This happened in the encounter involving a troll and his body armor, and seemed to be glanced over for the armor debate.

On a different note, during the same encounter. Before the guards were disbatched they managed to call for help. Well help arrived in the form of 3 rotodrones. Well actually they didn't get there. I dropped the Barrier on the troll, and started to place the barriers in front of the drones. My theory is that since they are rotodrones that failed their crash test and impact test, they should have fallen to the ground in a pile of scrap. But since the charts say it only took a serious the GM kept them flying. They left us alone but I wanted them smoking junk. I argued that the props would have folded on impact and they would have burned, I told the GM I could see if it was a vector thrust or fixed wing, but a rotory wing is different.

In addition to this debate, my GM said since there was nothing in the rules that modified how rotory wings react to collisions with verticle barriers, for the moment he'll go with the book.

We usually just go with the book during the game and debate and claify or house rule something later, as not to waste valualbe game time.

if the drone doesn't crash and burn (take D damage), i'd say its because its sensors noted the barrier in time for the drone to swing itself back, taking the impact on its body rather than its wings. after all, part of soaking damage is trying to take it in a location that is less vulnerable.

I see your point but if the post before didn't say it, my apologies, but these are barriers cast by a mage, I know they are physical and could be seen (can they? never thought of about it). Should a drone get that option when nothing is in front of the drone, then all of the sudden a barrier is there. I could see if it was dodging a building or was taking fire so the rigger could try to avoid it. But I just have hard time letting it go. But these things were going full throtle assuming it had clear skies a head. I know you shouldn't try to interject real life into roleplaying games but a little thought should. Just some questions.

How many blades does the drone have? Less than four would give a reasonable chance that none of the blades took any severe damage before the body hit the barrier and the whole mess bounced back. You set up the barriers "right in front of them" meaning that the area covered by the blades but not the body was not a factor in this case, the barrier was right next to the body of the drone. Maybe the serious damage is from one blade snapping as it hit the barrier and triggered the "pull back" algorithm. Would the loss of 1/3 the lift count as serious damage?

This is like the hypothetical "deadly would to your left little toe" example. The damage scale can be described in a way that fits the reality of the situation, even if you don't want it to.

ok point well taken thanks both of you guys.

it wouldn't be a bad house rule to up the power of collisions for rotary-wing vehicles, though. maybe +2 or so.

allso, while artists love drawing rotodrones with open blades the more IRL way of doing it are fans inside a protective ring (if you play past the first chapter in metal gear solid 2 you know what im talking about) as these are able to hit a building without getting to mutch problems...