(TFT) Garage Band: Inna Gadda Ty Bearda

[Prophesor <prophesor@yahoo.com>]

It seems to me that if you want a weapon that ignores armor,
then you need a system, and once you have a system, you can have
as many weapons/spells/critterpowers as you want.

I propose a method whereby an attack may be given a
'penetration' factor, in addition to the damage factor that
attacks already have.  

When an attack hits, multiply the damage by the PEN (mightier
than the sword...), subtract for armor, then take the remainder
and divide by the PEN.  OK, so far, all we've said is that armor
effect is divided by the PEN, so a PEN of 3 means armor is 1/3
effect.  But I'm not done.  Now divide the damage by PEN, again.
 This models the idea that going through better (PEN) means
doing less work (damage) as you pass, and applies as well to the
tender inside as it does to the crunchy outside.

So far so good.  To recap so far: DAM times PEN, subtract Armor.
 Now divide the remaining DAM by PEN, and then divide by PEN
again.

One more wrinkle, if you want it:  The blow-through check.  If
the damage divides without remainder, multiply it again.  This
reflects that sometimes a slug finds a bone, or tumbles, or
otherwise gets lucky, and stops inside the target, obviously
therefore doing no less damage due to PEN.  Against multi-hex
figures, if another hex of the figure lies behind the hex which
was targeted, the slug stops in the target on a remainder of one
or zero.  If two hexes, remainders of 2 or 1 or 0, etc.  (ETC?! 
What are you shooting?  Elephants?  Indri?  Goo?!)  You might
also let a high-talent character increase the remainders that
mean full damage, on the theory that careful targeting helps.

Heck, if it blows through, TFT practically requires that you
follow the bouncing ball, so to speak, rolling to miss figures
on a line that should probably be random, but weighted toward
the original path of the slug.

With such a mechanic (or set of mechanics - it's a garage!),
weapons do not need to be given overwhelming damage to represent
their power, and the relative damage/penetration 'feel' of a
shotgun (PEN 1), say, versus a pistol (PEN 2) versus a rifle
(PEN 3) may be modeled.  A firey spell might have reduced
penetration, while a lighting bolt might have great penetration,
but relatively less damage.

I'm guessing an early pistol might have PEN 2, DAM 2d.  Plate (6
points usually?  My books are upstairs...) will take off three
effective.  Here, I'll chart it:

DAM  *PEN -armor  Effect  Blowthrough?
2     4      0
3     6      0
4     8      2    .5(1)      Yes
5     10     4      1        No, DAM 2
6     12     6    1.5(2)     Yes
7     14     8      2        No, DAM 4
8     16    10    2.5(3)     Yes
9     18    12      3        No, DAM 6
10    20    14    3.5(4)     Yes
11    22    16      4        No, DAM 8
12    24    18    4.5(5)     Yes

OK, maybe it's not perfect, but it's 1:30, cut me some slack.



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