House rule on Damage

[cutsleeve]

Back When i usta play Champions 4e we usta use a rule for normal and killing damage pd and ed. It basically went like this. PD and ED blocked stun from both killing attacks and normal attacks but it didnt stop any form of body damage. Instead Resistant pd and resistant ed stopped body and stun from both normal and killing attacks.

 

I always thought this was how it was sposed to be until i got the Fred and i went back and looked at the old system and it said that normal pd and ed stopped normal damage both bosy and stun and resistant stopped both normal and killing body and stun.

 

 

but i was wondering if i used this method (I more then likely won't) how would it change how the combat plays out.

 

The thing i can see is characters more willing to pay a little more for some resistant defences and then buffing up the stun defence with normal pd/ed.

 

tell me what you think.

 

[Zanthis]

Re: House rule on Damage

 

rPD and rED (meaning resistant PD and resistant ED) are subtracted from both the BODY damage and STUN damage of Normal Attacks and Killing Attacks.

 

PD and ED (the non-resistant kind) are always substracted from both the BODY and STUN damage of Normal Attacks. If a Killing Attack goes against rPD and you have a single point of rPD, then you get to also subtract your non-resistant PD from the STUN of the killing attack. Same goes for Killing Attacks against rED.

 

So why doesn't every character just buy all rPD/rED? Especially considering the power Damage Resistance that converts normal PD/ED into rPD/rED? Because it costs more. Consider the following defenses costing 42 character points against 45 active points of attack:

 

All Resistant Defenses: 14rPD/14rED

3d6 Killing Attack: Average 0 BODY and 12.25 STUN

9d6 Normal Attack: Average 0 BODY and 17.5 STUN

 

All Non-Resistant Defenses 21 PD/21 ED

3d6 Killing Attack: Average 10.5 BODY and 26.25 STUN (OUCH!)

9d6 Normal Attack: Average 0 BODY and 10.5 STUN

 

Mixed Defenses 10rPD/10rED + 6 PD/6 ED

3d6 Killing Attack: Average 0.5 BODY and 10.25 STUN

9d6 Normal Attack: Average 0 BODY and 15.5 STUN

 

Notice that non-resistant defense are best for reducing STUN damage. This applies to Normal Attacks always and Killing Attacks as long as you have at least some resistant defenses. Since STUN is normally what is most likely to take you out of a fight, mixed if far better than full resistant at high point values (if you're talking 6 points of defense total, just make it all resistant).

 

To really MinMax a character, divide the maximum Active Points in an attack power in your campaign by 4 (round up) and make that your rPD/rED level. Buy the rest of your defenses as normal PD/ED. If you really nervous about taking BODY damage from Killing Attacks, add 1 more pip of resistant defense per 30 points of the Active Power cap (so a 60 point game would be 60/4 + 60/30 = 17 rPD/ 17rED, a 90 point game would be 26rPD/26rED).

 

* To be honest, I can't remember if you get to subtract non-resistant defenses from the BODY damage of killing attacks if you have some resistant defenses, but I don't think you do. You'll have to look it up under Taking Damage.

[ghost-angel]

Re: House rule on Damage

 

Another trick I use, especially if you want to simulate a characer that can still get hurt but is really hard to knock out:

 

PD (or ED) vs STUN Only (we usually put it to the -1 level)

 

it applies to Normal Damage and if you have rDEF vs Killing Damage.

 

You can simulate the character that can get beat up and just never seems to stop coming at you, this is especially nasty on characters with Regeneration.

 

And on the last note: you do not get to apply Non-rDEF vs the BODY of a KA. Just vs the STUN.

[zornwil]

Re: House rule on Damage

 

On a related note, I deduct BOD damage first from defenses (whether resistant or not, as appropriate to the attack), and THAT PORTION OF THE DEFENSES NO LONGER APPLY to the incoming STUN damage. This basically makes stunning more likely but still allows for high defenses. I'm not suggesting it's for everyone and certainly don't think it should be standard rules. Just chiming in re houserules on such damage.