Wound Factors

Wound Factors

When determining how wounded a character is when hit in combat, take into consideration all of the following factors:

1. The relative degree the attack succeeded by the better the hit, the greater likelihood of damage.

Winning a combat round with a relative degree of +1 means you probably hit where the opponent is most heavily armored. Scoring a hit with a +3 finds a chink in the armor.

2. The strength of the blow. For muscle-powered weapons, such as melee weapons, unarmed attacks, bows, slings, etc., this is determined by the attacker’s Strength attribute: stronger folks tend to hit harder. The relative Scale modifier is also figured in here. For things like guns, beam weapons, etc., it is relative to the nature of the weapon: a .38 usually does more damage than a .22. The technological level of the weapon can be important.

3. The deadliness of the attacker’s weapon. Big weapons tend to do more damage than little weapons; sharp weapons rip tissue more than dull ones, but blunt weapons can cause concussive damage through armor thick enough to stop a sharp weapon. People trained in Karate tend to do more damage than those untrained in any martial art.

4. The defender’s armor. People wearing thicker armor, and more of it, tend to get hurt less than those wearing no armor. Armor can be finely differentiated, or simply said to be Light, Medium, or Heavy armor. Science fiction scenarios will have Extra-Heavy armor, and even further levels. Fantasy campaigns may include magic armor that offers even greater protection, sometimes specific against certain types of damage.

5. The amount of damage the victim can soak up (Robustness, Damage Capacity, or Mass). Big, healthy guys can take more damage before collapsing than little, sickly guys. But it’s your call if it’s a big, sickly fighter against a little, healthy fellow.

Sample Wound Factors List

For those who prefer numerical values, here are some suggested numbers to attach to the factors listed in the previous section. These may be customized to taste, of course, and are only offered as a starting point. If used, they should be written down on the character sheet at character creation (probably with the weapons and armor), so as to be readily available during combat.

Offensive factors:

For Character’s Strength (muscle-powered weapons only):

+3 for Superb Strength +2 for Great Strength +1 for Good Strength +0 for Fair Strength -1 for Mediocre Strength -2 for Poor Strength -3 for Terrible Strength

For Attacker’s Scale:

Plus the attacker’s Strength Scale (see Non-human Scale in Combat).

Note: the attacker’s Strength Scale is relevant only for muscle-powered weapons and for those projectile weapons scaled to the attacker’s size, such as miniature bazookas or giant-sized handguns. A superhero of Scale 10 using an ordinary pistol would not figure his Scale into the Offensive Damage Modifier.

For Weapon’s Strength (Guns, Crossbows, Beam weapons, etc.):

+/- Strength of weapon(see Section 4.4, Ranged Combat).

For Muscle-Powered Weapon:

-1 for no weapon, not using a Martial Art skill.

+0 Martial Art skill, or for small weapons(blackjack, knife, brass knuckles,sling, thick boots if kicking, etc.).

+1 for medium-weight one-handed weapons(billy club, machete, shortsword, epee, hatchet, rock, etc.).

+2 for large one-handed weapons(broadsword, axe, large club, etc.),or for light two-handed weapons(spear, bow, etc.).

+3 for most two-handed weapons(polearm, twohanded sword, battleaxe, etc.).

+1 for sharpness(add to other weapon damage knife becomes +1, shortsword +2,broadsword +3, greatsword +4, etc.).

Note: For a less lethal game, subtract 1 from each type of weapon except sharpness. (This will lengthen combats.) Note: the value of a shield may be subtracted from the opponent’s skill see Section 4.31, Melee Modifiers.

Optional note, as an example of the detail you can achieve in Fudge: for heavy blunt metal weapons, such as maces and flails, halve any protection from the defender’s armor, round down. The concussive damage from such weapons is slowed, but not totally stopped, by most armor. Example: if using a large mace (+2 weapon) against plate armor (+4 armor), the armor only counts as +2 armor.

Defensive factors:

For Character’s Damage Capacity Attribute:

Note: this is optional see Section 4.52, Damage Capacity, for a complete discussion.

+3 for Superb Damage Capacity +2 for Great Damage Capacity +1 for Good Damage Capacity +0 for Fair Damage Capacity -1 for Mediocre Damage Capacity -2 for Poor Damage Capacity -3 for Terrible Damage Capacity

For Armor:

+1 for light, pliable non-metal armor.

+2 for heavy, rigid non-metal armor +2 for light metal armor.

+3 for medium metal armor.

+4 for heavy metal armor.

+5 or more for science fiction advanced armor.

Note: magical armor may add anywhere from +1 to whatever the GM will allow to any given armor type above.

For Defender’s Mass Scale:

Plus the defender’s Mass Scale (see Non-human Scale in Combat). (If the defender has Mass other than Fair, or a gift of Tough Hide, it should also be figured in.)