problems with fist fighting damage

[chade0]

Hi, it's me again.

I test-played some fist fighting because i had not tried it before. Some questions came to mind about the damage..

I noticed that a bout between two equally skilled combatants lasts a long time. Always the same 0-level wound to the head..

I also noticed that if a strong (and maybe skilled) guy ounches his friend in the head, he might cause even a 4 or 5-level wound with his bare fists...ie; shatter his friends skull.

And a question about knockout rolls. "Roll knockout at -3", Does this mean that I roll my knockout_number-3 dice against TN of 7, or what?

And yes, there's an optional rule about blunt blows to the head. "Roll knockout at a TN of 10-AR every time a character receives a blunt blow to the head".
Would this mean that I'd throw against a TN of 10 every time I receive a 0-level blunt blow to my head, in fist fighting too?

---

One more thing: Has anyone created rules for decreasing damage? What I mean is that sometimes I might want just tp wound a foe, not kill him, with my huge great sword.




Me Thanks Again :)

[Lance D. Allen]

The damage tables in the book are given assuming you mean business. In reality, it is possible for you to kill someone with a powerful punch to the skull, if you intend to kill.

There are many optional rules that have been created for reducing damage, such as in sparring. The rule I use is that you can drop the damage level by an amount equal to half your MoS, rounded down. This represents concentration given to getting a solid hit, but not too solid. When one of my players, in his very first fight ever, nearly killed one of my NPCs while sparring, I kicked this rule into play, then used it again when the same PC went against a more skilled opponent. Ironically, they both were wounded the exact same amount, in the same location, although the cut wasn't to the same region.

[Dan Sellars]

One idea we came up with (but havn't used yet) was to treat it like a manouver.  so you could Strike to Stun (flat of blade, fist etc) with a 2 dice activation cost and reduce damage.

Other ideas I was told when I asked was was just to allow the damage from successes and disregard strength (with or with out an activation cost up to S).  Either way a blow to the head still required a KO roll.

At eh far extreame we though about comming up with some blunt reduced damage tables.

I like the top idea, cos it was mine in our group ;) I'm sure other people have come up with it as well.

YMMV

(edited for spelling)

Dan.

[Jake Norwood]

Always good questions.

I noticed that a bout between two equally skilled combatants lasts a long time. Always the same 0-level wound to the head..

Yeah, me to. The historical sources strongly discourage punching and striking (or at best simply neglect it) as a means of causing injury. However, due to literature and especially movies, we're used to something like the "always roll knockout" on headshots. That's why the rule is in there.

I also noticed that if a strong (and maybe skilled) guy ounches his friend in the head, he might cause even a 4 or 5-level wound with his bare fists...ie; shatter his friends skull.

The punch-overkill is a minor but real glitch in the system *for the way I play.* Some people love it. I'm still trying to figure out how to really, truely fix it. As for punching a friend in the head, though...if you're just rough-housing in-game simple make all damage rolls max out at 0 or 1.

And a question about knockout rolls. "Roll knockout at -3", Does this mean that I roll my knockout_number-3 dice against TN of 7, or what?

Yes, that's a die modifier.

And yes, there's an optional rule about blunt blows to the head. "Roll knockout at a TN of 10-AR every time a character receives a blunt blow to the head".
Would this mean that I'd throw against a TN of 10 every time I receive a 0-level blunt blow to my head, in fist fighting too?

Yup.

One more thing: Has anyone created rules for decreasing damage? What I mean is that sometimes I might want just tp wound a foe, not kill him, with my huge great sword.

There are several floating around, posted by Wolfen (above), and one from Bankuei on here somewhere, as I recall.

Jake

[spacedragon]

I also noticed that if a strong (and maybe skilled) guy ounches his friend in the head, he might cause even a 4 or 5-level wound with his bare fists...ie; shatter his friends skull.
The punch-overkill is a minor but real glitch in the system *for the way I play.* Some people love it. I'm still trying to figure out how to really, truely fix it. As for punching a friend in the head, though...if you're just rough-housing in-game simple make all damage rolls max out at 0 or 1.

As a suggestion to bear in mind, halve the final damage level of unarmed fist vs body attacks after subtracting toughness and armour, and not before (round up so level 1 is still 1).

The idea comes from a computer moderated game I play that tracks the hardness value of different materials and divides the damage done by an attack according to the ratio of the hardness values. The logic is that bronze sword vs steel armour is worse for the attacker than bronze sword vs equivalent mass of bronze armour since the bronze is much softer and will deform on impacting steel. In this system for fist v head the final calculated damage would be halved since they are both made of the same material. However, cover the first with a thin layer of steel, not enough to increase its weight significantly, and you are dealing a woopload more damage. A knuckle duster / metal glove inflicts damage for the reason that its made of UNYIELDING metal and your head is not..., the actual weight of arm + knuckleduster (and therefore the momentum transferred) is not significantly more than an arm on its own. One of the lessons in punching techniques for boxing (eastern and western) is actually how to reduce compression of the fist and arm on impact so that the arm doesn't act as a damage sponge (i.e. make it unyielding).