Stun Damage (adapted from Burning mechanic)

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stubby
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Re: Stun Damage (adapted from Burning mechanic)

Post by stubby » Sun Dec 27, 2015 5:10 pm

In the past, the stun option was free - if you want to stun somebody with your sword, you just hit them with the pommel / flat of the blade / scabbard / whatever seems appropriate.

It's not tough to use big dice for fire effects; it used to be in the rules for explosions for a couple of years. Same as d4s, an explosion d10 used to set you on fire if the number rolled is greater than the target's structure level. Once on fire, the fire itself is still measured in d4s.

Mechanically, I think you have things about right. A d4-based stun effect would be like acid or poison, with an terminal result of "incapacitated" and penalizing Skill and Move rather than Skill and Armor. It wouldn't inflict Grinding Damage or have the potential to grow larger over time.

I worry a little bit that this system would make stun damage more attractive than straight-up killing - if I try to kill a guy with a mace then doing 4 damage or less has no effect, but if I try to stun him then that 1 to 4 stun points turns into a new effect that has to be kept track of, slowing down the game flow as well as slowing down the victim's ability to keep the violence going.
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Texhnophille
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Re: Stun Damage (adapted from Burning mechanic)

Post by Texhnophille » Tue Oct 03, 2017 3:34 pm

stubby wrote:In the past, the stun option was free - if you want to stun somebody with your sword, you just hit them with the pommel / flat of the blade / scabbard / whatever seems appropriate.

It's not tough to use big dice for fire effects; it used to be in the rules for explosions for a couple of years. Same as d4s, an explosion d10 used to set you on fire if the number rolled is greater than the target's structure level. Once on fire, the fire itself is still measured in d4s.

Mechanically, I think you have things about right. A d4-based stun effect would be like acid or poison, with an terminal result of "incapacitated" and penalizing Skill and Move rather than Skill and Armor. It wouldn't inflict Grinding Damage or have the potential to grow larger over time.

I worry a little bit that this system would make stun damage more attractive than straight-up killing - if I try to kill a guy with a mace then doing 4 damage or less has no effect, but if I try to stun him then that 1 to 4 stun points turns into a new effect that has to be kept track of, slowing down the game flow as well as slowing down the victim's ability to keep the violence going.
You could probably make each number on the d4 relate to different effects. For example, 1 has no effect, 2 grants -1 Skill penalty, 3 in(de?)creases it by one and also cuts victim down to half-speed, and 4 just stuns the guy outright. The victim then makes a d4 roll on their next turn to see if the stun effect is gone. On critfail the guy stands up all right, on critsuccess he's still asleep (or vice versa), anything in between makes him wake up with skill penalty matching the number rolled and half speed until his next turn.
Then again, it's a ton of dice rolling added just for a single effect, so it's probably not worth it.
Last edited by Texhnophille on Tue Oct 17, 2017 7:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Stun Damage (adapted from Burning mechanic)

Post by stubby » Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:48 am

Texhnophille wrote:Then again, it's a ton of dice rolling added just for a single effect, so it's probably not worth it.
A lot of the time this kind of thing depends on the scenario. If you're running a Splinter Cell type of game where one-on-one stealth and knockouts are a central focus of the action, then adding a ton of dice rolls is worth it. If you're playing something big and wide-scale like Napoleonic field maneuvers, then that's not where you want to put so much attention.
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