the origin (really, x1.2 cost, rather than a +20% enhancement, but whatever).

It shouldn't be more than +10%, which is the cost of Selectivity (which lets you turn any enhancement on the power on and off.)

Its probably worth about the same as Variable (fewer options offset by greater certainty when the fixed option is chosen), or +5%.