Toughness question

[Timothy Hernandez]

So I'm trying to wrap my head around combat. I understand the attack and damage. So toughness is v where I need a little help. My both has a toughness of 8 and 12 MD. So I have 20 toughness that is MD? http://www.pegforum.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 00313480cb

[Cory Tetrascroll]

That's a good question! I am still wrapping my head around the system too.

[Qoat]

This is what I think happens (I am learning the rules too):

You have 20 (12) M.D.C. if I understand the rules.

You are immune to non-heavy weapons because of your M.D.C. value. And your effective toughness of 20 can be reduced to a minimum of 8 if you are hit with a weapon that has an AP value of 12 or more. So if hit with an AP 4 weapon, you net toughness is 16. If your hit with an AP 12 weapon, your net toughness is 8. If hit with an AP 20 weapon, your net toughness is still 8.

[Timothy Hernandez]

Cool, that makes sense. How do you test down?

[High Command]

Qoat has the gist of it.

AP reduces toughness to a maximum amount of how much armor there is (the number of parenthesis). MD is a trigger word. Either you can do MD or you can't hurt them if they have MD armor.

I'm not sure what you mean by test down.

• As an example. A Dogboy with an AP Grenade (3d8, AP 8, MD, Small Blast Template) throws it at a cyborg with Toughness of 20 (12) MD. After a raise on his attack and damage he does 22 with AP 8. Toughness is reduced by 8, to 12. 22-12 = 10. That's Shaken. 10-4 = 6 That's one wound. 6-4 = 2 That's two wounds. 2 is less than 4, so it's discarded.
  
  The cyborg now is Shaken with two wounds. If he has a Benny, he can spend it to allow a soak (vigor) roll. He rolls and gets a success with a raise! Awesome! So he reduces the number of wounds by 2, which eliminates them, but the Shaken Result is still there. He then can spend another Benny to ignore the Shaken benefit and be able to act on his turn.

Hope that helps clear up the confusion.

[Wizardry]

Granted HC's example is what would be equated to a critical hit, the result is spot on.

Damage in Savage worlds is cinematic, wounds don't directly equate to what one might be used to with HP. It's more of a "Die Hard" or "Rambo" experience. Bennies are crucial to your survival as a PC when you're attempting to fight something spiny.

Either you get hurt, or you don't. However, when you do get hit by a weapon that can penetrate your armor, it's probably going to eff you up pretty good. However, it is fairly hard to actually die in SW, if you read the incapacitated effect, there's a decent chance to escape being wrecked.

SW does a better job with the translation of how armor functions, imo. It makes anti-vehicle/heavy weapons a bit more intimidating.

To reiterate HC's point though, unless a weapon explicit states it does MDC, it has no effect on MDC armor. Most infantry weapons, with the exception grenades, plasma ejectors, rocket launchers, and melee weapons, would just bounce off your 'borg, no rolls needed.

Also, your base toughness cannot be reduced by AP - so your toughness of 8 can never be reduced by a weapon, no matter how much AP it might have.

[Timothy Hernandez]

When rolling for damage, raises does not matter correct?

[Wizardry]

A raise does matter on a damage roll -

If you get a raise on the attack roll, you get to add a d6 (no matter what weapon you're using) to the damage roll.

On the damage roll itself, each raise above the targets toughness inflicts a wound. ALL dice can ace, even that added die from the attack roll raise; which means you get to re-roll it when you get the highest result from a die . I've, at most, seen two raises on a single damage roll. Online die rollers tend to do their own thing, though.

Example:

• 
  You have a hero with a toughness of 8, and is butt naked - no armor. Someone grossly offended by nudity takes a crack at your nudist with a Wilk's 447. He rolls 10 damage (an average roll). A raise is any die result that is 4 points above the target number, in this case, your toughness of 8. The 10 breaches your toughness of 8, enough to give the nudist the Shaken condition, but no actual wounds.

In the above example, each raise (every 4 points above the target number) would give you the shaken condition AND an additional wound. Note, if the target is already shaken, a simple success is enough to cause a wound. So a damage result of 12 would cause one wound (and Shaken, if you weren't already), 16 would cause two wounds, etc.

[Cory Tetrascroll]

Finally a game that recognizes that the more skin you show, the safer you are!

[Wizardry]

I'm glad you've noticed the subtle intricacies offered by a nudist simulator - really, it takes an astute gamer to realize less is more!