Item and Object Damage

posted by Chris on July 16, 2013

It is a really dangerous universe out there. Characters often take it on the chin in various ways. However, there are times their items, gear, and objects take damage.

Normally, this is just assumed that a given object gets damaged and repaired later. However, there are times it becomes very important. Vehicles can lose controls, fire controls, etc. Weapons lose effectiveness, armor becomes less effective.

To account for this in combat, if an item becomes damaged, a player may have to roll the resistance for the given item ( if it has one ) as its effective “Resistance” to damage.

For weapons, it would be the damage die code. For example, a Heavy Blaster Pistol does a 5D of damage. Therefore it can resist 5D of damage to its outer casing.

For Armor, Personal shields, etc it is the total defensive die code.

For example, a Shield Belt has a 5D of defense, therefore it has a 5D resistance against being directly damaged. Another example is Power Armor that has +2D to Physical and +1D to Energy. Therefore it can resist 3D of damage done directly to its control systems.

As items are damaged, they lose effectiveness. Weapons will lose 1 or more D of damage. Armor loses die codes of defense. In the case of serious or overwhelming damage, the weapon, armor or item could shut completely down. If it shuts completely down, the GM will roll 1D6. If that results in a 1 ( and the item is powered ), the powered item explodes with the force of its resistance die code.