Aberrant RPG - Superheavy armor?

[Loki]

So for this extra, it sas that armor provides an additional 4 soak. Is this a lump sum added to the total value of ALL dots in armor, or does it replace the current value of armor (3) with 4 per dot. thx for your help

[Jesse Custer]

I would go with what the text says: It provides 4 extra soak.

[Courier]

Lump sum. That extra is already extremely good right there because of the diff to be hit.

[Dave ST]

I've never actually been able to figure out exactly what they meant with the description of 'Super Heavy' either. This is how I have interpreted it and have used it. I hope it helps.

Normally, 'Armor' provides an additional +3L/+3B to your soak total per dot in the power, so 'Armor 5' would grant you an additional +15L/+15B to your soak score while the power is active (I know it's permanent, but it may still be shut off if the player wishes).

Using the same five dots, if the extra 'Super Heavy' was added to the power each dot would instead provide an additional +4L/+4B to your soak score as well as increasing the difficulty to 'hit' the PC by one per dot they possessed in the 'Armor' power.

So using the five dot example, the player would have an additional +20L/+20B (instead of the usual +15L/+15B) added to their soak score and all attacks against them would be at an additional +5 difficulty (added to any other penalties, like wounds).

To simplify, +3L/+3B per dot becomes +4L/+4B per dot, tally per normal Armor rules.

Hope that helps.

[Evan-Happy Scientist]

It says "provides four extra soak", while the base description for Armor says "recieves +3 soak". I take that to mean the +4 extra soak is a lump sum gain, and not per level of armor (as an add, or replacement). Besides, the extra difficulty to hit is the real bonus of the extra, not the soak anyway.

[Jesse Custer]

Originally Posted By: Dave OOC

Normally, 'Armor' provides an additional +3L/+3B to your soak total per dot in the power, so 'Armor 5' would grant you an additional +15L/+15B to your soak score while the power is active (I know it's permanent, but it may still be shut off if the player wishes).

You obviously have the first part correct. But then you imagine the "per dot" words are included within the description for Superheavy Armor - they aren't.

[Dave ST]

The text reads:

"For each dot of Armor, the character may add three to soak bashing and lethal damage."

Super Heavy reads:

"the nova's Armor provides four extra soak against bashing/lethal attacks"

This is how I choose to interpret it when Super Heavy is applied:

"For each dot, the nova’s Armor now provides four to soak bashing and lethal damage, <add other effects>."

Considering the amount of guessing I've had to do with a majority of the Aberrant rules thanks to WW not knowing how to write clearly this makes sense to me, hence why I placed: "This is how I have interpreted it and have used it." Either way when the power is mastered we're talking about a difference of 1L/1B in favor of my way of doing it. So really, does it matter?

[Jesse Custer]

Originally Posted By: Dave OOC

The text reads:

"For each dot of Armor, the character may add three to soak bashing and lethal damage."

Super Heavy reads:

"the nova's Armor provides four extra soak against bashing/lethal attacks"

Right, and you don't see (under Super Heavy) "for each dot of Armor" in the description...

Originally Posted By: Dave OOC

So really, does it matter?

Not to you anyway. I was just making sure the original poster understood why your interpretation was wrong.

[Erin 'Stellar' Donovan]

Regardless, if you play it so it replaces the +3 with a +4, it means, at most, 1 extra soak over the lump sum +4 (if you have Armour 5), and at worst 3 less than the lump sum +4 (if you have Armour 1).

So replacing the +3 with +4 is better if you have Armour 5, but worse if you have Armour 1-3.

So to me it is a matter of flavor for your game.

[Jesse Custer]

Originally Posted By: Erin 'Stellar' Donovan

So replacing the +3 with +4 is better if you have Armour 5, but worse if you have Armour 1-3.

So to me it is a matter of flavor for your game.

Yup. I would find it surprising to find any player take this version of the extra, before they had Armour 4 or 5.

[Ravenshire]

To me, Super Heavy still has more to do with the increased difficulty to hit than the soak bonus. Soaks not going to matter so much if the enemy can't even hit you.

[Dave ST]

Originally Posted By: Ravenshire

To me, Super Heavy still has more to do with the increased difficulty to hit than the soak bonus. Soaks not going to matter so much if the enemy can't even hit you.

Most times, that's the only reason the extra is added, most players I've gamed with really never care to much about the bonus (or lack there of) soak. Dropping possible attack successes however, that has merit.

Quote:

Not to you anyway. I was just making sure the original poster understood why your interpretation was wrong.

You don't suppose the part where I said "This is how I choose to interpret it." Wasn't clear enough? I kinda had it in there twice, it was pretty clear.

Sounds more like you just needed to stroke your ego by attempting to prove someone wrong.

[Jesse Custer]

Originally Posted By: Dave OOC

Originally Posted By: Ravenshire

Not to you anyway. I was just making sure the original poster understood why your interpretation was wrong.

You don't suppose the part where I said "This is how I choose to interpret it." Wasn't clear enough? I kinda had it in there twice, it was pretty clear.

"An interpretation" and "an incorrect interpretation" are not equal.

Originally Posted By: Dave OOC

Dropping possible attack successes however, that has merit.

When the difficulty of an attack is two higher, say, and the attacker has three successes - how many get added to the damage roll?

[Fikealox]

No extra dice of damage, according to my understanding. (Assuming you mean three successes before applying the increased difficulty... if that makes sense).

And yeah, I have to agree. I'd generally prefer additional difficulty to hit me than bonus soak. Sure, it can be argued that increased difficulty to hit, if the attacker still succeeds, only results in reduced damage _dice_ as opposed to soak's reduced damage _successes_; but the real payoff is if they miss altogether...

That last paragraph is probably stating the obvious for most people, but I sorta inferred a subtext in the previous post. (A subtext which may not have been intended).

[Erin 'Stellar' Donovan]

I didn't mention anything about the difficulty to hit because that does not change regardless of how you read the soak bonus. Heh.

[Jesse Custer]

Originally Posted By: Erin 'Stellar' Donovan

I didn't mention anything about the difficulty to hit because that does not change regardless of how you read the soak bonus. Heh.

I don't think anyone questioned that.