Another thing that I like regarding the new rules:
It used to be that critters with high Body were basically toast against high tech weapons unless they also had lots of armor plates (dragon, juggernaut). Despite the many dice they could roll, they had little chance of staging the damage down because of the high power level of the attack.
Now that armor just adds to the resistance roll, having a high body is just as effective as having tough armor - and that gives some of the bigger and tougher critters out there a fighting chance.
Full Version: Critter combat
Sounds good. It always bothered me in SR3 that critters are not a real threat to a well-armed runner/merc group. Except Drop Bears.
Still waiting for Running Wild to be released though.
Still waiting for Running Wild to be released though.
What are we doing in the - of course nearly impossible - situation that there are no drop bears in that book?
Send a platoon of Drop Bears to the home of Rob Boyle.
| QUOTE (Grinder) |
| Sounds good. It always bothered me in SR3 that critters are not a real threat to a well-armed runner/merc group. Except Drop Bears. |
It always boiled down to whether the critters were able to surprise the runners. If they did, they could often savage them. If not, the runners blasted them. Kind of boring.
Now critter combat might actually last a few initiative passes...
As a gm i tried on several occassions to surprise a runner team with a critter attack, but it never ended good for the critters. No runner teams is completly unaware of their environment escpecially not in jungles etc. so most runners have at least a handgun with them. Not to mention inherent reflex boosting stuff like cyber and magic.
| QUOTE (Jürgen Hubert @ Sep 2 2005, 07:24 AM) |
| Now that armor just adds to the resistance roll, having a high body is just as effective as having tough armor - and that gives some of the bigger and tougher critters out there a fighting chance. |
Actually, having high body is now often better than having tough armor, because of weapons and ammo with AP values. I'm really not convinced that's a good thing.
And it always made plenty of sense to me that, unless they had a drop on the runners for some reason, or were faced in their preferred environment, animals didn't stand much of a chance in a stand-up fight against individuals with cyber, magic, and automatic weapons.
There are almost unlimited ways for paracritters to fuck up a run without doing a single box of damage to the runners, anyway.
Another difference that'll keep high Body critters alive a bit longer is they'll take a lot more boxes of damage before dropping. Though near the end their wound penalties are going to be crippling, you don't have to have a huge swarm to get a fodder factor going.
I always found swarming critters to be a more challenging encounter than a few giant ones - but not a big threat for my runner groups also. They had usually more problems with Faceless Ninja Thugs / Security Guards, which had all skills and attributes at 3, but came in superior number and fought with tactics.
Faceless Corp Ninjas with a pack of fleshform hellhound "fodder"; coming soon to a Knights Errant guarded secret facility near you. 
There are rumours that their special teams are bringing Drop Bear launchers to the show...
| QUOTE (Grinder @ Sep 2 2005, 08:38 AM) |
| There are rumours that their special teams are bringing Drop Bear launchers to the show... |
Merged Drop Bears?
P.S. I should be quiet at this point. Another of my group visits here time to time, and we have a rotating GM seat. I've kinda been a bit misunderstood at times when i've had the chair
and don't see it as a good idea to plant the seeds of such silliness in their vengence fertilized minds.
So hopefully they never find the real Drop Bear threat... thread.
I've toasted my group with a Piazma or two, though the bears did get the surprise.
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