I’ve just received my copy of BWG and I’m happily reading through it with plans to run The Sword on the weekend followed by a more long-term campaign kick off in February. I’m a old time gamer (Red Box!) and a complete noob with BW.
I do have a question for you more experienced folks about Wounds and Damage. And I’ll likely have further questions, about various things, in the days and weeks to come.
My first question is in regards to weapons and the damage they cause. As I read the rules, when hitting with a weapon one adds the hit result power (IMS) and the weapons power to determine the damage dealt, for example an I of 2 and a weapon power of 3 = damage of B5. This would then translate to the 5th column of the PTGS chart, whatever level of wound that corresponds to for a particular character.
I also understand that a simple Versus test has more arbitrary damage based on Intent and Task (“I chop off his hand with my axe”), while the above system is used for Bloody Versus and Fight.
Am I understanding this correctly or am I missing something?
Incorrect. Damage works as thus:
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[ul][li]Incidental damage = (Character’s Power + Weapon’s Power) / 2, rounded up
[/li][li]Mark damage = (Character’s Power + Weapon’s Power)
[/li][li]Superb damage = (Character’s Power + Weapon’s Power) * 1.5, rounded down[/ul]
[/li]
A successful hit automatically deals Incidental damage. If the attacker rolled successes over the Ob, he can spend successes to increase the damage dealt, as follows:
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[ul][li]Spend a number of successes equal to the weapon’s Add rating to increase the damage to a Mark hit.
[/li][li]Spend a number of successes equal to double the weapon’s Add rating to increase the damage to a Superb hit.[/ul]
[/li]
The attacker can also spend one success to call the shot to a hit location of the attacker’s choice.
As for your question about simple versus tests, I suppose that would make sense. However, if the other NPC’s Intent is to kill the PC, I’d say you’re better off at least going with Bloody Versus. Having a PC die due to the result of a single versus test might be rather anti-climactic.
I’m still confused about the wounding aspect though. Say I cause B5 damage with my axe, does that mean I mark off the fifth box along the PTGS?
It also seems to me that vs tests to the death in cases involving minor mook NPCs could be valid as well, especially when combined with ambush or stealth.
Correct, you’d compare that to the target’s PTGS to determine the level of wound. For most humans it would be a light wound, while it might be a midi to a weaker person, or a superficial to a tough dwarf.