Resistance to Physical?

texaspoet · Post by **texaspoet** » Sat May 26, 2012 1:59 am

It is not suggested, but how about having resistance to physical damage? Or, seeming too general maybe, breaking it up into a crush, cut, impale type thing? That way you have to spend 2 points to basically get resistance to all physical damage.

Texaspoet from rpg.net

Heroglyph · Post by **Heroglyph** » Sat May 26, 2012 8:20 pm

I'd maybe tighten it up to all Kinetic damage.
Taking a look at Mastery gives an idea of tight vs narrow effects. I think all Physical Damage would require an enhancement. Or at least that's how I'd rule it.

You could go even narrower for a limitation, say only vs HTH attacks

Baelor · Post by **Baelor** » Mon May 28, 2012 5:28 pm

I have a villain with Resistance to HtH Physical attacks and it is a nice, nasty perk, but not unbalanced. So it works on swords, fists, etc, but does not help against stuff like a light saber.

The nice thing is that the PCs know that he is tough, but have not figured out that he has Resistance. Eventually, they will of course, and he will get easier to deal with.

MrJupiter · Post by **MrJupiter** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:27 pm

I think that a Resistance to physical damage is a very workable concept. After all, it's not like having complete Immunity to all physical damage!

Like you mentioned, I'd probably narrow the scope of "Physical Damage" down to one of the three sets you already defined and maybe add each of the others as enhancements.

Resistance to damage is how I would have handled Wolverine's adamantium skeleton (though I'd probably stick with just blunt physical damage for that example -- having unbreakable bones only goes so far...)!

texaspoet · Post by **texaspoet** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 2:44 am

There's probably a pretty good argument to just let Wolverine have it against all physical. After all, he's not going to have limbs chopped off by slashing, or have an arrow pierce his breast bone, or a bullet shatter a bone, truly mitigating most physical damage.

However, I get your point, and I think that it's wise to divide it up into at least the 3 categories of crushing, impaling, and slashing. At least.

Baelor · Post by **Baelor** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 9:43 am

If the problem is that of cost vs. benefit, you could always increase the point cost by saying that the category is too broad for Resistance. essentially making Resistance - Physical the only resistance you get for that point. Or even require the extra effect enhancement. for it.

What you want is for Wolverine, or whoever to take some damage form just about every attack, but be able to suck up just about everything for quite a while. I think it is going to be important for the GM to have a good, long look at a character with it, to make sure that he doesn't become invulnerable. Low defenses or low soak are probably what you want with this.

I think the thing to remember is that if it can be a resistance, someone will want it for an immunity. Immunity Physical may be too much for one point. Then again Ghost form gets it as just part of its suite of abilities at the 2 point level.

MrJupiter · Post by **MrJupiter** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:39 am

Baelor wrote:If the problem is that of cost vs. benefit, you could always increase the point cost by saying that the category is too broad for Resistance. essentially making Resistance - Physical the only resistance you get for that point. Or even require the extra effect enhancement. for it.

What you want is for Wolverine, or whoever to take some damage form just about every attack, but be able to suck up just about everything for quite a while. I think it is going to be important for the GM to have a good, long look at a character with it, to make sure that he doesn't become invulnerable. Low defenses or low soak are probably what you want with this.

I think the thing to remember is that if it can be a resistance, someone will want it for an immunity. Immunity Physical may be too much for one point. Then again Ghost form gets it as just part of its suite of abilities at the 2 point level.

Great point Baelor. That’s why I’m all for breaking up “Physical Damage” into two or three categories. BASHMAN himself in one of the forum discussions commented that a character could not be Resistant or Immune to all Energy damage. That category is just too broad to be fair and recommended breaking it into Electricity, Laser/Light, Radiation, etc.

Ghost form is a power that does make one completely invulnerable to all physical damage (at a minimum cost of 2pts) but does factor in the fact that he/she is also outside the physical realm and cannot deal such damage or otherwise interact with ‘stuff’ until the power is turned off. The power enforces some level of balance (maybe not perfect, but something is there).

Completely indestructible characters aren’t fun for anybody. If there is no element of risk, what is there to create excitement? I would work with a player, wanting absolutely resistance to all physical harm, to find a way to express some kind of vulnerability for their hero – even if it doesn’t have anything to do with damage at all. For instance Ben Grimm from the Fantastic Four, while maybe more of an example of an Armor 3 character, suffers from that durability by being somewhat ugly/unattractive, slightly scary (especially when mad), and physically clumsy when manipulating delicate objects (from glass ornaments to ordinary doorknobs). His real vulnerability is in the social realm and, as a Narrator, I’d really work that one.

As long as the player was willing to balance an Invulnerability to physical damage in some meaningful way, such as with a Weakness (as Achilles’ player did - LOL), then I’d be willing to work with the character. Balance is the key to making it function.

Post by **BASHMAN** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:20 pm

It sounds a little broken to me; that's what Armor is there to do, isn't it? If Armor is not enough, add Boost Brawn (Only for Soak) as well.

MrJupiter · Post by **MrJupiter** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:23 pm

Armor as a power to resist damage? Hmmm... That does certainly seem like a novel approach to handling tough characters!

LOL. Sometimes, thought experiments can lead into directions worth developing, and sometimes they can cloud the waters a bit! Thanks, BASHMAN.