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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Breaching a barrier with... yourself

Posted by: mdynna May 17 2006, 10:30 PM

I was running a session recently (the On the Run adventure incidentally) when I came to an interesting situation not specifically covered in the rules: A character wanted to dive through a window. Just in case anyone else runs into this, here is how I handled it:

I used the Breaching a Barrier rules as a basis. The barrier was cheap glass (bar in the Barrens). So that makes it Fragile and gives it a Structure 1 and Armor 1. That's the easy part. Normally, the character makes an attack roll, in this case he was just hurling himself so I said his Agility + Jumping was his attack roll. He got 2 hits. I rolled 2 dice (Armor x 2) and got 1 hit, so that nets 1 for the attacker. Now for the damage. I considered using Melee but he wasn't really punching or kicking the barrier, so I used Projectile DV seeing as he was the Projectile. The DV is 1 per projectile (only 1 of him) so that's what it was. So, DV 1 + 1 net hit > 1 (structure) = he punctured the barrier. Now, how big was the hole? Net damage 1 / 1 structure = 1 m (squred) hole. Considering he was diving headfirst, it seem perfectly plausable that an average-sized person could dive through a 1 square hole. Now, could someone do this without possibly taking damage? No. So I had him resist 1 (armor) + 1 barrier hit = 2 DV with full Impact armor. Stupidly enough he got not hits and took 2 DV stun.

Would anyone else have done it differently?

Posted by: Geekkake May 17 2006, 10:34 PM

A simple Athletics roll, nevermind the barrier (it's glass, for fuck's sake). You get a couple hits? You dive through the window. Critical success? You hit the ground and roll flawlessly, immediately ready for action.

I would require some P damage resistance, though. Maybe 2-3 DV, for cuts. That's nowhere near realistic (going through a window can kill you rather easily - glass is really, really, really sharp), but it's good enough.

Posted by: bustedkarma May 17 2006, 10:35 PM

I keep wanting to say that his BODY should have played a part in it, but AGI + JUMPING seems to make sense.

Posted by: stevebugge May 17 2006, 10:39 PM

Basically I would do the same except I would have allowed the melee weapon damage for "Metahuman Body" on pg.149 or Body/2, basically treating this more as a bodyslam or other sort of flying melee attack.

Posted by: GrinderTheTroll May 17 2006, 10:39 PM

If you levitate a person and hit someone with them, DV = Bod/2. You could probably incorporate movement speed into the final DV value somehow.

Posted by: mdynna May 17 2006, 10:41 PM

Yeah, I probably should have used Body/2 for the DV. Despite the length of the explanation I decided and rolled it all out quite quickly.

Posted by: stevebugge May 17 2006, 10:47 PM

QUOTE (mdynna @ May 17 2006, 02:41 PM)

Yeah, I probably should have used Body/2 for the DV. Despite the length of the explanation I decided and rolled it all out quite quickly.

That pretty much summarizes one of my favorite lines as a GM:

"We'll do it this way tonight and we can look it up later for the exact rules, now close your books and let's get back to it"

Posted by: NightHaunter May 18 2006, 01:33 PM

QUOTE (stevebugge)