Another Penetrating question

[randian]

From another post you make it clear that Impenetrable and Hardened apply to each defense power separately. That is, you can Harden your PD (and must make all of it Hardened by rule), but you need not also Harden your Resistant Protection (or vice versa), even though both powers sum together when figuring your total Physical Defense.

If such a character is struck by a Penetrating attack whose minimum effect exceeds their Impenetrable defense, does the character:

1) Take minimum damage in the amount of such excess
2) Ignore the "minimum damage" rule entirely as 6E1 147 & 342 appear to imply

[Steve Long]

I’m going to restate your question a bit more generically so that it will stand on its own better in the event someone needs to quote it somewhere or I want to slip it into a book sometime. ;)

Q: If a character has some defenses that are Impenetrable and some that are not (as discussed on 6E1 147), how do you determine whether Impenetrable “cancels out” Penetrating (and thus that the damage applies to the character normally), or the Penetrating attack has its standard (Advantaged) effect?

A: If a character who has some Impenetrable defenses and some defenses that are not Impenetrable is hit with a Penetrating attack, compare the average BODY for the Penetrating attack to the Impenetrable defenses. (In the case of Drains and the like, count the “Normal Damage BODY” for these purposes, unless it’s a Drain BODY, in which case determine the average in the standard mathematical way.) If the average BODY exceeds the Impenetrable defenses, the Impenetrable is “overcome” and the Penetrating attack has its standard (Advantaged) effect. If the average BODY is less than or equal to the Impenetrable defenses, the Impenetrable “negates” the Penetrating and the attack applies to the target’s defenses in its standard (non-Advantaged) way.

Example: Protector has 20 PD (non-Advantaged). He also has Resistant Protection (10 PD/10 ED), Impenetrable. He’s hit with an RKA 2½d6, Penetrating bullet. The average BODY for that RKA would be 8.75 (2.5d6 x 3.5). That’s less than 10 PD, so Impenetrable applies and the Penetrating effect is negated.

Later, Protector’s slashed with a magic sword (HKA 4d6, Penetrating). The average BODY on this attack is 14. That’s more than 10 PD, so the Impenetrable doesn’t apply; the attack has its usual Penetrating effect.