Topic: Criticals interpretation doubt (At -#)

[megaper]

Hi everyone,

Direct to the point  : In Arms Law, pg. 49, is explained that when a critical result contains the "At -#" all the target´s bonuses (except DB and RRs) are modified by the number #. But what if the -# is the result of a severe wound like lower leg severed tendons and muscles? Shouldn´t the DB be affected because of the limited movement and pain caused by such a wound? The following critical is the one I encoutered in a playing season and triggered my doubt about the DB:

"Slash muscle and severed tendons in foe´s lower leg. Foe is stunned for 3 rnds and connot parry for next 2 rnds. Foe is at -50"

[Kristen Mork]

That would be a doubly whammy.  The foe's parry ability is already reduced by 50.  I played in a game where penalties applied to DBs, and it sucked!  Once you were tagged, it was game over.

[Usdrothek]

The rules as written say your DB is never affected by critical damage.

I agree, its a double whammy. Player should be parrying anyway, so the -50 will be bad enough.

Playing a game with penalties applying to DB would see dead PC's in a  very short time.

[megaper]

Thanks for the replies guys!

I see your point. Reducing de DB would be very deadly for the PCs, but I think that two warriors trying to kill each other with swords is a very deadly event and that the one that gets the first serious wound is almost done.

In my next playing session I will try to apply the -# to the quickness, being 0 the minimum possible, not affecting the shield parry bonus if present and weapon parring will be affected as the critical states. I will let you know about the test

Greetings!

[Marc R]

Assuming "average" rolls of 50 over the course of your whole career:

Keep in mind that "A hit" is roughly at +25 net OB. . .real nastiness starts at +50 net and you max out the table at +100 OB net.

So at -50 to parry, what was a perfectly fair fight last round at net 0 OB, has become a beating at +50 OB net.

Just throwing out 100 Skill as the level at which these two fighters were fighting, no parry is akin to the next round going to +100 OB net and the top of the table.

So there's really no need to pile atop that.

At very low levels, where OB's scale below 50, you do "lose" some of the penalty as you can't parry a negative amount to make yourself easier to hit. . .if your OB/DB split is 25/25, being -50 takes you to 0/0, so your DB has only fallen 25 not 50. . .so there's some justification for saying that the penalty is nerfed a bit for low level combatants, but that's probably OK, since RM is deadly enough for greenies that it's probably OK that the net-net tends to be more like 25 or 30 rather than the full 50 or 100 potential net loss higher level combatants face.