Very basic damage question

[MonkeyX]

After END is reduced to 0 can you split the remaining damage between the two other stats or does it all come off of one?

 

[Shadowblayde99]

P77 of core book update says either Str or Dex and up to the target. I would say it could come off both e.g. 1 off Str and 2 off Dex if you like.

 

[MonkeyX]

This has always been my understanding. I just didn’t want to be cheating my players by having two stats be on 1 and still having attacks against them.

 

[Reisender]

Page 74 in the Core Rulebook(2020):

Damage is initially applied to a target’s END. If a target is
reduced to 0 END, then any excess damage is deducted
from the target’s STR or DEX (target’s choice of which).
If either STR or DEX are reduced to 0, the Traveller
becomes unconscious and any further damage is
deducted from the remaining physical characteristic.
If all three physical characteristics (STR, DEX and END)
are reduced to 0, the Traveller has been killed.

So, yes, it is all deducted from one characteristic, either STR or DEX, players/targets choice.
If that attribute is not reduced to 0, the player/target could choose the other characteristic should his character receive more damage after that.
If the damage even exceeds the chosen characteristic any remaining damage is subtracted from the other remaining characteristic immediately.
Btw. don't forget to adjust the DMs for the characteristics as they go down.
Animals are an exception, as they do not have characteristics. They have just hit points.

 

[MonkeyX]

So no splitting the excess damage?

 

[Geir]

I don't know, maybe I'm misremembering, but back in Classic days we, rightly or wrongly, did it by actual dice - put each full dice in one characteristic or the other - doesn't work well with pluses and minuses obviously, but that is what I remember doing in about 1980ish (and applying it to the 3X5 card that was the character sheet).

Today, there's an advantage (besides the implied text that says you do so - but let's not pick at the sentence too much) of taking the second characteristic down to zero first in that the healing process is much simpler if you have at least one stat at full level since natural healing works better and you can avoid surgery.

So tactically, you either take the higher stat down to stay conscious longer, or, if it has a positive combat DM, choose to preserve it to get more hits in before you go down. But that's a recent thing, not a classic thing. In any case, once the shooting starts, you've usually already screwed up if they can shoot back....

 

[MonkeyX]

Ok. I’ll see what my group thinks.

 

[Reisender]

So no splitting the excess damage?

Not according to the Core Rulebook, I'm afraid, but you can change it if you like it better that way.

 

[Arkathan]

I don't know, maybe I'm misremembering, but back in Classic days we, rightly or wrongly, did it by actual dice - put each full dice in one characteristic or the other - doesn't work well with pluses and minuses obviously,

Snapshot. Highest die went to Endurance, each other die assigned as desired.
Deadly.
For NPC's, I do Endurance first, then roll for the other stat. It all goes there.
For PCs, END first, then they can apply they damage as they want. It makes them just a little more heroic than the average Joe in space, without blatantly making them more heroic than the average Joe in space.

 

[Bill Sheil]

Although it is not clear to me I expect that it is intended to take all the damage off one characteristic before the next. Otherwise, if you could freely distribute the damage, then the rule about losing consciousness after the second characteristic goes to zero is almost meaningless as that would always be the second last point of damage before death.

Or you could rule that each damage source of damage or each die of damage must go onto one characteristic for a compromise between flexibility and meaningfulness.

 

[MonkeyX]

Good point. I did t think that it would alway be 1 point before death.