Hardened PD/Resistent Defense

[Guest Confusinator]

I am building a character that has elevated PD and Damage Resistance. I am wanting to buy Hardened, to toughen him up.

 

Do I need to buy it for both defenses, or will hardened on just the PD stop AP KA's?

 

Maybe I should just not even split hairs and buy armor, defined as tough skin, and buy the Hardened on that?

 

But in the end, doesn't it equal the same? But not really, because if I buy hardened on PD, don't I have to buy it for the total amount of PD, whereas, if I buy it for armor, I can just purchase it for the portion that is in addition to my base PD.

 

In that case, wouldn't it be possible to buy just a few points of armor to counteract an AP attack, and save points (through a loophole)?

[Killer Shrike]

From the FAQ:

 

Hardened

 

Q: If a character buys Hardened for his normal PD and ED, does he calculate the cost based on just the points he paid for the Characteristic, or the value of the PD/ED Characteristic?

 

 

 

A: You calculate it on the value of the Characteristic. For example, if you wanted to buy Hardened (+1/4) on 20 PD (which cost you, say, 16 Character Points), you pay 4 Character Points (16 x (1 + 1/4) - 16).

 

 

 

 

 

Q: What do I do if I have a character with some Hardened defenses, and some non-Hardened defenses, and someone hits him with a Penetrating attack? For example, Pulsar has PD 10 and a Force Field (10 PD/10 ED), Hardened. What happens when he’s hit with a Penetrating attack?

 

 

 

A: The first thing to consider are the special effects of the defenses. If the Hardened defenses are worn “over†the non-Hardened defenses — as is probably the case with most force fields and powered armor suits — then it would seem reasonable to apply the Hardened defenses normally to counteract the Penetrating. (Of course, don’t forget the rule regarding Ablative — Ablative defenses are always “on top.†That may affect the situation.)

 

If you think this could become potentially abusive (because it would cause characters to buy small amounts of Hardened defenses “over†their non-Hardened defenses just to obtain this benefit), establish a more restrictive guideline. For example: if the DCs of the Penetrating attack exceed the number of points of a layered Hardened defense, the Hardened won’t counteract the Penetrating. In the above example, an 11d6 (or greater) Penetrating attack would ignore the Hardened, allowing Penetrating to have its usual effect. If that particular standard doesn’t work for you, it shouldn’t be too hard to come up with one that does.

 

 

 

 

 

Q: What happens if a character has a partially-Hardened defense (say, a Force Field [12 PD/12 ED], 6 points of which are Hardened) and is hit with a Penetrating attack — does the defense counteract the Penetrating effect altogether?

 

 

 

A: The rules default is that a character cannot have partially Hardened defenses. A given defense must be all Hardened, or it’s not Hardened at all. (There may also be issues with the “layering†of defenses, as discussed in the question above.)

 

 

 

 

 

Q: Does the Hardened Advantage stop the Increased STUN Multiplier Advantage?

 

 

 

A: No. Hardened has no effect on Increased STUN Multiplier.

[Killer Shrike]

From the FAQ:

 

Damage Resistance

 

Q: If a character makes his Damage Resistance Hardened, but does not Harden the PD or ED the Damage Resistance applies to, what effect does that have?

 

 

 

A: None whatsoever. The Advantages on the base PD/ED and the Damage Resistance have to match. Furthermore, as noted elsewhere in the Rules FAQ, partially Hardened defenses have no effect. Damage Resistance is not a separate defense from natural PD/ED, generally speaking, and so Hardening it without Hardening the underlying PD/ED accomplishes nothing.

[Uncle Shecky]

Re: Hardened PD/Resistent Defense

 

(I'm not completely sure what you are asking, so I apologize if I'm telling you something you already know. )

 

For tougher characters, I often buy hardened only for one of the defenses (unless I'm making someone really heavily armored, like Colossus), e.g. for resistant PD but not for normal PD. Usually, I'll buy hardened Armor to protect against the BODY of an AP killing attack.

 

e.g. PD 10; +8 PD Armor, hardened

My defense against normal RKA is 8 vs. BODY and 18 vs. STUN.

My defense against an AP RKA is 8 vs. BODY and 13 vs. STUN.

 

Originally posted by Confusinator

Do I need to buy it for both defenses, or will hardened on just the PD stop AP KA's?

Hardened normal PD will work against the STUN of an AP killing attack, but it won't help your resistant defense against the BODY or STUN of the AP attack.

e.g. PD 10, hardened; +8 PD Armor

My defense against normal RKA is 8 vs. BODY and 18 vs. STUN.

My defense against an AP RKA is 4 vs. BODY and 14 vs. STUN.

 

(Killer Shrike posted that info from the FAQ while I was writing this: that explains how hardened works with Damage Resistance.)

 

Originally posted by Confusinator

In that case, wouldn't it be possible to buy just a few points of armor to counteract an AP attack, and save points (through a loophole)?

Are you suggesting buying extra armor with a limitation like "only vs. armor piercing attacks"? In theory, you could do that, but the cost would have to be equal to the hardened advantage.

 

e.g.: +8 PD Armor (12 points), hardened (+1/4) = 15 points

 

vs.: +8 PD Armor (12 points); and +4PD Armor (6 points), only vs. armor piercing (-3/4) = 3 points; for a total of 15 points.

 

I just picked the -3/4 value for the limitation so the costs would be equal. The fact that hardened is a +1/4 advantage determines the maximum value you can get for that limitation: the costs must be equal to keep game balance. So you wouldn't want to build it this way really, since hardened already covers this and gives you the same result.

 

Of course, you could simply buy some armor (or DR) with hardened and some without, so you get slightly better defenses against AP attacks, but don't have to pay to completely harden your defenses. Then you can gradualy spend xp to increase the amount of your defense that is hardened.