Hey all, it has been a while since I have played and I was just wondering how many dice are normally rolled for soaking damage. I know it will very from player to player but I was wondering if you could give me a general range... Should it be like 12 to 15 or more like 30 to 45?

As much as you can arrange it to be. Given that trolls can have very high Body scores, and can wear correspondingly heavy armor as a result, if a troll has Bod 9, he can have up to 18 Armor... tack on some enhancements...

There is no "general" range really.

Ok so a range in the 40's is not unheard of.

I would agree with toturi, but 35-40 probably wouldn't be "the norm". 12-15 is probably closer to the range for people who aren't soak specialists.

Ok thanks.. that is most helpful. I remembered rolling a lot of dice when I played, but I didn't realize I needed a bucket loader to toss them.

If you're playing SR4, the biggest difference in pool size from previous editions is now you are rolling your armor in the test, but you're not adding in combat pool so it might shake out about the same over the long haul.

In my opinion, in general you should generally have about the same as everyone else. If you have 37 dice when every other player has 12 things are likely to not work out well.

playing a solo game

well then, that'll make it really easy to match all the players now, won't it?

if you're confused, i think the basic point was that if everyone else is focusing on notcombat and you're focusing on being a combat beast who can take on 20 security guards without being scratched, it puts the GM into a really crappy situation where whatever he sends either won't be a threat because you'll smash it flat, or will simply kill everyone else if it actually is a legitimate threat to you.

i would say that 40 dice is certainly above average, but people should be above average in their area of specialty anyways. that said, i can't think of too many jobs for a lone combat specialist in a typical shadowrun game. obviously, suitability of your character is between you and your GM, but you're not going to be very effective at traditional shadowruns (steal the prototype, extractions, etc) so if you're planning on doing those kinds of runs, you may run into problems. on the other hand, if you're going to do stuff like bodyguarding, bountyhunting, etc, then it could work out just fine.

don't forget that having 20 points of armor is likely to be pretty visible and not necessarily normal... the average person might wear armored clothing, or even an armored vest or jacket, but if you go everywhere with a full helmet, a ballistic shield, an armored jacket (with full elemental damage resistance upgrades) overtop formfitting body armor, and a full set of PPP armor, then don't expect that you're going to blend in.

Thanks for the feedback. I guess we will see how this goes. With all hope I will be all set.. else wise I may have to roll up a second or fifth character to run with him. Well here is hoping.

Fairly typical "meat" focused runner: Body 5, with just an Armor Jacket, maybe Form Fitting body armor = 19 dice. With minor add-ons like helmets and cyber-armor and such maybe a few points higher.

A magic or matrix focused guy will probably have a lower body, and so correspondingly lower armor they can effectively wear. But the magic guys can augment their armors with, well, magic.

My main SR4 guy is a cyber-mystic-adept, so rocks with a 22 to soak and dodges with 12 dice or so.

Want to lower their armor? Old standby, have em go to a place where heavy armor is restricted, like a high society party or an airport.

-karma