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<blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8307825" data-attributes="member: 70468">Shock damage comes from Stars Without Number, which describes it as the danger melee weapons pose to ill-armored opponents. From what I’ve read, Kevin Crawford feels the common approach (of missing frequently) isn’t representative of melee fights. Shock damage is meant to represent the harm you receive in melee even if you don’t take a direct blow. For example, getting swarmed is nasty because the crowd will deal its shock damage regardless of the target’s AC.Another thing to keep in mind is that shock is your minimum damage. You deal it on a hit or a miss provided the target’s defenses are below the threshold (or you are making a swarm attack). If you are wielding a long sword (2/AC 13 shock damage) and roll a 1 on 1d8+1, then you deal 3 damage to any target with AC 13 or less. If you get into melee with something, it’s going to mess you up. That’s the advantage of ranged weapons. They help prevent you from taking damage unnecessarily.Regarding system strain, I agree in concept, but we haven’t had it come up yet (because our second session is this Saturday, and our first was abbreviated and very hard on the ghouls involved). Once we’ve gotten some experience with it, I’ll report back. I should also note that system strain serves as a check while exploring. If you push yourself too hard and take system strain from a negative effect (like trying to sleep outside without adequate heating or enough food), then it’s potentially lethal. If the party pushes too hard, they could end up vulnerable to the elements if they are not careful with their supplies.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kenada, post: 8307825, member: 70468"] Shock damage comes from Stars Without Number, which describes it as the danger melee weapons pose to ill-armored opponents. From what I’ve read, Kevin Crawford feels the common approach (of missing frequently) isn’t representative of melee fights. Shock damage is meant to represent the harm you receive in melee even if you don’t take a direct blow. For example, getting swarmed is nasty because the crowd will deal its shock damage regardless of the target’s AC. Another thing to keep in mind is that shock is your [I]minimum[/I] damage. You deal it on a hit or a miss provided the target’s defenses are below the threshold (or you are making a swarm attack). If you are wielding a long sword (2/AC 13 shock damage) and roll a 1 on 1d8+1, then you deal 3 damage to any target with AC 13 or less. If you get into melee with something, it’s going to mess you up. That’s the advantage of ranged weapons. They help prevent you from taking damage unnecessarily. Regarding system strain, I agree in concept, but we haven’t had it come up yet (because our second session is this Saturday, and our first was abbreviated and very hard on the ghouls involved). Once we’ve gotten some experience with it, I’ll report back. I should also note that system strain serves as a check while exploring. If you push yourself too hard and take system strain from a negative effect (like trying to sleep outside without adequate heating or enough food), then it’s potentially lethal. If the party pushes too hard, they could end up vulnerable to the elements if they are not careful with their supplies. [/QUOTE]

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