HERO Games Rules FAQ

Do Martial Maneuvers that don’t add dice of damage — such as Killing Damage strikes, NND Strikes, Exert-based maneuvers, and so on — add damage to weapons?

No. If the Maneuver doesn’t add DCs to an attack — if it allows the character to do a different type of damage than Normal (e.g., Killing or NND) — it’s not going to add to weapon damage at all. Its function isn’t to add, but to differentiate. That’s why weapons-based styles — Arnis, Fencing, Gatka, Kenjutsu, and the like — don’t have Killing Damage-based maneuvers, and why their NND maneuvers (like the Atemi Strike in Naginatajutsu) are expressed as straight damage, not a bonus to the weapon like the other Maneuvers.

I’m still a little unclear on adding damage. Could you provide some more explanation?

1. Damage added by a normal Combat Maneuver adds as follows:
   • for Normal Damage attacks, +1d6 per +1d6/DC the Maneuver adds
   • for Killing Damage attacks, +1 DC per +2d6/DC the Maneuver adds
   
   The maximum damage the attack can do is double the base attack, no matter how you add to it. The damage from the Maneuver does not increase the base damage of the attack for purposes of this doubling.
2. Damage added by a Martial Maneuver to an unarmed attack adds as follows:
   • for Normal Damage attacks, +1d6 per +1d6/DC the Maneuver adds
   • for Killing Damage attacks, +1 DC per +2d6/DC the Maneuver adds
   
   However, any Extra DCs purchased for the Martial Maneuver count as base damage. Thus, they allow you to double more damage than you otherwise could.
   Note also that damage added by the basic Martial Maneuver is not the same thing as Extra DCs. The basic Maneuver damage (e.g., +2 DCs from a Martial Strike, or +4 from an Offensive Strike) is still subject to the normal doubling rules. (However, as an optional rule, many martial arts campaigns, and other campaigns where martial arts play a prominent role, allow the damage added by the basic Martial Maneuver to count as base DCs, and thus to get around the “doubling damage” restriction for low-STR characters.)
3. Damage added by a Martial Maneuver to an armed attack adds as follows:
   • for Normal Damage attacks, +1d6 per +1d6/DC the Maneuver adds
   • for Killing Damage attacks, +1 DC per +2d6/DC the Maneuver adds
   
   Any Extra DCs purchased for the Martial Maneuver do not count as base damage. You’re still limited to doubling the base damage of the weapon, regardless of how many Extra DCs you can apply to the attack.