FrivYeti/SystemCrackDamage
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Damage
The first step in making perfect defenses not required and supplemental attacks superior is to reduce the devastation that can be caused by a single successful hit. In addition, Strength and Stamina should play a much larger role in a character's ability to reduce or ignore damage.
Overwhelm
All characters have an Overwhelm rating, which they should record on their character sheet next to their weapon statistics. A character's Overwhelm with a given weapon is equal to [(Strength + Essence + Weapon Overwhelm Bonus) / 2 ] +1. As usual, heroic characters round up, while extras round down. In addition, extras do not count Essence when determining Overwhelm. Heroic mortals without access to Essence pools do.
Example: Cathak Citrios has Strength 4, Essence 3, and a short daiklave (Overwhelm +2), giving him an Overwhelm rating of 6: [(4+3+2)/2] +1.
After damage has been determined, and raw damage has been reduced by soak, it cannot be reduced below a character's Overwhelm rating. Many Charms will also alter a character's Overwhelm rating for an attack (or the scene).
Hardness
Powerful characters are all but immune to the attacks of weaker beings, and can take an ever-growing number of blows without flinching. This system is reflected by a character's Hardness score.
All heroic characters have Hardness equal to (Stamina + Essence + Armor Hardness) / 2. This rating is taken away from post-soak damage after Overwhelm has been applied, but before damage is rolled. If the character's Hardness is equal to or greater than the target's damage, the target rolls one die of damage, but reduces the damage type by one level (Aggravated becomes Lethal, Lethal becomes Bashing, and Bashing is ignore.) This moves damage down two steps if the character's Hardness is double remaining damage or greater. As usual, heroic characters round Hardness up, while extras round down. In addition, extras do not count Essence when determining Hardness. Heroic mortals without access to Essence pools do.
Example: Cynis Devokah Avaku has Stamina 3, Essence 3, and a Jade Breastplate (Hardness +1), giving him Hardness 4: (3+3+1)/2
Minimum Damage
Heroic characters who land blows leave marks. After damage has rolled, if there are no damage successes, the character still deals one health level of the appropriate damage type. This only applies if the character has one or more dice of damage to roll. Extras do not benefit from this effect.
Determining Damage: A Summary
Cathak Citrios attacks Cynis Devokah Avaku. His attack roll beats Avaku's defense by 2 successes.
Citrios's base damage is 10L, including the bonus successes. Avaku's soak is 7L, due to armor and Charms. This reduces Citrios's post-soak damage to 3L; however, his Overwhelm is 6, so this becomes the attack's post-soak damage. Avaku has a Hardness of 4, which reduces this damage to two dice of lethal. Rolling two dice, Citrios fails to get any successes; his attack thus deal one health level of lethal damage to Avaku.
