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Categories
Discussion
Main - Rune Quest
Wait! I'm not done yet!
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Author:
Tom Cantine
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Time:
26.01.2003 21:58
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Text:
I was going to share some of the work I've done on knockback and falling damage!
Falling
The damage for falling can be left as it is in RQ3 (i.e. 1d6 per 3 m of height). I agree that armour should not substantially affect falling damage, which is primarily due to rapid deceleration on impact. However, a tiny amount of incidental damage is from contact with the surface of the ground itself, and armour should help against that, hard armour being slightly more effective. Thus, for falling damage, allow soft armour (of any type) to count for 1 armour point, and hard armour (of any type) as 2 armour points. This won’t make much difference when someone falls off a 30 m cliff, but will save someone tripping over a cobblestone from a few scratches and bruises.
The better protection from falling damage should be provided by the Jump skill, but one critical detail seems to have been omitted from the RQ3 rules: the benefit of landing on your feet instead of your head. Since all falling damage goes to total hit points anyway, a successful Jump roll will have no effect on one’s likelihood of surviving a fall whatsoever. Solution: allow legs to have 3 armour points each for the purposes of falling damage, and arms to have 2 armour points, not cumulative with the worn armour protection mentioned above. On a failed Jump, a lucky faller might still land on an arm or leg and enjoy the benefit of this protection, but on a fumbled Jump limbs have no armour points for falling damage. A special success allows the faller to spread the impact over two chosen locations, and on a critical success the faller may use as many hit locations as he or she likes. (A hard helmet isn't really a bad idea when climbing, though probably a crusade helm isn't ideal...)
Note: The basic principles for falling damage also apply to adventurers colliding with surfaces at any angle, such as when one sprints into a brick wall. The damage given in RQ3 for knockback into solid objects (1D6 for every meter of movement) is way out of line with falling damage. In general, a movement rate of 5 m per strike rank is equivalent to a fall from 3 m of height. Unfortunately, while kinetic energy increases linearly with height, it does not do so for speed. I offer therefore the following simplified scale of impact damage for typical speeds:
Damage Equivalent speed Typical situation
1D3 1-2 m/SR Walking into wall; tripping over cat
1D4 3-4 m/SR Running into wall; falling from 1 m
1D6 5-6 m/SR Sprinting into wall; falling from 2-3 m.
2D6 7-8 m/SR Trotting horse.
3D6 9-10 m/SR Charging horse
While it may not be necessary to calculate beyond this speed, it's interesting to note that kinetic energy increases as the square of velocity. This means that an unhappy adventurer travelling at 60 m/SR should suffer approximately 100D6 damage on impact, demonstrating why trebuchets are not a viable means of personal transportation. In any case, since the same about of kinetic energy is applied to the adventurer on launch (though over several meters of acceleration) for maybe 50D6, it doesn't matter how one lands; the launch will kill you.
One might wonder how it is that a person being hit with a boulder flung by a trebuchet would take only 12D6 damage, but 100D6 damage from a wall at the same relative speed of impact. While dead is dead, the ballistic adventurer will leave fewer recognizable bits behind, because every one of those bits will make the same abrupt splattering deceleration. In contrast, the trebuchet ball might carry away with it a couple of hit locations, leaving behind several relatively intact portions. Indeed, an adventurer struck in the arm by a trebuchet might well survive, since no more than twice a limb's hit points may be done to total hit points through ordinary damage. No such luck with falling damage.
Knockback
When does knockback happen?
There are four basic types of situations in RQ which call for knockback.
(1) Someone receives a hit which, before armour, does more damage than the character's SIZ characteristic. I modify this from basic RQ3 by saying that this only applies to blunt weapons, since a major part of the damage taken from a slashing or impaling weapon has nothing to do with a transfer of momentum. (The damage STOPPED by armour should definitely contribute to knockback, but it's much simpler just to say only blunt weapons do knockback this way.)
(2) Special success with a blunt or slashing weapon. I have omitted slashing weapons from this, for reasons discussed above.
(3) A moving adventurer or monster collides with another. This can happen when one adventurer is knocked back into another, or when one runs (deliberately or blindly) into another. To determine if knockback takes place, match the mover's SIZ + current movement rate (in meters per strike rank) against the stationary adventurer's SIZ on the resistance table. If the stationary adventurer is aware of the impending collision, he may include his DEX with his SIZ on the resistance roll, or he might already be bracing against knockback with STR instead (as per RQ3). If the moving adventurer is moving under her own power (rather than simply having been knocked back herself), and actually intends to collide, she may also add her DEX for the resistance roll. On a success, knockback occurs; see below for magnitude and effects. On a failed resistance roll, the moving character suffers knockback of 0 meters; see below for effects. (The stationary character could alternatively Set Spear vs. Charge, precluding the use of DEX in the resistance roll if the spear attack misses. If it hits, though, it preempts the knockback attempt...)
(4) An adventurer or monster deliberately pushes, shoves, trips or otherwise attempts to knockback (or knockdown) someone. This is similar to RQ3's old intentional knockback rules, with the resistance roll of (SIZ+STR) vs (SIZ+DEX), but requires the establishment of a connection for the transmission of force in the first place. This is done with a successful attack roll, and the weapons usable for this are Fist, Kick (for swashbucklers especially), Grapple, Shield Attack, or any hafted weapon used with both hands (the classic quarterstaff shove). A successful attack does no damage, but if it is neither parried nor dodged, it allows the attacker to attempt the same old resistance roll as per RQ3. This takes place on the same strike rank as the attack.
How much knockback?
The amount of knockback is easy to calculate: it's usually just the attacker's rolled damage bonus in meters, minus the target's rolled damage bonus, plus the attacker's current movement rate in meters per strike rank. When a character is knocked back, you may treat that character's movement rate at any point as the number of meters remaining in the knockback. Thus, if Throg is knocked back 5 meters by Lulu, and he bumps into Grothnar 2 meters away, his movement rate on impact with Grothnar for damage and knockback purposes is 3.
What is the effect of knockback?
First, and most obviously, the target is displaced a certain number of meters. Second, if knocked into a solid object with sufficient force, the target may suffer damage from that impact. Third, the target may fall to the ground.
The damage suffered from impact with a wall or other solid object is calculated as in falling damage according to the movement rate of the knocked back adventurer. Impact with an object that can itself be knocked back (like another adventurer) does half this amount, rounded down.
To avoid falling down when knocked back, a DEX x 5 roll is required. Another DEX roll is needed to avoid falling down on every subsequent impact, so in the above example, Throg would need to roll once when knocked back by Lulu and then again when bumping into Grothnar.
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Message threads
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Author: |
Time: |
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Tom Cantine
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25.01.2003 07:09
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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25.01.2003 13:27
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Tom Cantine
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26.01.2003 02:12
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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26.01.2003 11:37
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Tom Cantine
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26.01.2003 21:58
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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27.01.2003 15:19
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Tom Cantine
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27.01.2003 23:42
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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28.01.2003 15:19
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Tom Cantine
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29.01.2003 06:13
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Peter Beirne
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13.02.2003 18:48
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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13.02.2003 20:23
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Peter Beirne
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17.02.2003 19:10
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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17.02.2003 19:50
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Peter Beirne
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17.02.2003 20:17
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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19.02.2003 02:20
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Tom Cantine
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19.02.2003 05:41
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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19.02.2003 17:01
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Peter Beirne
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19.02.2003 20:06
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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19.02.2003 22:07
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Peter Beirne
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20.02.2003 00:40
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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20.02.2003 16:33
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Peter Beirne
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20.02.2003 18:00
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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20.02.2003 22:20
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Tom Cantine
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21.02.2003 18:26
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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21.02.2003 19:17
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Peter Beirne
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21.02.2003 20:51
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Bjorn Are Stolen
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22.02.2003 00:41
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