Improv ised weapons question- thrown and as a club

[cboscari]

I am confused on a certain point in the 5th ed rulebook- so I thought someone here could clarify-

 

If my guy uses an improvised object as a club, then the max damage that can be done from it is the DEF+BODY. The rules state that if the character tries to use more strength (DC's) than this the object breaks. (pg. 302) On pg 253, the rules state the same with the word "tries" to do more damage than DEF+BODY. Question- I assume from the rules on page 253 that both objects (the weapon and the target) take damage from the attack, equal to DEF+BODY. If my object with say 3 DEF and 3 BODY takes 1 BODY damage, is that damage-

1) Ignored since it did not exceed the 3 body but if next time it does exceed 3 body, it breaks

2) Subtracted from the Body, meaning it was damaged a little, two more BODY to go (cumlative damage

3) irelevant, because if the PC chooses to use 6 dice of damage (not exceeding DEF+BODY) the object is below the breaking threshold, so to speak. The object continues to be a weapon as long as the player is careful with it

also, if I thow an object to cause damage, is STR computed into the damage, or is it just the total of DEF+BODY?

 

As always, thanks for your help guys.

[TheEmerged]

Okay, from the top.

 

Let's call your 3 DEF 3 BODY object a "widget" for the sake of quicker typing.

 

#0> The widget doesn't ordinarily take damage from hitting something -- unless the GM wants it to This might be appropriate if the structure of the target the widget is striking has a pitted surface or some such.

 

#1> Depends on what you mean by "takes 1 BODY". If by this you mean "1 BODY that gets passed the DEF" (meaning that 4 BODY damage was actually dealt to the object), then the answer is that the widget now has 3 DEF 2 BODY.

 

If by this you mean "1 BODY being dealt to it", then the answer is that the damage doesn't get through the widget's 3 DEF.

 

#2> Generally, STR only adds to the damage done by melee attacks (FRED pg 269 under "How Many Dice Do I Roll?"). In the case of throwing the widget, your STR would determine how much of that damage you could do. So someone with a 25 STR is at most going to do 5d6 damage by throwing the widget...

 

If I'm misunderstanding your questions or wasn't sufficiently clear, let me know.