SR5: Area effect defense, Questions generated from a run Options

[Redjack]

So I've started running an game in SR5 (will post summary in another thread) and some clarifying questions have arisen:

-2dp for area effect defense. Does that mean that mean if hits of defender equal/exceed hits of attacker then no effect even though they are standing in the area of effect? If not, what does it mean?

[Epicedion]

I'm really interested in an answer to this, because there doesn't seem to be any explicit handling of it in the system.

My current thinking is that you should reduce the DV by the number of defense hits, then do your Body+Armor test to reduce it further. It's unlikely you'd ever fully escape the grenade that way, but you might be able to pull the initial DV below your armor rating and only take Stun.

[Redjack]

Agreed. This caused an unpleasant pause in the game.

Of course, the lethality of grenades caused me to hit the <reset> button on the scene as I killed 3 PCs with one grenade in a surprise action on the first pass of combat in their first SR5 game.

[Epicedion]

I think for the time being I'll say that the defense test allows you to count as (hits) meters farther away from the explosion when you calculate damage.

So if the HE grenade lands at your feet, you might want to interrupt Dodge -- let's say that gets you 11 defense dice, which gives you 3 hits. So now you count as 3 meters away from the explosion for damage. The HE grenade does 16P with -2/m, so it hits you for 10P -2AP. You're in your armor jacket, so you get 10 armor, and the grenade is now 10S. Let's say 14 Body+Armor at this point, for 4 hits, so you take 6S from the grenade. It's a major hit, but not necessarily a game ender.

Yeah, I think I'll go with this until something better comes along.

[Sendaz]

I think for the time being I'll say that the defense test allows you to count as (hits) meters farther away from the explosion when you calculate damage.

So if the HE grenade lands at your feet, you might want to interrupt Dodge -- let's say that gets you 11 defense dice, which gives you 3 hits. So now you count as 3 meters away from the explosion for damage. The HE grenade does 16P with -2/m, so it hits you for 10P -2AP. You're in your armor jacket, so you get 10 armor, and the grenade is now 10S. Let's say 14 Body+Armor at this point, for 4 hits, so you take 6S from the grenade. It's a major hit, but not necessarily a game ender.

Yeah, I think I'll go with this until something better comes along.

Does mean having to watch those walls or other things that can keep you from getting further away, but does make sense.

[Redjack]

I'm hoping someone will post a more official response here...

[Aaron]

I don't have an official response, but I'm fairly certain the errata will show that there is no defense test against area damage and the bit about there being a penalty to it is a holdover from SR4 that somehow never got deleted. Weapons that are easier to hit because of area-like coverage, like flechette ammo in a shotgun, is built into the rules for those kinds of attacks.

[Redjack]

Excellent. Thank you.