Dramatic Damage I - Soak Values

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I don't know about the rest of you Storytellers, but I have found that the dramatic impact of a scene is often slowed or stopped entirely when I have to pause and try to decide what kind of an effect the character can have on their environment, or vice versa.
This happens with everything from a fight in a bar to a Kindred throwing a temper tantrum to a missed attack striking something else. While White Wolf has provided some detail when it comes to the resistance values of armor for protecting characters - what about a character using a car door as cover during a fire fight? We've all seen movies where bullets bounce off the door, and that's easy to assume for the average - but what about those high-powered handguns at close range, or a sniper rifle with armor-piercing bullets? What then?

To answer these and many questions like them, I have devised two tables to guide me through these dramatic moments. By using these tables, I have had scenes where a Kindred dramatically kicks a door off its hinges to reach their prey, or slowly pounds the door to splinters while the intended mortal prey screams in terror - wondering if the next blow will crack their last defense. It all may seem terribly technical and dry just looking at the numbers, but when applied properly to the moving narrative, it can make for very interesting scenes. CAN the character rip the engine out of the Corvette while their prey is frantically trying to shift into reverse? CAN the character miss their target with a punch and drive their fist through the brick wall behind their opponent? These first two tables should answer those questions.

This first table is a breakdown of useful ever day items, objects, and structures - showing the relative damage soak for each type.

This second table is a rough rule of thumb for general materials - the soak values are based on an average quarter to half inch thickness. These values should be used sparingly, as several other factors will affect the overall Soak Rating of a given material.

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