Re: [HOE] HtH damage [Shane]

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

Haven't we had this discussion a few times...?  :)

>Question about str. when doing HtH damage:
>
>My group has always played that you roll your strength plus any dice for
>the weapon you're using and add them ALL together.
>Ex. Str 3d6 with a sword (2d8) rolls: 4, 5, 3 and 2, 7 (for the sword).
>So by our system that's: 4+5+3+2+7= 21 pts. of damage.
>
>But... I've gotten the notion from reading webpages and summaries and this
>and that that when making HtH damage rolls you treat the strenght portion
>like a skill/stat roll (roll all dice, take the highest) and then add in
>the weapon damage. So in the example above you'd have:
>5 (the highest roll on the str. dice) +2+7 = 14 pts. of damage.
>

The second way, above, is correct.  I think we determined this way back when 
we were pondering whether Templars should have a Gift that gives them AP?

Why?  because an add-on for the whole HTH thing is that (barring some 
unspecified "If the hitter is so much bigger than the hittee" type stuff), 
_only_ the weapon damage is reduced by regular (non-light) armor.  But...if 
the weapon damage is reduced below 1d4, then it doesn't matter _what_ your 
Strength roll is: you do no damage.

>My group's discussed this and we see arguments both ways:
>
>Con Adding ALL the dice:
>HtH damage is insanely powerful. You get someone with a decent str. (3d8)
>and a sword and they're doing more damage than an assault rifle (5d8
>damage total).
>

Quite true. And Templars kick ye ole butt.

>Con Taking THE HIGHEST str. die:
>Two people punching each other do NOTHING. An average str. (3d6) punches
>an average vigor (3d6). On average the vigor roll (to subtract from wind)
>will cancel out str. roll (to do damage) and no wind is done from a good
>hit.
>

Perhaps I'm missing something, but _what_ vigor roll to subtract from Wind?  
At least in the basic rules, I don't recall such a thing, although Waste 
Warriors might have something new.

Basically you roll 3d6 strength for a punch. Say that's 11.5 damage.  You're 
basically talking 1 wound.  Then you determine Wind from that (1d6 if they 
don't spend a chip).

Of course, if the hittee is wearing armor, forget it. Doesn't matter how big 
the hitter is: you need a weapon that does at least 2d4 or 1d6 damage to get 
through Armor 1.

Is there some other system for straight boxing/brawling sans weapons?  If 
so, we never used it.  In the Wasted West, who has time for a bar fight?  :)

>There's other things to consider too:
>Under the all dice system martial artists can do some serious damage (1d6
>+ str REAL damage), but then if you're hit by a black belt it really does
>hurt that bad in the real world.
>

How do you use armor under this system which your group has apparently been 
using?  Do you reduce the dice due to armor for all dice, or only the weapon 
dice?

>Under the highest die system HtH combat, which already takes forever
>because of the much higher target numbers to hit, will take even longer.
>

In a straight fistfight it'll probably take forever. Then again, I never do 
straight fistfights. My group figured out a long time ago to wear Armor 1 
for just that reason.  Usually I just have both sides go for the guns and 
knives...  ;)

>So what do other people think?

Using Str as a skill/attribute check rather then a damage roll works in what 
we consider "normal" HTH combat, with weapons.  The people that are going to 
rely on HTH rather than firearms are going to have high STRs anyway.  Plus, 
you can spend a chip on Strength attribute checks: you can't do that on 
damage rolls.

>Shane, what's the official rule?
>

Shane will have to answer officially, but I'm pretty sure that the (Weapon 
Damage Roll) + (Strength Attribute Check) is the system given in the basic 
rules.  We discussed it plenty of times in the past and evreyone seemed to 
be in agreement on this.

>Theo McGuckin - SysAdmin, JLab
>
>
>"Are we going to push it to the edge of the envelope, and beyond Brain?"
>"No Pinky, we may however reach the sticky part."


---

Steve Crow

"Logic merely enables one to be wrong with authority."

Check out my website at:  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/

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