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Totaling bonus damage from SL

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2020 1:50 pm
by Coreyvw
On Applying Damage the book says to add your SL to the weapon and attribute bonus. Is the total SL the total from the attacker only or do we total based on the final SL from attacker and defender? So if the players succeeds at a +2 SL vs the defender’s -3 is the bonus damage +2 or +5?

Re: Totaling bonus damage from SL

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2020 2:26 pm
by Orin J.
rules as written, the damage bonus is always the difference in SLs between the successful attack and failed defense, so your example would be +5.

Re: Totaling bonus damage from SL

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2020 4:41 pm
by Coreyvw
Thanks Orin. Can you give me a page number where it explicitly states ‘damage’ is the total of the ‘difference’? I just see ‘your SL’ which in my example the Attackers resulting SL would be 2. Not convinced I’m right, just looking for something definitive in the book.

Re: Totaling bonus damage from SL

Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2020 8:33 pm
by Orin J.
pages 514 (opposed tests) and 159 (calculating damage). the final Success Levels result of an opposed test is the difference between the winning and losing rolls, and damage is calculated based on the final SLs generated by a roll, not the roll itself. if it makes you feel any better, i didn't play it as written either.

Re: Totaling bonus damage from SL

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:54 am
by Zisse
With RAW and a defending with a low WS, is the expected value of damage reduction still positive?
In other words, would it make sense to choose not to roll for defense basically like in ranged combat? Did anyone do a statistical analysis?
It's probably depending on the attackers WS.

Re: Totaling bonus damage from SL

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 3:24 pm
by Orin J.
Zisse wrote: Tue Oct 06, 2020 12:54 am With RAW and a defending with a low WS, is the expected value of damage reduction still positive?
In other words, would it make sense to choose not to roll for defense basically like in ranged combat? Did anyone do a statistical analysis?
It's probably depending on the attackers WS.
rules as written, refusing to roll to defend counts as being helpless, which means the opponent hits for the maximum possible success plus inflicts a critical because the helpless rule is effectively a blanket rule for all situations where no defense in a opposed attack roll is covered.

my group used the base WS as a passive defense instead, but that's a houserule.

Re: Totaling bonus damage from SL

Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2020 11:48 pm
by SigmariteOrWrong
Coreyvw wrote: Mon Oct 05, 2020 1:50 pm On Applying Damage the book says to add your SL to the weapon and attribute bonus. Is the total SL the total from the attacker only or do we total based on the final SL from attacker and defender? So if the players succeeds at a +2 SL vs the defender’s -3 is the bonus damage +2 or +5?
Normally this would be a +5 to damage.

However, don't forget Talent bonuses. (p132)
"For each time you have taken the Talent, you gain +1 SL on any successful use of the Skill tied to the Talent"

If the characters above were brawling, and each had Dirty Fighting 1, each character who succeeded in rolling under their skill adds +1SL with tests.
So in this case, the winner would have a modified +3SL, and Damage would be +6.
If the winner chose to do a dirty blow, there would be an extra +1 Damage too.

The looser of this exchange is stuck with their -3SL result, as even if they had Riposte 2, and Reversal 3, they failed to activate the bonuses by failing their roll. However, if they had managed a meagre +1SL defence, the extra +5 from Riposte and Reversal would actually give them a win in the exchange.

Re: Totaling bonus damage from SL

Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2020 12:26 am
by Zisse
Great example for the crunchiness.