Troy here, again. In my last post I spoke about altering AP values and how weapon Penetration values "foil" the game mechanic when calculating Wounds suffered from an attack. This post will follow on from my last post, starting with Damage.
Damage
For the purposes of this topic, there is a distinct difference between the terms "Damage" and "Wounds".
The first category of Damage is that cause by Attacks.
Damage is calculated when one or more attacks hit, or when a PC suffers the effects of Falling, the Toxic Quality, Being On Fire, or being exposed to Vacuum. In most cases, Damage will have what I refer to as a Damage Modifier.
The Damage Modifier for Ranged weapons is represented by a number of points (zero in some cases) that are to be added to the Damage die (or dice, multiple). An example would be the Combat Shotgun (pg 174, Only War): the weapon's Damage is shown as d10+4 (Type Impact), and in this example 4 is the Damage Modifier. In the event a ranged weapon has a Damage modifier of zero (0) the PC will substitute his/her modified PerB instead.
The Damage Modifier for Melee weapons is the higher of A) the wielder's SB, or B) the number of points added to the Damage die. One example would be a PC with a SB of 3 who is wielding a Knife, Damage of d5 (Type Rending); in this example the Damage Modifier is the Wielders SB (3 is higher than zero). Another example would be a PC with a SB of 3 who is wielding a Power Sword, Damage of d10+5 (Type Energy); in this example the Damage Modifier is 5.
Now, you may be asking yourself "Why do I need to know what the Damage Modifier is?" Well, I'll tell you... ~some of it has to do with the Mook version of RF/ZH, but not now~
"Righteous Fury" (RF), "Zealous Hatred" (ZH), call it what you will, it's too complicated. First, we were told to re-roll to-hit dice to "confirm" the hit (Dark Heresy), then we were told to add the ability to exchange DoS for low Damage die results (Deathwatch), and now we've been told to scrap the re-roll to "confirm" and either cause 1 Wound if AP and TB aren't defeated, or to roll a d5 and apply the Critical Injury Effects to the appropriate Location (but to not treat it as a Critical Injury). Gah! When you start adding Damage dice for the Accurate Quality, but you have to keep them separate from standard Damage dice, and those separate from Tearing dice...it's like going from comparing prices to comparing prices and nutritional values at the grocery. No, thank you.
If a hit is scored, PCs (and significant, named NPCs) first may exchange their DoS on the attack roll with any one of the "standard" (understood as "listed in the weapon's profile") Damage dice. RF/ZH will be generated if a "standard" Damage die results in a "natural" (understood as "unmodified") 10. If the Qualities are applicable, any Accurate dice are to be kept separate from each other and apart from "standard" Damage dice (possibly use different colors/sizes). Accurate dice and the Tearing die cannot generate RF/ZH. No matter how many "standard" Damage dice result in a 10, only one extra Damage die is rolled, and this is done immediately. There is no re-roll to "confirm". If that extra Damage die results in a 10, immediately repeat. Once RF/ZH has run its course, then they will add their Damage Modifier. The sum total of all Damage dice rolled, plus any Damage Modifier, plus Damage bonuses from Talents/Traits is the total Damage for that hit. Repeat the process for each hit. Any Damage that bypasses AP is treated as Wounds*. If any Wounds are caused, then the Toxic Quality (if applicable) is applied.
PCs (and significant/named NPCs, which are essentially the GM) have enough on their plates without having to keep track of every penny-ante d5 of Critical Effects (that aren't actually Critical Injuries). ~sigh~
*"But, wait!", I hear you say. "What about TB?"
Soon.
The next category of Damage is that caused from Falling.
All Damage caused by Falling is Type Impact. This is the case even in the event other "types" of Damage are added to Falling Damage (see below).
Personal AP and Natural AP provide no protection versus Falling Damage. Certain limited Field AP (notably the Rosarius, pg 189, The Inquisitor's Handbook...the device does not make the distinction between "ranged attack" and falling; as far as the tiny cogitator within the device is concerned, someone threw a planet at the wearer) and Psychic AP provide protection versus Falling Damage, provided the device is activated or the Power is manifested/Sustained prior to the character falling. Augmetic AP provides protection versus Falling Damage to Locations affected by the applicable Talents/Traits (as I explained in my earlier post, a revised list of Talents and Traits, along with their descriptions will be provided in a later post). A character "protected" by falling Vehicle AP is not protected versus Falling Damage; he/she is crashing. By extension, he/she is crashing into Cover AP.
When a characters falls, roll randomly to determine which Location is affected by Falling Damage. The character will take Damage from Falling based on the height from which he/she fell, as follows:
- 1-3m The character suffers Damage equal to d5 plus the number of meters fallen
- 4-50m The character suffers Damage equal to d10 plus the number of meters fallen
- 51+m A fall from this height automatically results in Instant Death
If the character falls onto particularly jagged rocks, Volonx Kill Sticks (Inquisitor's Handbook, pg 103), or other hazardous surfaces, the Damage caused by such a surface is added to the Falling Damage, before any AP and/or TB reductions.
In all instances, the character subtracts any Augmetic, Field, and/or Psychic AP and his/her TB (including any Unnatural Toughness) from the Falling Damage calculated, to a minimum of 1 point (meaning the character will always take at least 1 Wound from Falling Damage).
The next category of Damage is Being On Fire.
All Damage caused by Being On Fire is Type Energy.
When a character is on fire, he/she takes d10 (Type Energy) Damage from normal fires (such as torches and campfires), or d10+Damage Modifier (Type Energy) Damage in the case of fire caused by weapons with the Flame Quality, at the end of each of his/her Turns (giving a chance to douse the flames before taking further Damage; see Fire, pg 266, Only War for rules regarding the extinguishing of flames).
Certain conditions may raise or lower the Difficulty of extinguishing the flames (such as there being high winds or having a bucket of water nearby, GM discretion), but will not increase the amount of Damage caused by Being On Fire.
Augmetic AP (such as The Flesh Is Weak [Talent]/Machine Trait) provides protection versus fire Damage, as does the Ceramite Armour Upgrade (see pg 177, Black Crusade) which provides 3 AP. Certain Psychic Powers provide their own protections. All other AP is of no protection when a character is on fire. The character may also reduce Damage from Being On Fire by his/her TB.
In all instances, regardless of Damage reduction for TB (including Unnatural Toughness) and AP, the character takes a minimum of 1 Wound from Being On Fire.
The next category is that from exposure to Vacuum.
Damage caused by exposure to Vacuum is Type Energy if suffered in the void; simply describe the deleterious effects in terms of extreme cold rather than extreme heat; and Type Impact if suffered as a result of, say, becoming trapped/sealed in a decompression chamber.
Unless a character is 100% "artificial" (say from receiving the Mechanoid Gift of the Gods, Black Crusade, pg 296), exposure to Vacuum works exactly as described on pg 268, Only War, with all effects applied to the Body Location.
For clarification, no TB and no AP category provides protection versus Wounds caused by exposure to Vacuum.
The next category is that caused by weapons with the Toxic Quality.
This is not to be confused with the Toxic Trait. Complete revised lists of weapon Qualities and Traits will be provided in a later post. All Damage caused by the Toxic Quality is Type Impact.
As per Damage caused by Attacks (see above), the Wounds caused by the Toxic Quality is applied only in the event the character suffers at least 1 Wound from an attack. Wounds caused by the Toxic Quality equals d10+1 (Type Impact) which affects the Body Location, regardless of where the character was hit. No AP values provide protection versus Wounds caused by the Toxic Quality (as it is not Damage*), but a character may reduce the amount of Wounds suffered by his/her TB (including Unnatural Toughness), to a minimum of 1.
* This is an important distinction. Damage may be mitigated by AP values, Wounds cannot.
A short side note here:
From my perspective, a character's Wounds score is a combination of factors, a small part physical health, and the remainder equal parts grim determination and luck. Just because you've taken 12 Wounds to the Arm doesn't necessarily mean there is blood soaking your sleeve. It could just mean you were outmatched by your opponent and your arm is sore from having to parry so many heavy blows.
I guess what I'm trying to say is you shouldn't view Wounds as strictly a game mechanic representation of your character's physical peak and trough.
Important: Damage caused by Falling, Being On Fire, exposure to Vacuum, and Wounds caused by weapons with the Toxic Quality cannot generate RF/ZH. That would be adding insult (and injury) to injury.
So, you've seen a bit of how TB (and Unnatural Toughness) work in these House Rules, it's time I dropped the other shoe...
TB does not reduce Damage from weapons (or the Natural weapons of creatures). Unnatural Toughness does, however. I'll go more into all that in my next post. That, and generating Starting Wounds, how Wounds scores increase...
Until next time,
The Emperor Protects
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