[Rules] Questions regarding damage

[Cpt.Future]

Hello everyone,

during the last year of playing Mongoose‘s Traveller I have encountered several situations, which left me wondering. Here are some of my questions regarding „damage“ (references to core rulebook, if references at all):

1. Melee (unarmed): Do kicks, punches and grapples deal stun damage?
2. Melee (grapple pg 75): Is the strength DM added to any or all damage results from grappling?
3. Melee (grapple pg 75 bulletpoint #4): Is any or dermal armor protection applied to this particular damage result?
4. Critical Hits damage to spaceships: If a ship is hit critically and the result from the critical hit effects table on pg 159 adds additional damage to the hull, is such damage to be considered as sustained damage from pg 158 which may result in additional critical hit effects?

Thanks for your assistance.

Best wishes!
Cpt. Future

 

[AnotherDilbert]

1. Melee (unarmed): Do kicks, punches and grapples deal stun damage?

Not as far as I can see. You need the Stun trait to inflict stun damage, Unarmed does not (p116).

2. Melee (grapple pg 75): Is the strength DM added to any or all damage results from grappling?

Yes, I would call that a Melee attack:

An attack is an attempt to damage or injure an enemy with either a melee or ranged weapon ...

Note that Unarmed is a Melee weapon.

3. Melee (grapple pg 75 bulletpoint #4): Is any or dermal armor protection applied to this particular damage result?

Yes, Armour reduces all combat damage, unless otherwise noted.

4. Critical Hits damage to spaceships: If a ship is hit critically and the result from the critical hit effects table on pg 159 adds additional damage to the hull, is such damage to be considered as sustained damage from pg 158 which may result in additional critical hit effects?

Yes, I believe so. Every time you lose 10% of the ship's max Hull points (regardless of source) a level 1 crit is inflicted.

 

[Cpt.Future]

Hello.

Thank You, AnotherDilbert.

Follow up questions regarding critical hits and sustained damage:

5. If a single damage score under the Sustained Damage Rule equals for example 25% of the ships original hull, is it treated like one or like two Severity 1 Critical Hits?
6. If Sustained Damage critical hits are considered to be Severity 1, I assume that any time the same section of a ship is hit than the general rules on critical hits still apply; thus since the same location has been hit already, then the new critical hit from Sustained Damage is not Severity 1, but the last Severity level plus one - right?
7. Is my understanding correct that critical hits on the same location are cumulative regarding the Severity Level steadily? Example: First hit at Severity 3, subsequent hits add level by level to Severity 4, then 5 and finally 6. So, if any subsequent critical hit hits the same location, the new Severity level is not three plus one (except for the first time), but instead the last Severity level plus one, right?

Best wishes!
Cpt. Future

 

[AnotherDilbert]

5. If a single damage score under the Sustained Damage Rule equals for example 25% of the ships original hull, is it treated like one or like two Severity 1 Critical Hits?

My understanding is two crits.

This leads to "crit ripple" of small craft, so you may want to limit it to one sustained crit for each hit.

6. If Sustained Damage critical hits are considered to be Severity 1, I assume that any time the same section of a ship is hit than the general rules on critical hits still apply; thus since the same location has been hit already, then the new critical hit from Sustained Damage is not Severity 1, but the last Severity level plus one - right?

Yes. The crit from sustained damage is a new crit and follows the normal procedure on page 158, starting with the crit table roll.

7. Is my understanding correct that critical hits on the same location are cumulative regarding the Severity Level steadily? Example: First hit at Severity 3, subsequent hits add level by level to Severity 4, then 5 and finally 6. So, if any subsequent critical hit hits the same location, the new Severity level is not three plus one (except for the first time), but instead the last Severity level plus one, right?

Yes.

 

[Cpt.Future]

Hello,

Thank You again.

I am happy to see that my general understanding seems to having been correct so far. There was only a certain uncertainty in how applied the rules in the past.

Best wishes!
Cpt. Future

 

[Jackstar]

7. Is my understanding correct that critical hits on the same location are cumulative regarding the Severity Level steadily? Example: First hit at Severity 3, subsequent hits add level by level to Severity 4, then 5 and finally 6. So, if any subsequent critical hit hits the same location, the new Severity level is not three plus one (except for the first time), but instead the last Severity level plus one, right?

Yes.

That is not my understanding. I think that a subsequent critical hit hits the same location results in a final severity level of max (new severity, last severity + 1). So a Severity 3 followed by severity 5 results in a severity 5 hit.

 

[AnotherDilbert]

That is not my understanding. I think that a subsequent critical hit hits the same location results in a final severity level of max (new severity, last severity + 1). So a Severity 3 followed by severity 5 results in a severity 5 hit.

Yes, that is correct. The general ( old severity + 1 ) presumes fairly low severity crits, which is usual in my experience.

 

[Jackstar]

That is not my understanding. I think that a subsequent critical hit hits the same location results in a final severity level of max (new severity, last severity + 1). So a Severity 3 followed by severity 5 results in a severity 5 hit.

Yes, that is correct. The general ( old severity + 1 ) presumes fairly low severity crits, which is usual in my experience.

Just checking. I agree that a severity 5 critical is rare. I don't think that I have seen any hit produce a severity higher than 2, but I have only seen battles with small ships.