[pnpgm] A note on damage
Scott Adams
longshotgm at comcast.net
Sun Dec 19 04:02:40 CET 2021
So I wanted to get a note out on the
damage. Chaosium is THE most deadly set of rules
I run. I love running Hawkmoon and Elric. But
HW can be very deadly. I've lost more pcs in
that system than any others combined. I am not a
GM that loves to kill. I don't set traps or
overwhelming monsters to kill. I basically kill
out of ignorance. "So you want to cross that
acid pit to get that magical chalice? Ok. You
die." I tend to warn with a question like
that. But also dying heroically I'm in favor of.
I do believe in Balance. So if your using a 5d6
weapon and 90% of monsters only d 1d6 then I
welcome a creature that can do 5d6 in return. If
you use same weapon against natives with blow
guns that do 1d3 then I balance it out by doing
30 of those natives so it gets balanced.
Now with that said this explosive damage was
...may be too high. I am a firm believer in the
Richard Snider rule. If you don't like it change
it make it your own. For P&P he did that for
years. Its like the Weapon Priority rules in pnp
i fully ignore but its same kinda thing for
Strike Ranks. So with that said here is the damage notes/rules
-----
NOTES ON DAMAGE RESULTS
1. Points*Exceeded in Any One Location
LEG-—The limb is useless and the character must
fall, not doing anything else that round. He may
fight from the ground during following rounds.
ABDOMEN-Both legs are useless and the character
must fall. If unheaied within 2 full turns, he
will bleed to death. The character may heal
himself, but will be unable to do anything else.
GM: So this is a rough one. Its too
generic. The 2 full turns thing is random. If
your hit in certain places you can be fine for
hours like lower abdomen. Yet upper abdomen is
more dangerous. So a GM needs to decide what
matters. A lung puncture is far more serious
than a arrow that hits a useless appendix. :)
Though the Chest area implies the more deadly
part. So a GM needs to be more precise on the location.
CHEST—The character falls and is too busy
coughing blood to do anything. He will bleed to
death in 2 full turns. He will not be able to
take any action including healing himself.
GM: Again a arbitrary rule. Certain chest areas
one can be fine. What if its a slashing
blade? You exceed that ap and hp? A clean cut is
enough to cause cough fits? :Likely not. So a
thrust is far worse than a a slash to me. So GM
needs to keep this in mind. An exploding bear is
ten dot be Area effect splatter not thrust or
slash. Sure bones can impale. But generally
this has to be taken into account simply to assume hes disabled is unwise.
ARM-—The limb is useless and anything not
attached to the arm is dropped. The character
continues to stand and fight with whatever limbs are left to him.
GM: 100% agree. But then again if you slice a
arm from wrist to shoulder and it bleeds why
would one drop a item? Common sense has to be used.
HEAD-—The character is unconscious and must be
healed within 2 full turns or die.
GM: Ok. Makes sense. Then again what if its
acid? Acid burns head but should it knock you
out? Maybe not. Sure you'll be screaming and
unable to act. My point is GMS have to readon
this stuff out. As you read these rules its too
default and automatic. Maybe its nto s clear cut.
2. Arm or Leg Location Receives More Than Twice the Points Available
A modem, high-velocity, bullet, hitting a limb
hard enough to put it out of action, will
probably kill the owner of the limb by
hydrostatic shock. The slower moving ancient
weapons do not have this effect. Therefore, a
character cannot take more than twice the
possible points of damage in an arm or leg from a
single blow. Thus, a 2 point arm hit for 5 points
will only take 4 points of damage off the total Hit Points, the remaining
point of damage having no effect. Further blows to that arm
will affect the Hit Points of the character,
However, a character so damaged from a single
blow is functionally incapacitated. He can no longer fight until healed,
He is in shock. He may heal himself.
GM: Ok. MAkes sense. But most limbs are big so
arbitrary info to assume one effect. Slice off
the under arm area with no bone sure it'll hurt
bu most of your arm is still good. So arbitrary :)
3. Location Receives 6 More Points Than Available
A limb hit for 6 points more than it can take in
a single blow is severed or irrevocably maimed.
Only a 6 point Healing spell or potion applied
within 2 full turns, will reknit the limb.
NOTE-This applies even if the points leading up
to this severing would not ordinarily be counted under number 2 above.
Thus, if a character with a 2 point arm is
struck for 8 points, he takes only 4 points of
damage against his Hit Points, but the arm is
maimed. Of course, the character is also functionalincapacitated.
A head, chest, or abdomen hit for 6 more than available is an instant death.
GM: That 2 turn note is back. I can see why it
must be fast healing. But I think CON or such a
factor should be determined. A strong giant can
last longer than a weak diseased beggar so that
should be a factor. So I as GM consider these things.
4. Healing Damage to Hit Location
HEALING SPELL—A Healing spell only affects 1
particular hit location (healer’s choice). A 2
point Healing spell is necessary to stop
bleeding. As stated before, an individual 6 point
Healing spell is necessary to replace a severed or maimed limb.
Now I'll cover the actual player damage...
VAro - 4 Left ARm - A wound but arm is still viable. Overall a Light Wound
Rocky - 4 Points right arm - Technically arm is
disabled. But its a light wound overall. By
rules its disabled. But based on the 'attack' I
can't use logic to see disabling it based on the
'wide area effect' not a blade slash.
Razgar - 3 Abdomen - A light wound. Good Con and
massive AP. So a light wound.
Marusk - 4 left leg - Minor wound as well but not disabled.
Juno - 5 Left Leg - Like rocky technically
disabled. But based on the "damage" its to me
not logical. To disable a limb like this without
the style of attack is odd to me. But its a light wound to me.
Klorgar - 12 arm - This is definitely the worst
of it. I checked discord. I did all dice in the pnp servers dice roller chat.
It was a 18 point blow. But I miscalculated he
has GREAT con, awesome armor. After redoing the
math it was only 6 damage not 12.
Technically again would disable that arm. In
this case I agree. 18 points with massive armor
protection and massive blow to limb would disable
it. So now that I see this fixed. a 12 point
wold've been moderate damage. 6 would be light for him.
So talk about healing 6? Null. Since limbs only
got equal damage. Not exceed or 6x.
So everyone can handle gong to camp and moving on.
First aid and a healing can stop the bleeding
but its not critical at this stage.
So I hope this clears it up.
Glad I verified. I jotted 12 but did not take
out Klorgars AP so that panic is gone. :)
All will live...for now.
I will get to your posts and do update Mon/Tue.
With Xmas probably not a second update after that this week.
I have not read your posts. So I'll assume folks
will do healing spells or use potions.
Its 9pm so will get this out and do update in a few days.
Stay tuned..
So I wanted to get a note out on the
damage. Chaosium is THE most deadly set of rules
I run. I love runnin gHawkmoon and Elric. But
HW can be very deadly. I've lost more pcs in
that system than any others combined. I am not a
GM that loves to kill. I don't set traps or
overwhelming monsters to kill. I basically kill
out of ignorance. "So you wan tto cross that
acid pit to get that magical chalice? Ok. You
die." I tend to warn with a question like
that. But also dying heroically i'm in favor of.
I do believe in BAlance. So if your using a 5d6
weapon and 90% of monsters only d 1d6 then I
welcome a creature that can do 5d6 in return. If
you use same weapon against natives with blow
guns that do 1d3 then I balance it out by doing
30 of those natives so it gets balanced.
Now with that said this explosive damage was
...may be too high. I am a firm believer in the
Richard Snider rule. If you don't like it change
it make it your own. For P&P he did that for
years. Its ike the WEapon Priority rulesin pnp i
fully ignore but its same kinda thing for STrike
Ranks. So with that said here is the damagte notes/rules
-----
NOTES ON DAMAGE RESULTS
1. Points*Exceeded in Any One Location
LEG-—The limb is useless and the character must
fall, not doing anything else that round. He may
fight from the ground during following rounds.
ABDOMEN-Both legs are useless and the character
must fall. If unheaied within 2 full turns, he
will bleed to death. The character may heal
himself, but will be unable to do anything else.
GM: So this is a rough one. Its too
generic. The 2 full turns thing is random. If
your hit in certain places you can be fine for
hours like lower abdeomn. Yet upper abdomen is
more dangerous. So a GM needs to decide what
matters. A lung puncture is far mroe serious
than a arrow that hits a useless appendix. :)
Though th eChest area implies thr emore deadly
part. So a GM needs to be more precise on the location.
CHEST—The character falls and is too busy
coughing blood to do anything. He will bleed to
death in 2 full turns. He will not be able to
take any action including healing himself.
GM: Again a arbitrary rule. Certain chest areas
one can be fine. What if its a slashing
blade? You exceed that ap and hp? A clean cut is
enough to cause cough fits? :Likely not. So a
thrust is far worse than a a slash to me. So GM
needs to keep this in mind. An exploding bear is
ten dot be Area effect splatter not thrust or
slash. Sure bones can impale. But generally
this has to be taken into account simply to assume hes disabled is unwise.
ARM-—The limb is useless and anything not
attached to the arm is dropped. The character
continues to stand and fight with whatever limbs are left to him.
GM: 100% agree. But then again if you slice a
arm from wrist to shoulder and it bleeds why
would one drop a item? Common sense has to be used.
HEAD-—The character is unconscious and must be
healed within 2 full turns or die.
GM: Ok. Makes sense. Then again what if its
acid? Acid burns head but should it knock you
out? Maybe not. Sure you'll be screaming and
unable to act. My point is GMS have to reason
this stuff out. As you read these rules its too
default and automatic. Maybe its not s clear cut.
2. Arm or Leg Location Receives More Than Twice the Points Available
A modem, high-velocity, bullet, hitting a limb
hard enough to put it out of action, will
probably kill the owner of the limb by
hydrostatic shock. The slower moving ancient
weapons do not have this effect. Therefore, a
character cannot take more than twice the
possible points of damage in an arm or leg from a
single blow. Thus, a 2 point arm hit for 5 points
will only take 4 points of damage off the total Hit Points, the remaining
point of damage having no effect. Further blows to that arm
will affect the Hit Points of the character,
However, a character so damaged from a single
blow is functionally incapacitated. He can no longer fight until healed,
He is in shock. He may heal himself.
GM: Ok. Makes sense. But most limbs are big so
arbitrary info to assume one effect. Slice off
the under arm area with no bone sure it'll hurt
bu most of your arm is still good. So arbitrary :)
3. Location Receives 6 More Points Than Available
A limb hit for 6 points more than it can take in
a single blow is severed or irrevocably maimed.
Only a 6 point Healing spell or potion applied
within 2 full turns, will reknit the limb.
NOTE-This applies even if the points leading up
to this severing would not ordinarily be counted under number 2 above.
Thus, if a character with a 2 point arm is
struck for 8 points, he takes only 4 points of
damage against his Hit Points, but the arm is
maimed. Of course, the character is also functionalincapacitated.
A head, chest, or abdomen hit for 6 more than available is an instant death.
GM: That 2 turn note is back. I can see why it
must be fast healing. But I think CON or such a
factor should be determined. A strong giant can
last longer than a weak diseased beggar so that
should be a factor. So I as GM consider these things.
4. Healing Damage to Hit Location
HEALING SPELL—A Healing spell only affects 1
particular hit location (healer’s choice). A 2
point Healing spell is necessary to stop
bleeding. As stated before, an individual 6 point
Healing spell is necessary to replace a severed or maimed limb.
Now I'll cover the actual player damage...
Varo - 4 Left Arm - A wound but arm is still viable. Overall a Light Wound
Rocky - 4 Points right arm - Technically arm is
disabled. But its a light wound overall. By
rules its disabled. But based on the 'attack' I
can't use logic to see disabling it based on the
'wide area effect' not a blade slash.
Razgar - 3 Abdomen - A light wound. Good Con and
massive AP. So a light wound.
MArusk - 4 left leg - Minor wound as well bu tnot disabled.
Juno - 5 Left Leg - Like rocky technically
disabled. But based on the "damage" its to me
not logical. To disable a limb like this without
the style of attackis odd to me. But its a light wound to me.
Klorgar - 12 arm - This is definitely the worst
of it. I checked discord. I did all dice in the pnp servers dice roller chat.
It was a 18 point blow. But I miscalculated he
has GREAT con, awesome armor. After redoing the
math it was only 6 damage not 12.
Technically again would disable that arm. In
this case I agree. 18 points with massive armor
protection and massive blow to limb would disable
it. So now tha ti see this fixed. a 12 point
wold've been moderate damage. 6 would be light for him.
So talk about healing 6? Null. Since limbs only
got equal damage. Not exceed or 6x.
So everyone can handle gong to camp and moving on.
First aid and a healing can stop the bleeding
but its not critical at this stage.
So I hope this clears it up.
Glad I verified. I jotted 12 but did not take
out Klorgars AP so that panic is gone. :)
All will live...for now.
I will get to your posts and do update Mon/Tue.
With Xmas probably not a second update after that this week.
I have not read your posts. So I'll assume folks
will do healing spells or use potions.
Its 9pm so will get tihs out and do update in a few days.
Stay tuned..
BTW let me know if you do any more healing spells
next day. I may move us ot our next encounter. Not sure yet.
PS Heh. Those rules are a direct
cut/paste. Guess they were not proofed as several tpos. I left. :)
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