Cypher System Damage

[Connorsrpg]

(Again, another Cypher System general Q. There is no prefix, but perhaps people playing Numenera can help).

How do the enemies of the PCs do extra damage? Extra damage occurs on a roll of 17-20, but as PCs roll all dice, how do enemies do that?

So when attacked, PCs roll a d20. Shouldn't low rolls add to damage in this case?

We just started a Star Wars game and several of our PCs have the equivelent of medium armor, which reduces damage by 2. Light weapons (inc blaster pistols) deal 2 damage. I still warned the players that NPCs could roll well and they take damage...but the CAN'T!

So these guys are walking around on their fist adventure practiaclly immune to the street thugs armed with weapons and even enemies shooting blaster pistols! Obviously something bad happens on a roll of 1, but that is practically the only roll that affects defense rolls on the negative side for these guys.

Not sure that was the intent. We are implementing a reverse system damage here. ie: Roll 1 = +4 dam; 2 = +3; 3 = +2; 4 = +1 (damage taken from poor defense rolls).

 

[Evenglare]

Well... I think you are asking the wrong question about enemies doing extra damage. PCs and NPCs work off of an entirely different framework as far as rolling goes. The mere question is outside of the scope of the game. Now, don't fret, the way enemies do extra damage is by simply assigning them to do damage as a higher level creature. It would be something like .. (NPC deals damage as an X level creature ).

 

[Connorsrpg]

Hmmm. Maybe you are right. I was using weapon damage, but just looked at Thug and Guard stats (which I used on the fly) and see they do 3 or 4 damage. I was simply going with some troopers using rifles and others pistols.

Obviously, I did not see that each NPC has a set damage no matter what they use Still, those Guards would never do damage (barring a roll of 1 I guess) vs heavy armor. In a fantsy setting it won't take long to get heavy armor, and then several of the low levels never do damage at all, not matter how many times they hit?

 

[Aldarc]

Hmmm. Maybe you are right. I was using weapon damage, but just looked at Thug and Guard stats (which I used on the fly) and see they do 3 or 4 damage. I was simply going with some troopers using rifles and others pistols.

Obviously, I did not see that each NPC has a set damage no matter what they use Still, those Guards would never do damage (barring a roll of 1 I guess) vs heavy armor. In a fantsy setting it won't take long to get heavy armor, and then several of the low levels never do damage at all, not matter how many times they hit?

You can tweak the numbers. You can make an elite guard level 4 but who does 6 damage. The Cypher System is meant to be a fluid and mostly hackable system that is the purview of the GM.

 

[Connorsrpg]

Yeah, you can tweek any game. I get that. I just found it odd, that getting armor so early on could negate ALL damage from the NPCs of a up to around level 3 from the get-go. (I guess the main problem of Armor as damage reduction, especially when dealing low set values for damage).

Anyway, I like the idea of NPCs being able to deal more damage. Might at least bring in on a roll of 2. (+2 damage). Leaving 1 for bad results of +4 damage if nothing else presents itself.

 

[Evenglare]

If you want to randomize the number you certainly could like if the damage an NPC does is 6 you could roll 2d6 and get a range of numbers. Or even roll 3d6 and take the middle die or subtract 2 from the static roll and then roll a d4. There's a lot of ways you could do it honestly and none of them are going to break the game. The cool thing about cypher system is that the game can stand up to a LOT of rule bending without completely destroying the game.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

Ok, I am not sure where you are getting this "unbeatable armor" thing.
Light armor protects for 1, Medium 2, Heavy 3
Weapons do Light 2,Medium 4, Heavy 6
So even if they have Medium Armor, have your bandits or whatever use any of the following: Battleaxe, Bow, broadsword, Crossbow, Flail, Hammer, Javelin, Mace, Polearm, quarterstaff, spear, Verred, Yulk and you are still doing 4 damage.
A creatures level doesnt necessarily have anything to do with their damage output, more their health.
Yes, once your characters get Medium Armor, Light weapons arent going to do anything by themselves ( unless they might be poison coated and cause a Might Defense roll.......hint)
Also, I think you are missing that on the roll of a 1, that is a free GM Intrusion, so yes you can do extra damage, but this allows for some other great narrative possibilities.

 

[Connorsrpg]

Thanks for replies. I understand I CAN change things. I like doing that and messing with things. I do that a lot with games I know.

This was our very first game. Not sure people are reading the posts above but it was a Star Wars game. I used the Guard and Thug stats for Clones (and their leader).

Some citizens got involved in a fight too. Main point was that over half of my group take no damage from light weapons, INCLUDING blaster pistols!? Most of the galaxy get around with blaster pistols, and I was quite concerned. I don't think arming them with Bows, Battleaxes etc would help. Well, it might help, but would appear odd

And as [MENTION=63245]Evenglare[/MENTION] stated, damage actually IS attributed to creature stats - that was the problem. I was using weapon damage instead of creature stats damage.

Not missing the point of 1 being GM intrusion either. We have kind of done this sort of thing with fumbles and what-not for years. Yep, +4 damage on a 1 is pretty boring, but it is a good back up if nothing presents itself immediately. (I was just pondering an idea for creatures/NPCs to increase damage potential. I mean, seems pretty boring once a PC knows exactly how much damage each creature does every round. Not a big issue though, as I was using wrong damage... and it seems [MENTION=81852]Desh-Rae-Halra[/MENTION] does too ).
[MENTION=63245]Evenglare[/MENTION]. I am not actually interested in randomising the damage. (OMG, I can't believe I said that - I am usually for anything random ). I want to give the system a go as is and keep action fast. Initially, when I heard of Numenera, I thought it sounded cool, but if I was to ever play it, I would change so the GM rolls. Now I am embracing the no rolling aspect, especially as I am teaching young kids to play. This has been great and now I am adopting it for one of the games I run at school in a rushed recess and lunch session If I add damage, it will be on a poor roll by the PCs. Even a simple +2 on a roll of 2 might help.

 

[Desh-Rae-Halra]

I must have missed something...so you were running Star Wars but using the Cypher System (Numenera) ruleset?
Maybe you should look at the Cypher System rulebook that is out.
Although the genre section is small (really small) it has ideas for items, such as Light Blaster ( 2 damage), Medium Blaster ( 4 damage) and a few Heavy Blasters (6 damage, some longer range).

If you are thinking the lowest damage blaster,you are thinking a Holdout Blaster. I would argue that most people would have an average (Medium) blaster.
Think of it this way Light = .22 caliber
Medium = 9mm, .38 special
Heavy = .50 cal Desert Eagle, Rifle, Assault Rifle, Shotgun

If you are having them fight Stormtroopers, I am betting they arent armed with Light Pistols (or equivalent). It seems ot me that most Stormtroopers have Blaster Rifles.
So even if they had heavy armor, its unlikely that someone can take more than 4-5 hits without depleting their Might Pool. A prolonged firefight can be deadly, especially if anyone has a stun grenade or thermal detonator

In terms of Creature damage by level, that is variable ( for some monsters, a Level 3 monster does 3 damage, but for others it is often in excess of its level: See entires for Accelerator, Balikna, Dibirri (actually does less) Encephalon, Ergovore hound, Frilled Baul, etc. ) That is me just flipping randomly through the first 55 pages of the Ninth World Bestiary.

 

[Evenglare]

Yeah thats cooll. I like random damage too. It seems like game design these days are going with static damage. Something I actually really like. Cypher system, 13th age and I believe 5e does static damage. It's a sign of the times lol.