Killing Attack as Advantage
Effect of rule:
- Remove Killing Attack powers. Replace with Advantage. No more Killing Attack dice mechanic.
Level of change: Local
Summary: Killing attack becomes an Advantage. Cost varies on what ignores non resistant defences, genre and GM whim. Suggested: Superheroic BODY only +0. Heroic BODY Only +1/2. Superheroic BODY and STUN +1/2. Heroic BODY and STUN +1.
Impacts:
- Gets rid of stun lottery
- Reduces power complications.
- Variable advantage can now make a normal attack Killing.
- Removes entire Killing Attack mechanic from game.
- Requires some changes to Penetrating and Armour Piercing.
Playtest Reviews:
Details: Killing attacks have the following differences with normal attacks
- Their BODY damage can only be stopped by resistant defences
- Their STUN damage can only be stopped if the target has at least 1 point of resisant defence
- They have a different damage mechanism that results in far more random damage
- They are (on average) 3.5 points less likely to do knockback.
- Cannot be bounced
- Cannot be spread.
This rule suggest replacing Killing Attack powers with an advantage “Killing Attack”. This advantage changes a power so it's damage; BODY and STUN can only be stopped by resistant defences.
In conventional Hero 15 points of EB and 15 points of RKA do around the same average damage (3 or 3.5 Body and 10.5 or 9.3 STUN). Thus Killing attack is effectively a +0 advantage that requires defences to have +1/2 to stop the BODY damage. This is probably because conventional HERO has its roots in superhero, where the inability to spread or bounce, and the higher legal ramifications, are approximately worth -1/2.
Conventional wisdom of AP/hardened says that a defence should cost roughly half of an attack. As resistant is +1/2, this suggests that Killing should be +1 and apply to both BODY and STUN. The extra effects of 'more illegal', cannot be bounced, cannot be spread, and does less kncokback is worth about -1/2. Thus: in a heroic game Killing attack is a +1 advantage. In a superheroic game it should be a +1/2 advantage.
If the Killing 'advantage' only applied to the BODy it would make sense that it was a +1/2 advantage. Thus: in a heroic game Killing Attack is a +1/2 advantage. In a superheroic game it should be a +0 advantage.
note that now 1d6 killing is rolled as a normal attack. Thus an (old style) 2d6K RKA becomes a 6d6 EB (Killing).
A Small change is also required to Penetrating. As a default it now allows the STUN to be Penetrating. In order to move them to allow BODY (as they do under cannon rules) I would suggest simply chainging it to: “Every 5 or 6 rolled does 1 penetrating BODY damage”. This is mechanically different to the current system. (under the current system each 3DC killing does an average of 1 BODY, with a spread of 0 = 16%, 1 = 66%, 2 = 16%. Under the new system each 3DC does an average of 1 BODY with a spread of 0 = 30%, 1=44%, 2=22%, 3=4%)
An Alternative simpler method is to simply say that one third of the damage ignores (non hardened) armour.
A completely Penetrating attack could be done by ignoring “Killing Attack” and buying an NND at +1 (stopped by hardened resistant defences), with “does BODY” +1. This would triple the cost of an average attack. if we assume this could be bought in thirds, it would costs something like:
- Penetrating Killing 1/3 +0
- Penetrating Killing 2/3 +1
- Penetrating Killing 3/3 +2