I've never been overly fond of the mega-damage rules used in many, but not all, of Palladium's games. Upon reading the new second edition of the Heroes Unlimited(TM) game, I've come up with an alternative that I like a lot better. Of course, at the time I'm writing this I have only had a few gaming sessions where we have play tested this modification, but so far it is going very well.
These modifications are based upon the Heroes Unlimited(TM) concept of there being different levels, or categories, of physical strength. Depending on the source of a character's powers and/or what mutations he has, his strength categorized as "normal", "extraordinary", "superhuman", or "supernatural".
Powers that provide physical defenses make use of these categories. Depending on the type of protection the character has, and the category of damage, attacks may do no damage, full damage, or something in between. For example, a character with Alter Physical Structure: Metal will not take damage from normal strength enemies, regardless of whether the strike roll is over or under his armor rating. On the other hand, enemies with extraordinary or superhuman strength will do no damage if the strike roll was under the AR but full damage if over the AR, and characters with supernatural strength will do half even if the strike roll is under the AR and full if it is over the AR. The book then goes on to say that normal bullets do no damage, melee weapons do no damage unless wielded by someone of better-than-normal strength, fire does damage only if the strike roll is over the AR, etc. It gets pretty confusing to keep track of which attacks do what damage in relation to the AR number.
By extending the four strength categories to other weapons and attacks, and assigning each type of weapon an appropriate category, it becomes pretty straight forward to keep track of things. For example, I say a normal person throwing a stone does "normal" damage, bows do "extraordinary" damage, bullets do "superhuman" damage, and lasers and other science-fiction energy weapons do "supernatural" damage. The term supernatural in this context is just a label to equate it in power to Supernatural Strength, and not to mean the attack has a magical source. After making this generalization of damage power by type of weapon, I just modified my character sheets so that in addition to the AR number there is a simple 2x4 table that shows what damage the character will take from Normal/Extraordinary/Superhuman/Supernatural attacks that are either over or under the AR.
One nice side effect of this is that you can replace the standard Palladium mega-damage rules with standard SDC rules without having to worry about normal people being able to damage 50' mecha with a punch. :) The mecha just takes no damage from attacks in the "normal" category.
All attacks falls into one of the following damage categories.
| Category | Melee Weapons | Projectile Weapons | Energy Weapons | Explosives |
| Normal (N) | normal PS punch | normal PS thrown weapon, sling shot, ice balls | light electric shock | none |
| Extraordinary (E) | normal PS with melee weapon,partial bionic PS punch | partial bionic PS thrown weapon, bows, shotgun buckshot, water bolt | medium electric shock, normal fire | light falls and impacts, gale-force winds |
| Superhuman (SH) | partial bionic PS with melee weapon, full conversion bionic or robotic PS punch | full bionic or robotic PS thrown weapon, crossbow, normal bullets, shotgun slug, ice shards, telekinetic thrown objects | large electric shock, mini lightning bolts, electrical fields, non-magical heat, walls of fire and huge bonfires | medium impacts and falls, hurricane-force winds |
| Supernatural (SN) | full bionic or robotic PS with melee weapon, supernatural PS punch or with weapon | supernatural PS thrown weapon, explosive or armor piercing bullets, rail guns | laser, ion, plasma, fire and lightning bolts, particle accelerator weapons, any magical energy | heavy falls and impacts, grenades, missiles |
Note that magical weapons will generally count as being one or more categories higher, depending on their potency, so a normal strength person with a magic sword will do at least Superhuman damage instead of just Extraordinary. Powerful items like rune weapons will ALWAYS do supernatural damage regardless of the user's strength category.
Characters with normal strength just add their standard PS damage bonus to melee attacks. If the PS is between 3 and 15, the character can carry 10 lbs times their strength, while PS of 17 or higher indicates the character can carry 20 lbs times their strength.
Characters with extraordinary strength do 1d6 damage (replace the standard 1d4 punch and add to any kick or weapon damage, as per the damage bonus from supernatural strength), and add the standard PS damage bonus. They can also penetrate armor better since it counts as an extraordinary attack, and they can carry 100 lbs times their strength. It also provides a Natural AR as shown in the table below. Characters with bionic limbs or partial conversion count as having extraordinary strength.
| PS Score | 3-6 | 7-12 | 13-20 | 21-30 | 31-42 | 43-56 | 57+ |
| Armor Rating | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
Superhuman strength provides a special damage bonus similar to but less than the damage bonus from supernatural strength. A PS of 3-20 does 1d6, PS of 21-30 does 2d6, 31-40 does 3d6 and 41+ does 4d6 damage. This special damage is used in place of the standard 1d4 punch and is added to any kick or weapon damages. The standard PS bonus for strengths over 15 also is added. These characters can carry 200 lbs times their PS, and fatigue at 1/2 the rate. Superhuman strength also provides a Natural AR as shown below. Characters with full bionic conversion have superhuman strength.
| PS Score | 3-6 | 7-12 | 13-20 | 21-30 | 31-42 | 43-56 | 57+ |
| Armor Rating | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
Supernatural strengths do much greater damage in melee, and still add the standard PS bonus as well. Use the chart in the Heroes Unlimited(TM) book. The supernatural damage dice are used in place of the standard 1d4 punch, or added to any kick or melee attacks. Characters with supernatural PS can carry 300 lbs times their strength, and fatigue at 1/10th the rate. Supernatural PS also provides a Natural AR, as shown below.
| PS Score | 3-6 | 7-12 | 13-20 | 21-30 | 31-42 | 43-56 | 57+ |
| Armor Rating | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
When converting weapon damages from MDC systems, I generally will take the listed mega-damage and double it, so a laser weapon that does 3d6 MDC will do 6d6 SDC and count as supernatural (SN) damage. One exception is that weapons which do 1d6 MDC will instead do 3d6 SDC, just to keep a reasonable effectiveness.
In my Rifts® game, armors like the Huntman, Urban Warrior and Juicer armor will have an AR of 17 because they have a larger portion of the body protected only by "soft" material. The Crusader, Gladiator and Composite armors have an AR of 18 due to better coverage. Most armors used by Triax are AR 19 because they have excellent coverage. Look at the pictures and I think you'll agree.
Please note that the AR is NOT dependent on the type or material of armor - a full suit of ancient chain mail will have a better AR than modern bullet-proof vests because the full suit covers more of the body. That does not mean it can protect against damage as well, however. The full suit of chain mail will provide decent protection to the whole body against melee weapons and similar attacks, but little protection against a musket or even a crossbow. The bullet-proof vest will provide much better protection against bullets and crossbows, but only if the attack hits the torso (hence the lower AR).
Generally, attacks under or equal to the AR will damage the armor and not the wearer, while attacks over the AR will do damage to the wearer but not the armor. There are exceptions, however. Powerful attacks (superhuman or supernatural) can penetrate low-tech armor, doing damage to BOTH the armor and the wearer. This is why guns made plate mail obsolete - bullets are superhuman attacks and could do damage through the armor even when the strike roll is under the AR. On the other extreme, armor in science fiction settings (ie, MDC armor) which have full environmental seals don't have any areas where they do not provide significant protection so attacks that exceed the AR are just hitting a "weaker" spot (the softer materials in the armor descriptions, maybe at a joint or articulation point) and the armor still takes half the damage and only half the damage gets through to the wearer.
Every armor will have an SDC rating to show how much damage it can take when the strike is below the AR. For armor that is being converted from an MDC setting, just double the listed MDC to determine the SDC of the armor. However, armors made from tougher materials will also not lose SDC from weak attacks even when the strike roll is under the AR. A normal punch will not hurt plate mail, and a sword won't hurt Triax environmental armor. This maitains one of the key benefits of the mega-damage system.
Consult the table below to see what damage will be done to the armor and/or the wearer based upon the strike roll and damage category. If the table looks like it might be too complex to be playable, remember that in any given setting you will generally only be referring to one or two rows of the table since hi-tech armor won't be in the Palladium Fantasy RPG(TM) and anyone wearing medieval chain mail in Rifts® is toast.
| Type of Armor | Description | Strike Roll vs. A.R. | Effect on Armor and Wearer |
| Medieval, Light | cloth, padded, or leather | LTE AR | armor takes no damage from N and full damage from E/SH/SN attacks wearer takes no damage from N, x1/4 from EN, and full from SH/SN |
| GT AR | armor takes no damage wearer takes full damage from N/E/SH/SN |
||
| Medieval, Heavy | chain, scale, splint, and plate armors | LTE AR | armor takes no damage from N, x1/2 from E, and full damage from SH/SN attacks wearer takes no damage from N/E, x1/2 damage from SH, and full from SN |
| GT AR | armor takes no damage wearer takes full damage from N/EN/SH/SN |
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| Modern | composites of kevlar and plate | LTE AR | armor takes no damage from N, x1/2 from E, full from SH/SN wearer takes no damage from N/E, x1/4 from SH, and x1/2 from SN |
| GT AR | armor takes no damage wearer takes full damage from N/E/SH/SN |
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| Hi-Tech, Non-Environmental | various types, ranging from composites through plastics, does NOT include full environmental seals | LTE AR | armor takes no damage from N/E, x1/2 from SH, full from SN wearer takes no damage from N/E/SH/SN |
| GT AR | armor takes no damage from N/E/SH/SN wearer takes full damage from N/EN/SH/SN |
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| Hi-Tech, Environmental | various types, ranging from composites through plastics, includes full environmental seals | LTE AR | armor takes no damage from N/E, x1/2 from SH, full from SN wearer takes no damage from N/E/SH/SN |
| GT AR | armor takes no damage from N/E, x1/4 from SH, x1/2 from SN wearer takes x1/2 damage from N/E/SH/SN |
Magical medieval armor counts as either Modern Body Armor or Science Fiction Body Armor, depending on the degree of enchantment, and probably has more SDC and/or a slightly higher AR.
If wearing environmental armor but without having sealed the armor (say, if you aren't wearing the helmet), then reduce its AR by 2 and use the non-environmental category for determining how much damage the armor and wearer takes.
Large impact damage, from grenades, explosions and high speed impacts will ALWAYS count as if they had exceeded the AR of the armor! This makes grenades a real threat even in environmental armor since it means the wearer will take at least 1/2 damage. I think this is realistic without being too deadly, and provides a much better flavor than the standard MDC rules where the character is unaffected by major attacks until his armor reaches 0 and then is killed by any one MD attack. Even if you are in high-tech armor you will be bruised and battered if an explosion goes off next to you.
This page is copyright © 1998 by Jim Stoner
Last Modified August 31, 1998