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Going through the spells of the Book of Magic and the spell Throwing Stones is much too powerful for a level 2 spell - but even so it gives an objective damage. While one can guess and argue about what 1 MD actually is, the spell states that it creates a stone that hits with the force of a canon ball,...
So, my question, for an SDC setting, how much damage does a canon ball do? Is there an official palladium listing for canon balls or the equivalent outside of this spell?

KillWatch wrote:Going through the spells of the Book of Magic and the spell Throwing Stones is much too powerful for a level 2 spell - but even so it gives an objective damage. While one can guess and argue about what 1 MD actually is, the spell states that it creates a stone that hits with the force of a canon ball,...
So, my question, for an SDC setting, how much damage does a canon ball do? Is there an official palladium listing for canon balls or the equivalent outside of this spell?

What we know from published canon sources related to cannons:
a) the thrown stone from this spell does 1d6MD +1MD/lvl which converted RAW (1:100) is a minimum 200-700 SDC of damage
b) Merc Ops pg 125 - the GAW 105 Howitzer (an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon and mortar according to Wikipedia) can use SDC munitions, HE shells being the most deadly at 50-300 SDC of damage, but all the larger howitzers only do substantial MD
c) Rifts SB4 pg 125 - the muzzle-loaded TW Thunderball Cannon (which uses TK instead of powder) does 5d6MD or 500-3000 SDC of damage, by psionics defies physics all the time
d) TMNT Transdimensional pg 68 - the highest rated damage for a black powder rifle (sorry, no cannons in this canon) is 5-30 SDC for the .75 flintlock rifle
e) PF High Seas pg 193 - a stone mechanically fired from a ballista does 5-30 SDC (10lb shot) up to 30-90 SDC (40 to 80lb shot)

What we don't know:
a) the size of shot
b) the quality and quantity of powder
c) the type of cannon
d) whether Palladium writers have stopped using hyperbole when describing things

My two cents on the wording of the spell:
The 10lb Parrott Rifle was a muzzle-loaded cannon that fired 3in solid shot, among other types of ammo. If we were to assume that roughly 4x the caliber meant roughly 4x the damage (I'm too lazy to do real physics here), we could infer from the flintlock that the 10lb shot from the Parrott would do 20-120 SDC . Since an equivalent shot mechanically fired from a ballista would be on the extreme low end of this range, it can be presumed that the additional damage from the Parrott Rifle can be put down to the markedly higher kinetic energy from the powder propellant. However, to get within the proposed damage range of the spell using a cannon, we'd probably be talking about a shot weighing 40lbs+ with substantially more powder. I'm thinking something along the lines of a 8in Rodman gun that used a 65lb shot with a 10lb charge. In order for a baseball sized rock to have the same force as an 8in cannonball, the spell must impart some serious velocity.

Or it could have just sounded cool at the time to the writer, as they wanted to give a colorful description of being hit hard with a magically conjured stone...

If anyone has better citations or ideas, please share.

IIRC the ancient weapons book should have early cannons (and muskets) listed. Unfortunately I don't own the PDF and no longer have that book so I can't open it up to verify.

So there is.
The Compendium of Weapons, Armour & Castles pg 221-223
No damage stats, only range stats for the cannons on pg 222

The question also occures to me is what size of a cannon ball are they talking about? a 2 inch CB or a 5 inch CB.
In the real world (during the time they were used) getting hit by one typically has two outcomes....loosing a limb or getting dead.

transdimensional TMNT has rules for old style gunpowder weapons, and has the stats for an american civil war 6pdr canon on pg99. 2d6x10 damage with a 4500ft range.

honestly this seems way too low but it is the only actual statted weapon firing cannon balls.