The Dresden Files > DFRPG

Harry's pain-blocking stunt

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nadia.skylark:

--- Quote ---A block opposes actions in general. If people want to do anything that the block affects, they need to beat the block's strength. It doesn't stack with defense rolls, you have to pick one or the other.

Armour is only for attacks. It reduces the stress inflicted by successful attacks, essentially reducing the weapon rating.

If an accuracy 5, weapon 5 attack is thrown at a target with a 4-shift block, a defense roll of 3, and armour 2, the attack hits by a margin of 1 and inflicts 4 stress.

Normally blocks and armour are not damaged by attacks that exceed them, but magical shields are an exception. If the 4-shift block in the above example was from an evocation, it would collapse after the attack. Armour from evocations does not have that problem, but you only get half as much of it from a given spell.
--- End quote ---

Ah, thanks. What I want is armor equal to half the value of the discipline roll, like evocation armor except that if you exceed the value of the armor you can choose to use some of your excess shifts to erode the armor.

Would it work better if there was a time limit on how long you can keep it up? There doesn't seem to be in the books, but I can see where I might need to add one. In the books the reason it isn't much used is that Harry thinks not feeling pain is dangerous, but that probably doesn't translate to RPG rules that well.

Sanctaphrax:
A time limit would help, but I'm really not keen on the approach as a whole. Even if you find a way around the inherent balance problems, it's pretty weird for pain immunity to provide such enormous durability. Armour 3 is Mythic Toughness level, after all.

nadia.skylark:
I'm trying to come up with a way to represent being able to disregard damage. After all, the minor damage represented by stress really shouldn't effect you that much if you're not feeling pain, and the books seem to show this technique allowing Harry to take a bunch more damage than usual without being incapacitated--not because he isn't being hurt, but because his body isn't registering "being hurt" as a reason to stop operating at 100% capacity. That's why I combined the armor with making all damage you do take heal slower.

Would it work better to give extra stress boxes equal to half your discipline roll?

Sanctaphrax:
That has many of the same problems.

The game already has, like, half a dozen ways to handle this kind of thing. Why not use one of them?

nadia.skylark:

--- Quote ---The game already has, like, half a dozen ways to handle this kind of thing. Why not use one of them?
--- End quote ---

Because I'm not sure what they are. What I'm trying to do is find a way to reflect mechanically the ability to keep going through more damage than usual, but then crash harder afterwards. I have suggested armor + making consequences and stress heal slower, and extra stress boxes + making consequences heal slower. I suppose adding extra consequences might work?

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