Thought of the day ~ New MDC Rule

Dead Boy · Unread post by **Dead Boy** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 4:20 pm

From a great many here, I read post after post of how horrible the MDC system is, mainly because it's too powerful when applied to SDC beings. It seems to me that the root problem people have with Mega Damage is how it does 100 SDC for every point of MD you take, (or somewhere in the 1-199 SDC range, depending on how you do it at your table). But on the other hand there are those like myself who really like the Mega Damage system and find it to work it quite well. Well, though others have attempted to resolve this minor feud, I think I might have the best answer on this and the most agreeable middle ground for all parties.

As we all know, 1 pt. of MD does about 100 SDC to anything it hits, be it a person, car, tank or what have you. Others have played with this ratio to nerf things a bit, but all that does is diminish the value of the Mega Damage system, so I don't intend on messing with that at all. However, there is another category that tracks damage that everyone has seemed to have overlooked ~ Hit Points. Instead of toying with the MDC:SDC ration, why not the MDC:HP ratio? What I'm proposing is this; after a person's SDC has been depleted as normal using a strict 100 SDC for every 1 MD done, (no more of that "about" crap), Mega Damage weapons inflict 3 pts in Hit Point damage for every 1 MD in the attack. Verses normal SDC attacks HP would still function as normal with a 1:1 ratio. And in addition to that, as per the normal rules, a character isn't dead till he has reached the negative value of his PE attribute in HP.

The benefits of doing it this way are several fold:

This preserves the potency of MD weapons, making them far superior to SDC ones, in addition to continuing on with the traditional rule of how MDC constructs are immune to SDC attacks (barring massive SDC explosions).
Going with the 3:1 HP to MD ratio, this allows characters to take a moderate beating, but Mega Damage weapons are still very dangerous. But not so dangerous that a player has to start rolling up a character every time his MDC protection is breached.
A character with 30 HP and a PE of 11 can survive an attack that goes over his armor by 10 points, and isn't dead unless it goes over by 14 pts.
Hit Points grow with experience. That meas Levels count more than ever in this regard. With every new level most characters get +1D6 to their HP. With an average roll of 3.5 on that die, that translates into being able to survive +1 MD more in damage every additional level.

That's it in a nutshell. Thoughts, comments, accolades?

Athos · Unread post by **Athos** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 4:32 pm

I would have to go with the current MDC rules the way they are in Rifts. I could maybe see changing the proportion from 100-1 to 20-1, but never 3-1. I would leave the rules the way they are now... they work pretty well. If you want more powerful characters, play more powerful characters, but don't make even the lowliest character uber powerful. It is ok to like munchkin. Play that godling with pride. Just don't try to make my CS M.S. into an uber being, he is only a lowly human in the world of rifts. If I want a borg, I will play a borg.

Killer Cyborg · Fri Sep 24, 2004 5:21 pm

Lunarix wrote:If It was me on that circumstance I would go With 5:1 or even 10:1 instead of 3:1. That way you you could survive a blast but.... they are still highly dangerous.

Mostly I still like the fact that you can be utterly blown to fine red mist without the proper protection.

Pretty much covers my view.

Dead Boy · Unread post by **Dead Boy** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 6:09 pm

Lunarix wrote:If It was me on that circumstance I would go With 5:1 or even 10:1 instead of 3:1. That way you you could survive a blast but.... they are still highly dangerous.

Mostly I still like the fact that you can be utterly blown to fine red mist without the proper protection.

But you still can. Remember, the 3:1 ratio would only appy to your HP and nothing else. That means you mightbe able to survive a breach of your armor, but still have a fighting chance. Also note that most charactes will have far less HP than any other defense, and with less points to go around, the character has that much less save his life. If you want to kill someone after their armor is gone, all you have to do is make coup de grace and make but a single extra attack on a guy that is surely already gravely wounded, if not unconscious in a coma for being at negative HP.

And though I toyed with a 5:1 ratio, I went with 3:1 because the former wasn't enough to really give the character a chance to survive the last shot of his armor. But 3:1 is just enough to do the job without being too generous. The only problem I can see ariseing with the intent of this rule is with the Juicer OCCs where they can have hundreds, if not thousands of HP. Like the heading says, this is just a thought... nothing more.

Killer Cyborg · Fri Sep 24, 2004 6:37 pm

Dead Boy wrote:And though I toyed with a 5:1 ratio, I went with 3:1 because the former wasn't enough to really give the character a chance to survive the last shot of his armor. But 3:1 is just enough to do the job without being too generous. The only problem I can see ariseing with the intent of this rule is with the Juicer OCCs where they can have hundreds, if not thousands of HP. Like the heading says, this is just a thought... nothing more.

Here's my reasoning for agreeing with the 5:1 ratio over 3:1.

In Rifts now, a Vagabond (unarmored, of course) shot by a Wilk's 320 is dead. Very dead. Even if a 1 is rolled.

With a 3:1 ratio, same scenario:
Roll of 1-2, the Vagabond lives without much problem. Sure, his SDC are all gone and he's in pain, but that's only 3-6 HP of damage
Roll of 3-4, the Vagabond is wounded prett bad, but is still probably on his feet.
Roll of 5-6, the Vagabond is probably down, but isn't going to be dead... only in a coma.

The 5:1 ration means that a MD laser pistol is likely to kill most normal, low-level humans in a single shot. High level characters, or characters with a high PE will likely survive a single shot, but the weapon will also pose a decent threat to Juicers/Crazies.

Dead Boy · Unread post by **Dead Boy** » Fri Sep 24, 2004 6:58 pm

I was thinking in terms of surviving damage in the 2D6 MD range, but I see your point with the 5:1. Clearly more research is needed to find the optimum numbers.

Dead Boy · Unread post by **Dead Boy** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 4:21 am

Zylo wrote:A question I would have for Deadboy would be how does the MD transfer for verying amounts of SDC? So 20 SDC would take 1 MD just as well as 99 SDC before applying it to HP? I could see issues with that. Other than that little quirk, I think it would be worth trying.

There is no change there. The idea is to only modify how MD interacts with Hit Points and only Hit Points, thus keeping the good parts of the Mega Damage System while making it more survivalable for characters. However, I strongly recomend that it be played that 1 pt of MD does exactly 100 SDC, that way if something or someone has 101-199 SDC it will only take out 100 of it and not all.