Order of precedence

[dsatow]

Can you confirm if I have the order of precedence and effects correct?  There are also some questions in there too.

 

Ultra has 15 CON, 30 END, 30 Stun, 15 PD, 20 Body Absorption PD to Stun as a defense, and 1/4 physical damage reduction.  He has taken 15 Stun and is currently Stunned.

 

Captain Communist is robbing a bank.  He sights Ultra and blasts him for 20 Body and 75 Stun and is knocked 20 meters back into a wall for 10 Body and 35 Stun.

 

1. Ultra first absorbs the 20 Body from the attack and heals all his previously lost stun back. Question #1: Wasn't there an optional rule somewhere that denotes if all the Stun taken which causes a Stunned character to be Stunned is healed by a power, the GM may say that the Stunned character is no longer stunned?  If so, could the no longer stunned character abort to roll with the damage?
2. That leaves 55 STUN against 15 PD doing 40 STUN.  His damage reduction drops that to 30 Stun and he goes unconscious.  Question #2: If he did not get Unstunned because of the stun absorption in #1, would not going to 0 Stun, effectively remove the Stunned condition?
3. Ultra then hits the wall.  His absorption kicks in and he absorbs 10 Body and goes up to 10 STUN.  He then takes damage so he's back down to 3 STUN.  Question #3: Does Ultra have 30 END, 10 END, or 3 END?  Depending on the answer to questions 1 and 2, is he stunned or not stunned?

 

 

[Steve Long]

A. There is an optional rule pertaining to “healing from being Stunned” for Healing (see 6E1 233). That rule is not applicable to Absorption, even Absorption with the optional Healing Effect Advantage (APG 80).

 

A1. If the GM decides to apply the optional rule for “Healing from being Stunned,” he can also decide what, if anything, a suddenly un-Stunned character can do. Personally I probably wouldn’t let him do anything, though if I did, Aborting to a defensive action might be the only thing I would allow. But every GM’s different.

 

B. OK, let’s track through this.

 

1. That Communist bastard does 75 STUN, 20 BODY to Our Hero.

 

2. Per 6E1 166, first we apply the damage to Ultra’s defenses. He has 15 + 20 = 35 defense, plus 25% Damage Reduction.

 

2a.  NOTE:  I am assuming here that CC’s attack is Physical, though it doesn’t sound like it. If it’s Energy, then the 20 PD from Absorption wouldn’t factor in. But obviously you want it to factor in for purposes of the question, so that’s what I’m doing.

 

2b. Pursuant to the rules for layered defenses, APG 61, Damage Reduction applies last (absent some other layering issue taking effect, but this is complicated enough already). So 75 STUN - 35 defense = 40 STUN damage taken.

 

2c.  The Damage Reduction now applies, reducing the 40 STUN to 30 STUN damage taken.

 

2d. Ultra only has 30 STUN, so he is now at 0 STUN and thus Knocked Out.

 

2e. The Absorption now applies. Since it affects a “defensive” Characteristic, the 20 BODY of effect is halved, so only “10 Character Points” feed into Ultra’s STUN. Since STUN costs 2 points per 1 Character Point, that means it feeds 20 STUN back to Ultra temporarily. He goes from 0 STUN to 20 STUN. This brings up a point that requires its own answer:

 

Q:  If a character is Stunned or Knocked Out from an attack that he can Absorb from, but the Absorption restores enough STUN to him to that he wouldn’t be Stunned or Knocked Out, what happens?

 

A:  Absorption cannot overcome the effect of being Stunned regardless of how much STUN it “heals” the character for; he still has to recover from being Stunned normally. However, if a character is Knocked Out and then restored to positive STUN via Absorption, the effects of being Knocked Out are immediately negated.

 

2f. Since, as stated on 6E2 106, a character who wakes up from being Knocked Out doesn’t also have to recover from being Stunned, Ultra is awake with 20 STUN and at full DCV. If he has a Phase, he can now act... once we deal with the Knockback.

 

3. Ultra now hits the wall, taking 35 STUN, 10 BODY damage.

 

3a. Since Ultra has already Absorbed up to his maximum effect (20 BODY) for this Segment, he no longer gets any defensive effect from his Absorption (see APG2 22 and further answer below). So he has 15 PD plus 25% Damage Reduction. The 15 PD applies first, reducing the damage to 20 STUN. Then Damage Reduction applies, reducing that to 15 STUN. Since Ultra only had 20 STUN, he now only has 5 STUN — but fortunately he’s not Stunned.

 

Q:  Just to clarify, how long does the defense provided by Defensive Absorption last?

 

A:  Defensive Absorption only applies as a defense against attacks from which the character can Absorb. If the character cannot Absorb from an attack — either because he’s used his maximum Absorption that Segment, it’s an attack the Absorption doesn’t apply to, or any other reason — then the Absorption provides no further defense that Segment.

 

3b. Ultra still has 30 END as far as I can tell, since neither Absorption nor Damage Reduction cost END.

 

I think that covers everything. If I missed something, or overlooked something, please post a follow-up or PM me.