RCS:Harmonised Damage System

From MegaTravellerWiki

The fundamental difference In My Traveller Universe is the harmonised damage system which treats vehicles and personnel equally, and computes NPC damage just like player damage -- all damage is assessed immediately. All personnel, animals, vehicles, crafts, spaceships and starships, and aircraft can be directly compared to see which can sustain the greatest number of hits from any given weapon provided under the standard rules.

Integrity

The Integrity of any person is computed based on the Life Force of the being (as defined on p.66, Player's Manual), and the Integrity of any vehicle or starship is computed based on the original Hull Rating, Power Rating(s), and Locomotive Rating(s) of the vehicle.

Integrity of a Person

Under the standard rules, a person's Life Force is cross-referenced to a table on p.66 in the Player's Manual to determine their Hits score. In this system, Life Force is used to compute a score called Integrity instead. Integrity in this revised combat system is directly synonymous with Hits in the original MegaTraveller rules; I chose to adopt a different name in order to (A) distinguish my revision from the standard rules, so a reader knows whether I'm referring to my revision or to the standard rules, and (B) reduce the ambiguity from "hitting" a target but failing to reduce "Hits".

                       THE PERSONAL INTEGRITY RECORD
 6  12  18  24  30  36  42  48  54  60  66  72  78  84  90  96  102 108   DM
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---  ---
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )  n/a
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   +0
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -3
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -6
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -9
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )  -12

Integrity is equal to Life Force multiplied by 2. The person's Integrity, divided by 6 and rounded up, is the number of 6-box columns on the Personal Integrity chart that the person can use for personal injury. The player crosses off the remaining columns, and crosses off a number of boxes from the final column depending on how far short the character is from the number stated at the top of the column.

Example: Giovanni has a UPP of 94A849. His Integrity total is 46, so he is entitled to use eight columns of the Personal Integrity chart. He crosses off the remaining columns, and also crosses off two boxes from the final column as his Integrity of 46 is two less than 48.

 6  12  18  24  30  36  42  48  ---------------------------------------   DM
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---  ---
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ---------------------------------------  n/a
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ---------------------------------------   +0
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ---------------------------------------   -3
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ---------------------------------------   -6
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) -------------------------------------------   -9
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) -------------------------------------------  -12

Generally, a person will always have an even number for their Integrity score. A person may never have more than eighteen full columns or less than one full column on their personal injury chart. No human (Solomani, Zhodani, Vilani) or normal humanoid (Vargr or Aslan) will have more than fifteen columns under ordinary circumstances, though stimulants and other augmentations can increase this temporarily. An average person in an ordinary semi-skilled labour job will have seven columns. A person with one column is an example of a baby or a bed-ridden old man, while a person with fifteen columns is an example of someone who can compete in the "Imperium's Strongest Man" contest and win.

As a person suffers damage, boxes are crossed off from the chart from left to right, top to bottom. As a person is healed, boxes are erased from the chart from right to left, bottom to top. Once a row is completely filled, the first box on the left of the next row down is the next box to be crossed off. Each time a person suffers Lethal Damage in any row beyond the first, he must make a consciousness roll with a DM proportional to the modifier given for the topmost row with boxes remaining. More information is provided in the "Suffering Damage" section below.

After suffering a number of Damage Points equal to roughly one-third of their total Integrity, an average person will be rendered unconscious. Particularly durable people will be able to remain conscious for far longer and may quite possibly continue fighting until they die on their feet.

Integrity of an Unimportant Person

If the person is a "red shirt" in your campaign and the only conditions that really matter are whether the NPC is knocked out or killed, you can use a simplified version of the above. Multiply Life Force by 2 to determine the NPC's maximum Integrity; if the NPC suffers more damage than this, the NPC is immediately killed.

Divide the NPC's Integrity by 3, rounding up, to determine the number of points of damage that the NPC may suffer before being rendered unconscious. Unimportant NPCs are automatically rendered unconscious after receiving at least this number of damage points and are not allowed to throw for consciousness. Subtract this number from the total Integrity to determine the number of further points of damage required to kill the NPC, and express the number in standard format. A typical adult NPC with UPP 777777 will have an Integrity of 14/28.

Integrity of an Animal

For an animal, the Integrity is simply a modified value of the animal's Hits score. Each number before and after the slash is multiplied by 4. A bovine-like Grazer with Hits of 9/6 has an Integrity of 36/24.

Integrity of a Vehicle, Craft, or Starship

Each of the numbers in each of a vehicle, craft, or starship's Hull Rating, Power Rating(s), and Locomotion Rating(s) are multiplied by 40 to yield the Integrity. For instance, a ground car with Hits of Hull 2/5, Power 1/2, Loco 1/2 has an Integrity of Hull 80/200, Power 40/80, Loco 40/80.

Integrity of an Aircraft (COACC)

Each of the numbers in the aircraft's Hull Rating and Power Rating(s), as presented in COACC, are modified by my aircraft durability revision and not modified further. For instance, a TL8 Bitburg Attack Aircraft (p.43, COACC) with Hits of Hull 60/150, Power 4/10 + 4/10 under the standard rules has Hits of 46/115, 16/40 + 16/40 under my aircraft durability system and has Integrity under this system of the same amount.

Aircraft are inherently more fragile than ground vehicles. The Bitburg aircraft weighs 15 tonnes but is only approximately one-quarter as durable as the ground car which weighs one third as much. The ground vehicle also has an Armour Value of 4 and is somewhat resistant to small arms fire, whereas the aircraft has AV 1 and is not very resistant to small arms at all.

Damage Value, Damage Dice, and Damage Points

The numbers provided in the weapon tables in the Player's Manual are the weapons' "Damage Values". The Damage Value indicates the number of dice that are ordinarily rolled for damage when the weapon hits a target. The Damage Value is modified by the results of Low Penetration, High Penetration, Exceptional Success, and/or Exceptional Failure under the standard rules. The final modified Damage Value is the number of dice that are rolled for the effect of a successful impact; these dice are considered "Damage Dice". For instance, a bomb blast with "34" beneath the "Damage" column has a Damage Value of 34, and will inflict 34 Damage Dice against a target assuming normal penetration and success.

As always, truncate all fractions of Damage Dice before applying them as damage to a target. For instance, a reduction to 0.5 Damage Dice means the attack is ineffective.

When an attack is made, the number of Damage Dice inflicted by that attack are rolled; the resulting number of the throw is the number of Damage Points the attack inflicts.

Only a maximum of three dice are rolled. For attacks which inflict a very large number of Damage Dice, every two dice beyond the third are automatically considered to add up to 7, and any leftover die is considered to be 3.

You can do this directly by counting:

• Roll 3D6 and subtract 3 from Damage Dice.
• For every 2 Damage Dice remaining, add 7.
• If there is a Damage Die left over, add 3.

Or formulaically:

• Let "dice" equal the Damage Dice of the attack, minus three.
• Let "result" equal "dice" divided by two, ignoring all fractions.
• Multiply "result" by seven.
• If "dice" was odd before division, add 3 to "result".
• Add the total number generated by 3D6 to the "result".
• The final number is the number of Damage Points suffered.

Example: The above bomb blast causes 34 Damage Dice to anyone caught in the blast radius. The player could roll thirty-four dice at once, or roll fewer dice enough times to get a total of thirty-four rolls, but either method would take far too much time to roll and count. Instead, the player rolls only three dice, leaving 31 Damage Dice unaccounted for. Dividing 31 by 2 gives 15 with a remainder of 1. The total damage is equal to the result of 3d6, plus {15 × 7} 90, plus 3 for the one die left over. If you are familiar with your multiplication table for multiples of 7, this is a very quick mental calculation and at the very worst would take less than ten seconds to do on paper. For sake of example, let's assume the roll was 13. The final damage caused by the roll is {13 + 90 + 3} 116 Damage Points.

If, instead of using the shorthand method, you were to roll 34 six-sided dice directly, you would get an average of 113.5; using a computer to make ten such rolls for me, I obtained the following set: {121, 105, 127, 130, 111, 110, 121, 133, 99, 118}. The shorthand system above is a fairly good alternative to performing the rolls by computer and an extremely good alternative to performing the rolls by hand.

Suffering Damage

Marking Damage

The Personal Integrity chart provides a series of six-box columns which are used to track both lethal damage and non-lethal damage that is suffered by a person.

 6  12  18  24  30  36  42  48  54  60  66  72  78  84  90  96  102 108   DM
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---  ---
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )  n/a
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   +0
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -3
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -6
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -9
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )  -12

Before the chart can be used, the columns that the character will not be using are crossed off of the chart. The boxes in the final column are crossed off from bottom to top according to the portion of the column the person cannot use; e.g., a person with an Integrity of 50 can use only two of the boxes from the "54" column and must cross off the bottom four boxes from that column:

 6  12  18  24  30  36  42  48  54  -----------------------------------   DM
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---  ---
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) -----------------------------------  n/a
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) -----------------------------------   +0
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ---------------------------------------   -3
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ---------------------------------------   -6
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ---------------------------------------   -9
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ---------------------------------------  -12

Damage is accrued from left to right on the topmost row available. When a row is completely filled, the next row is used, starting again at the left. Any point of Non-Lethal Damage is applied to the first unmarked box on the chart. Any point of Lethal Damage overlaps the first point of Non-Lethal Damage on the chart, or is applied to the first unmarked box on the chart if there are no points of Non-Lethal Damage remaining.

If there are no empty boxes on the chart and the person receives a point of Non-Lethal Damage, apply a point of Lethal Damage instead. Even if you are using your fists, you can beat someone to death if persistent enough.

Use a slash symbol to mark Non-Lethal Damage and an X symbol to mark Lethal Damage. When another point of Lethal Damage is suffered, just draw a line over top of the topmost slash on the chart to complete an X symbol, or make a new X on the chart if no slashes are left.

Suffering Non-Lethal Damage

A few attacks—particularly hand-to-hand combat, light blunt weapons, neural weapons, and tasers—cause Non-Lethal Damage instead of Lethal Damage. Non-Lethal Damage does not affect structures, objects, robots, vehicles, craft, or starships unless the referee rules otherwise.

When a person suffers any Non-Lethal Damage on any row beyond the first, they can be stunned. If a Non-Lethal attack causes enough damage in one hit to cause a row to be filled, roll again each time a row is filled using the DM from the next row, then roll one final time for the last damage point. Roll on the following task:

When a person is Stunned, they fall down and remain limp until they recover. On their next turn, whether during this round if they have not already acted or the next round if they have, they must choose one of the following tasks:

In general, it is preferable to use the slow recovery option as it gives good chances to be ready for combat in the next round following the round where the person remains stunned, and it is the only possible option for success for unskilled characters (anyone who is unskilled would increase difficulty of the latter task to Formidable, per the standard rules on unskilled task use; only the first task is "unskilled OK"). However, skillful brawlers, martial artists, or survivalists may consider testing their luck with the second task -- a person with End 10 and Brawling-3 for example has a DM of +6, which gives a fairly good chance of succeeding in the second task and a practically guaranteed chance of succeeding in the first task.

When a person has suffered a total number of Lethal and Non-Lethal Damage Points equal to or exceeding their Integrity, they are automatically knocked unconscious.

Example: Herr Bartolo is a fairly old nobleman with UPP 45398C who walks down the wrong alley one night. He has no skill in Brawling, Survival, or Martial arts and his paltry Endurance of 3 means he gets no DMs for the stunning task. As he discovers, he needs all of the DMs he can get: he is suddenly attacked by a thug who strikes him in the chest with an improvised two-handed club. The attack inflicts 3 Damage Dice, and is not altered due to Penetration or Exceptional Success/Failure; the thug rolls 11 for damage points. Because the location struck was the chest, no other special modifiers apply to the injury. Herr Bartolo begins to mark off his integrity chart:

 6  12  18  24    DM
--- --- --- ---  ---
(/) (/) (/) (/)  n/a
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   +0
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -3
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -6
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -9
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )  -12

After filling the first row with 4 out of the 11 points of Non-Lethal Damage, Bartolo rolls for being stunned with a DM of +0 from the row and -3 from the Damage Dice, and succeeds in remaining conscious by rolling an 11 (versus the 10+ needed). Bartolo fills the next row:

 6  12  18  24    DM
--- --- --- ---  ---
(/) (/) (/) (/)  n/a
(/) (/) (/) (/)   +0
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -3
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -6
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -9
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )  -12

...and rolls again, this time with a DM of -3 from the row and -3 from the Damage Dice. With the Routine difficulty, no DMs from skills or attributes, and a DM of -3 from the chart, he must roll 13+ on 2D6 to avoid being stunned. He automatically fails and is stunned; Bartolo slumps to the alley floor, conscious but breathless, probably having suffered a broken rib. It will take him a full round to recover. Bartolo marks off the three remaining points of Non-Lethal Damage in the third row:

 6  12  18  24    DM
--- --- --- ---  ---
(/) (/) (/) (/)  n/a
(/) (/) (/) (/)   +0
(/) (/) (/) ( )   -3
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -6
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   -9
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )  -12

If Bartolo was not already stunned, he would roll one final time upon marking off the last point, with a DM of -3 for the row (as that is the highest row on the chart that still has any unmarked boxes remaining) and a DM of -3 from the Damage Dice inflicted by the attack. However, since Bartolo was stunned when the last row was filled, there is no need to make this roll.

(Note that if Bartolo was struck in the head with the improvised club, the impact would have knocked him into a coma due to the rules for Limb Damage, and stunning would be irrelevant. He would also have been very likely to have suffered a mild concussion (see Head Hit Locations) in addition to being knocked comatose, though the concussion would have no lasting effects. The coma is definitely the thing he would worry about.)

Suffering Lethal Damage

When a person suffers Lethal Damage on any row beyond the first, they must roll to maintain consciousness each time this occurs. If an attack causes Lethal Damage and spans multiple rows in one hit, roll each time a row is filled, then roll one final time when the last point from the attack is marked off (roll only once for the last damage point, even if it is both the final damage point and the point that filled a row):

If a person is knocked unconscious, they will likely remain unconscious for several minutes at least. They should, however, attempt the following task to determine how long it takes before they are to regain consciousness by rolling on the following task (failure means they must roll again after the task duration has passed):

If someone wants to wake a victim up before the victim naturally recovers, they attempt this task:

A person will usually be rendered unconscious long before they are killed, which is generally a good thing: an enemy would prefer to aim at a fresh, active target rather than worrying about killing a person who no longer poses any threat. After a battle is done, depending on the morality of the enemy from worst to best, they may opt to kill the unconscious enemies left on the field, leave the enemies on the field to die naturally, take them prisoner with little or no medical care, or take them prisoner with medical care.

Every time a person suffers Lethal Damage, they also suffer Characteristic Damage. See the "Characteristic Damage" section below for further information.

When a person has filled all of the boxes on the Personal Integrity chart with Lethal Damage Points, the person is dead. However, recovery may still be possible under the "Treating Destroyed Wounds" information on p.82. Organ replacements will be necessary if the chest or abdomen have been Wrecked, as this indicates a gaping wound and total loss of one or more vital organs. Recovery is not possible if the head is Wrecked or Ruined; a brain cannot be replaced. Recovery is also not possible if the Chest or Abdomen are Ruined, as this denotes complete absence of living material in those locations. (See "Limb Damage" below.)

Wound Levels

In order to meld with the rules "Treatment of Sick or Injured Characters" in the Player's Manual, p.75, the following rules define Superficial, Minor, Major, and Destroyed wound levels and replace the definition in the "Character Damage" section on the same page. If there are any boxes remaining in the first two rows that do not contain Lethal Damage, the person is considered to have suffered Superficial damage. If the first two rows are completely filled with Lethal Damage but there are boxes remaining in the third or fourth rows that do not contain Lethal Damage, the person is considered to have suffered Minor damage. If the first four rows are completely filled with Lethal Damage but there are boxes remaining in the fifth or sixth rows that do not contain Lethal Damage, the person is considered to have suffered Major damage. If all of the boxes are filled with Lethal Damage, the person is considered to have suffered Destroyed damage.

Non-Lethal Damage requires no significant medical attention and will heal naturally. It does not count towards the Superficial, Minor, Major, or Destroyed wound status of a character. Pain symptoms are treated with cool dressings and time.

Natural Recovery of Non-Lethal Damage

For every hour that passes, the character erases a number of points of Non-Lethal Damage equal to his or her Endurance score. This recovery rate is halved if the character does anything other than rest during that time.

Note that this applies only to the effective Non-Lethal Damage level and not to Limb Damage. A person may have suffered a small amount of Non-Lethal Damage but have also suffered Limb Damage, such as an Incapacitated Upper Arm. If the location is Injured or Incapacitated, such w and will only heal given several days.