(Newbie) Problems with Damage Classes

[Andrea]

Hi,

It's me again with a silly question...

Can someone provide an example (easy) of how a DCs change by using an advantages ( for example armor piercing). It is explained in the book but I did not understand it.

I understood the doubling of DCs rules, the movement related bonus but I can't figure out the math/description of the advantages related issue ( if I remember there's an example in the book with a 1d6 HKA Knife).

I re-read the chapter three times but It must be my English ( or worst my IQ )

 

Thanks really for your precious time..if you ever need a help for Rolemaster....

[roch]

Re: (Newbie) Problems with Damage Classes

 

Let's see if I understand this!

 

From p.404:

 

Let's say you have an attack with advantages that ends up with an Active Cost of 36 points and does 2d6 damage.

 

Each d6 of damage therefore costs 18 Active Points.

 

A Damage Class is usually assumed to be worth 5 Active Points, so each 1d6 of damage in this attack is worth about 4 DCs (18/5).

 

Therefore, it takes 4 DCs to change the damage by 1d6.

 

I might have got this completely wrong as I'm still learning the rules myself... I'm sure the Illuminati will set us straight, though

 

Note that there are a few complications:

 

o damage bonuses from Haymakers, Martial Maneuvers, and Combat Skill Levels are added in as if the Advantages wasn't there. The example in the book cites a 1/2d6 HKA knife with Armour Piercing getting increased to 1d6 by adding 2DCs - the DCs just get added to the base damage. I'm assuming the knife is still Armour Piercing as the text doesn't seem to say otherwise

 

o when adding STR to HKAs with Advantages, all you do is calculate how much it costs to apply the Advantages to 5 STR, and that tells you how much STR you need to add 1 DC. For example, Armour Piercing applied to 5 STR costs (5 * (1 + 1/2)) = 7.5, so for every extra 7.5 STR (no rounding) you get an extra DC applied to the attack

 

o when adding STR to HAs with Advantages, you have to keep the STR used to be less than the cost of the HA without its Advantages - otherwise you're not using the HA to attack at all, just your STR

 

Chances are I got all those wrong too. It's like a quiz - I'm sure I'll learn from my mistakes, though...

 

(_8(0)

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: (Newbie) Problems with Damage Classes

 

The easiest way to calculate Damage Classes (talking about the general term "Damage Classes" here, not the Martial-Arts-specific concept of "Extra DC") is to figure out what the total attack is (12d6 Normal Damage, or 10d6 Normal Damage Armor-Piercing, or 4d6 Killing Damage, Armor-Piercing, Penetrating, etc.), then figure out how many Active Points it would be for you to buy that attack straight-out. The DCs then equal the Active Points/5.

 

A 12d6 Normal attack would be 60 Active Points (12d6 EB), so that's 12 Damage Classes. A 10d6 Normal Damage Armor-Piercing attack would be 75 Active Points, so that's 15 DCs. A 4d6 Killing Damage, Armor-Piercing, Penetrating attack would cost 120 Active Points, so that's 24 DCs. A 6 1/2d6 EGO Attack would cost 65 Active Points, so that's 13 DCs. And so on.

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: (Newbie) Problems with Damage Classes

 

Another approach. An energy blast is 1 DC per die. An Ego blast is 2 DC per die (10/5). A killing attack is 3DC per die (15/5).

 

Determine how many DC the base power is, and multiply it by the advantages that impact DC. So, if we had an 8d6 AP EB, that's 8 x 1.5 = 12 DC.

 

Perhaps the larger argument is which advantages increase DC and which do not. Anyone got a quick page reference for this?

[Andrea]

Re: (Newbie) Problems with Damage Classes

 

Well thanks for your help.

Everhting is more clear now.

Andrea