The Differences:
Giving and Taking Damage. The biggest change is the way physical damage is dealt with. The Damage DC assumes a base DC15 plus the Power Level of the attack in question. There is no rolling of dice to determine how much damage is done. Damage is what damage is and does not fluctuate upon the rolling of the dice (in most cases). The attacker only needs to make his attack and that is all.
It is up to the defender on how bad the damage is. Much like the other Saving Throws like Fortitude, Reflex, and Will, resistance to damage is reflected in the Damage Save. The Damage Save is made up of Constitution modifiers, Feats, and Powers. This Base plus the defender's D20 die roll will determine the result of being hit against the DC of the damage. If the defender meets or beats the DC, they manage to shrug off the damage. The severity by which your character fails a Save determines how bad the character is hit:
· Fail by 5 or less, your character takes a Hit,
· Fail by more than 5, your character is Stunned for 1 round,
· Fail by more than 10 and your character is unconscious/disabled.
Regardless of the level of failure, every hit your character doesn't shrug off causes them "damage". How this works is that every failed Damage Save results in the character's Damage Save being less effective each time, implying a cumulative --1 penalty to each future Damage Save. You may have managed to stay in the fight, suffering only a Hit or a Stun, but sooner or later with the penalties applied to your Damage Save, you will fail by more than 10 and be knocked unconscious or disabled.
So unifying everything, every kind of attack requires a Save of some kind, whether it be a Will, Fortitude, Reflex, or even a Damage Save.
