X-Com: Gray Dawn Damage Application

Damage Application

The primary, instantaneous effect of taking any damage in combat results in the target having to make a Stun save. Each time a target suffers any damage, they must make a d10 roll vs. the their body stat. If the roll is equal to or less than the stat number, the stun save is made. Increasing levels of damage and some perks will add penalties or bonuses to the stun save roll. If a stun save is failed, pain and shock have taken the target out of combat temporarily; every round when their initiative comes up, they can make a stun save roll. They are out of action until they succeed.

If a target takes enough damage to put them in mortal condition (more than 12 points on the wound track), that wound (and every subsequent injury) will require they make a death save in addition to the stun save. Death saves are made in the same way as stun saves, but failing a death save means the target is out of combat, unconscious and bleeding out. The target will die at the end of the turn (after 10 combat rounds) unless a medic with the doctor skill stabilizes them. Targets who suffer a crippling limb injury will need to make a death save, even if they are not in mortal condition (see "crippling damage," below).

Hit Location Damage Multipliers

In CP2020 combat can be pretty instantaneously deadly, which is often very much in-line with reality. However, in CP2020, highly effective armor (that covers all areas of the body) is rather ubiquitous. To prevent half the players from creating new characters after every battle (or littering the game world with retired PC amputees), damage to limbs is halved (rounding down, minimum of 1 point), before the BTM is subtracted. An 8-point hit to a limb against a target with BTM -2 would cause 2 hits (8/2=4; 4-2=2 hits). Damage from AP rounds is not halved again.

Alternate Hit Location Models

The method to determine hit location in CP2020 is done by rolling a d10. A roll of 1 is the head, 2-4 torso, 5 left arm, 6 right arm, 7-8 left leg and 9-10 right leg. As one can see, this heavily favors hits to the legs (40% chance to hit). On a purely random distribution based on surface area, this may make sense. However, most shots (even poorly aimed snap shots) will generally be aimed a bit higher so that on the bell curve of where bullets land, the lower legs and feet should be struck far less often.

Depending on player/Ref preference, I have a couple hit location models to substitute. The first uses a d8 instead of a d10 (or re-roll locations of 9 & 10 on a d10) with the standard CP2020 hit location table. This increases the chance for a head shot slightly, and the torso a bit more (12.5% vs. 10% chance of a head shot and 37.5%/30% for a hit to the torso). It also reduces the chances for a hit to the legs from 40% to 25%.

A second option is using a d10 table, but with modified locations. 1=head; 2, 3, 4=torso; 5=left arm; 6=right arm; 7=lower abdomen (torso); 8=groin/upper thigh (leg hit, roll randomly for left/right), 9=left leg; 10=right leg. This system heavily favors shots to the torso (40% vs. 30%) and reduces leg hits (30% vs. 40%).

Because cover usually protects the legs, it is recommended that the original hit location table be used for a target behind cover, to maximize the effectiveness of cover, and also because a target behind cover is likely to be crouching, where the legs would fall more into the "center of mass" target area.

Aimed shots at a body location can be taken at a -4 penalty to the attack roll. This requires the shooter to adopt a bracing stance. Alternately, a combatant may opt for a "center of mass" aimed shot. This does not require a bracing stance. It incurs only a -2 penalty to the attack roll, but if the shot hits, roll a d6 for hit location. This targeting mode greatly increases the odds of both a head shot or a torso hit (and if the target is behind cover, may negate some of that protection).

Damage Types

Minor Wounds

Any injury that results in only a single point of damage is considered a minor wound. These marks on the wound track should be made differently than other wounds, perhaps with a reversed hash mark or single hash instead of an "X" in the boxes of the wound track). These are generally dings, bruises, scrapes and minor cuts. Some perks deal with these wounds differently, and 1-point wounds will heal much faster; so long as the character is not in "mortal" condition, up to four 1-point wounds will be "healed" within approximately one day of game time. The injuries may still be there, but they will cease to hinder the character.

Stun Damage

Some weapons/attacks will deal Stun Damage. This type of injury represents pain, soreness or some other kind of incapacitating force that does not leave lasting physical trauma to the victim. Blunt force trauma from things like clubs and most unarmed attacks is half real/half stun (round in favor of stun damage). Stun damage represents pain, soreness and shock. It will affect the character for the purpose of making stun and death saves, but stun damage heals quickly, at a rate of 1 point/hour. If a character fails a stun save from stun damage, they lose their current/next action, just as from receiving a normal wound. A character failing a death save from stun damage is knocked unconscious, and has a chance to recover (by making another death save) once every minute.

Crippling Damage

If a limb sustains 8 points of damage (after BTM) in a single attack, it is considered crippled (or blown off/severed, depending on the type of attack), but only a maximum of 8 points will be applied to the wound track. If a limb is crippled this way, the target must make a death save to avoid succumbing to blood loss/shock even if they are not in mortal condition (i.e., if an uninjured character gets his arm blown off, he must make a death save at -0, even though he only has 8 points on the wound track (a serious wound state). A crippled limb will require stabilization (skill roll target 15), but this can be accomplished with the first aid skill and does not require the doctor skill. If the wound is not stabilized, death saves will need to be made every turn (10 combat rounds, or approximately 30 seconds) until it is. Subsequent wounds to limbs that have been crippled to not add to the wound track; the limb is already damaged to the point that further shock and trauma will not worsen the target's overall condition, however subsequent crippling wounds may require a check to see if the limb is blown off or severed.

Damage to the head is doubled on the wound track (a 2-point wound to the head would result in 4 points on the wound track). Doubling occurs after BTM is subtracted. If the head sustains 8 or more points of damage in a single attack and is crippled, this is considered an instantaneously fatal wound. The target fails a death save, and will expire without stabilization. Damage to the head does not top out at 8 points on the wound track as with limb hits, and subsequent damage to a crippled head does apply to the wound track.

To determine the extent of crippling damage, the victim must make a stat roll. Use the victim's Body+Luck+1d10 vs. the post-BTM damage to the limb/head. If this check is failed, the limb/head is considered severed/destroyed. If this check succeeds, the limb/head is still crippled and unusable, but the nature of the damage is less; a limb will have one or more broken bones that will eventually need to be set and immobilized. A crippled head may result in a cracked skull, broken jaw, damaged eyes/ears, etc. A failed death save from a severed arm or leg will result in the victim dying through shock or blood loss unless stabilized within one turn (10 combat rounds). A victim with a crippled head may be stabilized and revived; a severed or "destroyed" head will, of course, result in instantaneous, unpreventable death.

Stun damage wounds that cause more than 8 points of damage in a single attack might (at the Ref's discretion) have certain special effects such as torn/pulled muscles, sprained joints, concussion, extended stun time, unconsciousness or temporary blindness/deafness.

The torso cannot be crippled in the same manner as the extremities, but wounds to the torso do not top out at 8 points on the wound track; if you suffer a 20-point chest wound, you tick off 20 boxes on the wound track (which would put the target well into mortal condition).

Explosion Damage

Damage from weapons such as grenades is considered Explosion damage. Almost any weapon that has an area of effect (AoE) is considered to inflict this kind of damage. Since an explosion can easily engulf the victim's entire body, armor may not fully protect the target. Damage from an explosion is applied to the target's torso armor, but even if this is enough to stop the attack, unprotected body parts will allow wounds to be inflicted. Each extremity (head/arms/legs) that is protected by at least 8 SP of armor (or level/2+ cover) will increase the target's torso armor SP by 1. Each unprotected limb (<8 SP) will cause two points of damage (four for the head) to the wound track, even if the torso armor stops the blast damage. Example, a standard frag grenade would cause (rounding down) an average of 24 damage. If the target is wearing only an SP 14 vest, 14 points of damage would be stopped, resulting in a 10-point wound. Because no other body locations were covered, another 12-point wound would be incurred. BTM would apply to each wound separately. In the previous example, if the target was also wearing an SP 20 helmet, the secondary wound would only be 8 points instead of 12, and the main blast would only cause 9 damage because the effective SP of the armor was increased by one (one extremity was protected). If the target was also behind cover that protected the legs, the damage would be further reduced to 7 from the main blast (SP 14+3 extremities covered=SP 17), and an additional 4-point wound (2 points each for the exposed arms). If the target was wearing SP 14 full body armor with a helmet, the resulting damage would be a 5-point wound from the main blast (SP 14+5 extremities covered=SP 19), and no secondary wounds for uncovered locations.