LA Under Shadow

[The Shadow]

I think I have it. Can you give an example?

OK. Using the sheet above, Carlos throws a punch at Alex (perhaps they're sparring again). Carlos' Attack is +5, Alex's Defense is 20, and he's wearing a bulletproof vest (+5 to Damage save, more or less - I don't want to make this too complicated).

Carlos rolls d20 + 5 against a DC of 20. In other words, he has to roll 15 or better to hit Alex.

Assuming he hits, Alex is forced to make a Damage save. He rolls d20 + 2 (his Damage save) + 5 (the vest) against a DC of 15 + 2 (Carlos' Str bonus).

If Alex rolls a 10 or better, he makes his save and takes no real damage.

If Alex rolls a 9 or less, he takes a stun hit - future stun-damage saves will take a -1 penalty.

If Alex rolls a 4 or less, he'll be stunned for a round.

And if Alex managed to roll a -1 (perhaps because he'd taken hits previously), he'd be knocked out immediately. So Carlos cannot do a one-punch KO on Alex unless Alex is already a bit hurt.

The greatest feeling I get is when I read something that really brings to life a character. That view into a life is so amazing. I absolutely love it.

It's a large part of what I game for, too.

Now that sounds like fun. For me at least. Perhaps Alex wouldn't enjoy it.

Not even a little teeny bit. Though it might be a bit of a relief to finally get it out in the open, I suppose. Then again, it would also put his two lives on a direct collision course...

As a thought, how often has the Shaddow lost control?

That depends on what you mean by "losing control". Twice in the campaign so far, he's had to make Will saves against accidentally blasting people around him. So far he's made all the saves. Whether he's lost control in that sense before the campaign started, I'm not sure.

If you mean losing his temper, it happens now and then.

If you mean dropping shields completely and blanketing a large fraction of the US with psionic hurt, never.