Questions about Attributes and Damage

[Itharus]

Hi all,

I was reading the Core Rules for MGT2 and ran into a couple of gaps that I couldn't find anything to fill, so I'll give them an ask below.

1) INT and EDU DAMAGE:

• So, I saw a remark that said EDU damage was basically memory loss. Sweet, amnesia. But how in the heck is this accomplished? What sort of attack or what have you does damage to EDU? Is EDU 0 just complete amnesia or are you reduced to not knowing anything at all (even skills)?

• INT damage was a particularly glossed over one. There was nothing listed about what penalties to INT would represent. Aside from the obvious DM modifier to INT based stuff I could handily think up some limits to toss in until healed. But what gets me is INT = 0. I noticed that in the rules it said that Neurotoxins do 1D INT in damage. Soooo... what happens at 0 INT? IRL Neurotoxins kill you. Does this imply that INT = 0 is brain death? Game over?

2) Healing up on a lower TL world:

• So, when you take damage on a world that doesn't have cloned bits and pieces that can be neurally grafted in, synthetic organic or mechanical replacements, etc... How do you handle injury? The injury table in the book (listed for char creation) gives some hints to that, that would involve obvious lack of use of missing part, plus a stat penalty that lasts until you get to a high TL area and pay to have it removed. But how do you (ie: individuals on this forum, personally) handle injuries in combat? A fellow on the discord suggested that rolling for injuries when someone is downed (2 stats = 0 or more) is good, and I agree. But is there a chart somewhere in another supplement to help determine (fairly and randomly) what bit gets blown off? Or is it all homebrew or Ref choice?

3) Non Lethal Damage:

• So... stunners. After you wear someone's END down, they knock you out, for a number of rounds based on the damage. Is that the ONLY way to do non lethal damage? Can you choose to do non lethal damage with other weapons? Say: Grappling, Unarmed, or Bludgeoning? Or is this again in the Referee Fiat area of things?

Thanks much! I'm sure I will think up other questions, LOL. I appreciate any answers

 

[Linwood]

Here’s a couple of thoughts for you. Those on the boards with deeper insights into the rules may have better ones.

Attribute = 0 - i’m pretty sure one of the older versions (T5 comes to mind) had definitions for INT 0 and EDU 0.

EDU Damage - Just reducing EDU to 0 imposes a DM-3 on EDU tasks, which could represent memory loss. You could also look at the change in the cap on total skill ranks ((INT + EDU) * 3); if the character has more ranks than that, some get forgotten. I don’t know of an EDU attack, but maybe a variant of a memory wipe? Forced labor at a dull, mindless task for years? 24/7 exposure to Fake News? Organically speaking, maybe a condition similar to Alzheimer’s might be a real-world analog.

INT Damage - I’ve done this in my current campaign as a particularly nasty side effect to a dangerous (and addictive) drug cocktail. The INT damage was the long-term effect of an overdose. Since INT in skill checks is used mainly for calculations, insights and problem-solving those are the sorts of things to which INT penalties would likely apply. Beyond that it’s up to you I think but things like being unable to figure out an unfamiliar control panel or do simple arithmetic in one’s Head seem appropriate.

Injury - Stat penalties work, but consider Banes as well. Penalties to Move Rating would fit for leg injuries. Penalties associated with wearing Vacc Suits and heavy armor could increase and Fatigue could hit harder. I don’t know of any formal rules but the chance of injury with two stats at 0 sounds promising.

NL Damage - Most unarmed damage is NL (I think) unless the attacker has a weapon or a natural attack. But there are low tech stun weapons like saps in the rules as well as concussion and baton ammunition for some firearms. The CSC can help out with that!

 

[Itharus]

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[steve98052]

For injuries that are briefly disabling (painful battering), medium-term limiting (broken bones that can be set by a decent medic with improvised materials), or permanent except for very advanced treatments (amputated limbs), you can use a hit location chart from another game. The GURPS hit location tables are probably the best widely accessible for humans, Vargr, and Aslan, but you would need to wing it for other body structures.

For the nature of the injury, use judgment based on the cause of the injury. A blade is likely to cut vital connective tissue and possibly chop off limbs, sever blood vessels (starving extremities of blood flow,) or wound internal organs. A pistol bullet is likely to cause mostly blood loss (modeled mainly with hit points) except on high-damage rolls (which might break bones, rip connective tissue etc.). A rifle bullet can cause widespread hydrostatic damage in addition to the effects of a pistol bullet. Shotgun hits are like a lot of small pistol bullets. Shrapnel is like a large pistol or rifle bullet. Armor piercing weapons hitting personal armor make ugly holes. Armor piercing weapons hitting vehicle armor are more like shotgun or shrapnel wounds, plus concussion damage. A gauss weapon does most of its injury through lots of hydrostatic damage. A laser pulse can cause a surface explosion from vaporized water and tissues, and hydrostatic damage the spreads from the point of injury. A plasma weapon causes burns, and given the high damage they're likely to be amputating wounds if the victim survives at all, or area surface burns from splash damage in the case of some hits to adjacent objects. A fusion weapon can add radiation damage to the woes of a plasma eeapon.

My thought about healing serious wounds is that internal organ damage is permanent except at middle technology levels unless one is lucky enough to find an organ donor. At high technology levels, they can grow replacement organs from cloned cells, and transplant them. At middle technology levels, lost limbs get mechanized prostheses. At very high technology levels, limbs grown from cloned cells (or possibly regeneration in place) are the best treatment.

Of course all medical treatments are expensive, particularly as technology levels rise. Medical care is one of the kinds of service that is most costly due to Baumol's Baumol's cost disease. The best medical care is usually prevention, and that's certainly true of traumatic injury; "don't get shot" may be the best medical advice a Traveller doctor can offer.

 

[MonkeyX]

I always found it odd that stunners only have to overcome Endurance to knock someone out but normal weapons have to reduce two scores to 0.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I always found it odd that stunners only have to overcome Endurance to knock someone out but normal weapons have to reduce two scores to 0.

Think you can out-run a bullet?

 

[MonkeyX]

Lol. I mean purely on a damage based idea. I would have maybe upped the damage on stunners but still required them to reduce two scores to 0 but have it recover at a quicker rate than “real” damage.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I just say the tech level of the stunner is why it works the way it does. They don't separate meat from bone.