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Dramatic Damage III - Being Thrown

by: Belladonna A Legacy Article from Sanguinus Curae

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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.

Continuing with my work in Dramatic Damage, the third and final question is another one of dramatic systems. How far does a character fly when thrown or hit? Will a gun really blow them off their feet? A character may be able to lift some kind of massive object - but how far can they throw it? What kind of damage does it do when it hits?

First - how far will a character fly when hit? This can change depending on if they are sitting, standing, or laying on the ground, but for rule of thumb purposes I have simplified the system to an average for all three. For added fun, I have put in a few rows on the table for average objects other than people, just in case the thing hit isn't a person. If the character being hit is much larger or smaller than the average, you might want to use one of the alternate rows that more accurately reflects the character's actual weight. This first table deals with impacts by objects of fist size or larger

Important note - one rule that I insist on is that bashing damage that is still over 5 AFTER the soak roll WILL break skin and penetrate the body, rather than throwing the person flying. Another useful dramatic system I use for when that Kindred character punches a mortal in the chest for 6 or more points of damage. They can pretty much yank out the mortal's heart and show it to them.

Object Weight (lbs) and Distance Thrown (feet)
Damage Tiny V. Small Small Medium Person Large Huge
Level 10 25 50 100 200 300 500
1 19 12 8 6 4 3 3
2 26 16 11 8 6 5 4
3 30 19 13 10 7 6 4
4 35 22 16 11 8 6 5
5 39 25 18 12 9 7 6
6 44 28 20 14 10 8 6
7 46 29 21 15 10 8 7
8 51 32 23 16 11 9 7
9 53 34 24 17 12 10 8
10 56 35 25 18 12 10 8
11 60 38 27 19 13 11 9
12 63 40 28 20 14 11 9
13 65 41 29 21 15 12 9
14 67 43 30 21 15 12 10
15 70 44 31 22 16 13 10

This second table deals with being thrown by a bullet impacts - not nearly as impressive as we are led to believe by John Woo movies. For the more cinematic minded I have compromised between the purely rational and the totally dramatic - boosting distances to the maximum that physics allows for extremely heavy bullets.

Important note - bashing damage from bullets that is still over 5 AFTER the soak roll WILL penetrate the body completely, rather than lodging in the body and throwing the person flying. This can be rather bad for the person shooting a kindred at close range with a high-powered weapon - the bullets will blow a hole right through them without even slowing them down. At close range, a handgun is better than a rifle against kindred any day.

Object Weight (lbs) and Distance Thrown (feet)
Damage Tiny V. Small Small Medium Person Large Huge
Level 10 25 50 100 200 300 500
1 11 7 5 3 2 2 2
2 15 9 7 5 3 3 2
3 17 11 8 5 4 3 2
4 20 13 9 6 4 4 3
5 23 14 10 7 5 4 3
6 25 16 11 8 6 5 4
7 27 17 12 8 6 5 4
8 29 19 13 9 7 5 4
9 31 19 14 10 7 6 4
10 32 20 14 10 7 6 5
11 35 22 16 11 8 6 5
12 36 23 16 11 8 7 5
13 37 24 17 12 8 7 5
14 39 25 17 12 9 7 5
15 40 25 18 13 9 7 6

And lastly, how far can a character throw something they pick up? Well, this question has a trick answer, and the trickiness of the answer has confused everyone from role-players to comic book writers to film makers for years. Physicists and physics students know the answer, though. The answer is - once you get the object off the ground, it doesn't matter how strong you are - the energy, or speed, you can impart to the object depends on how FAST you are. Hence, the distance you can throw an object you've lifted has nothing to do with how strong you are, but how fast you are - and, of course, how heavy the object is. For this reason, the table below is based on a formula for the character equaling 'Athletics + Celerity + 1'. Remember that the character must be able to lift the object easily in order to be able to throw it these distances.
The first table is a flat throw from head or shoulder level in a straight line - as in throwing to hit something. For this reason it is a very short range.
The second table is a maximum throw at a near 45 degree angle when you are throwing for distance rather than accuracy.

Object Weights (lbs) and Throwing Distance (feet)
  5 10 25 50 100 250 400 650 800 900 1000 1200 1500
1 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
2 8 6 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3
3 10 8 6 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3
4 13 10 7 6 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
5 15 11 8 7 6 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
6 17 13 9 8 6 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4
7 20 15 10 8 7 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4
8 22 17 12 9 7 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4
9 25 18 13 10 8 6 5 5 5 5 5 4 4
10 27 20 14 11 8 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 4
11 29 22 15 11 9 7 6 5 5 5 5 5 5
12 32 23 16 12 9 7 6 6 5 5 5 5 5
13 34 25 17 13 10 7 6 6 5 5 5 5 5
14 36 27 18 14 10 8 7 6 6 5 5 5 5
15 39 28 19 14 11 8 7 6 6 6 6 5 5
16 41 30 20 15 12 8 7 6 6 6 6 5 5
17 44 32 21 16 12 9 8 7 6 6 6 6 5
18 46 33 22 17 13 9 8 7 6 6 6 6 5
19 48 35 23 17 13 9 8 7 7 6 6 6 6
20 51 37 24 18 14 10 8 7 7 7 6 6 6
21 53 38 25 19 14 10 9 7 7 7 7 6 6
22 56 40 27 20 15 10 9 8 7 7 7 6 6
23 58 42 28 20 15 11 9 8 7 7 7 7 6
24 60 44 29 21 16 11 9 8 8 7 7 7 6
25 63 45 30 22 16 11 10 8 8 7 7 7 6
26 65 47 31 23 17 12 10 8 8 8 7 7 7
27 68 49 32 23 17 12 10 9 8 8 8 7 7
28 70 50 33 24 18 12 10 9 8 8 8 7 7
29 72 52 34 25 18 13 11 9 8 8 8 7 7
30 75 54 35 26 19 13 11 9 9 8 8 8 7
Object Weights (lbs) and Throwing Distance (feet)
  5 10 25 50 100 250 400 650 800 900 1000 1200 1500
1 7 6 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
2 13 10 8 6 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
3 23 17 12 9 7 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 4
4 35 26 17 13 10 8 7 6 6 5 5 5 5
5 50 36 24 18 14 10 8 7 7 7 6 6 6
6 68 49 32 23 17 12 10 9 8 8 8 7 7
7 88 63 41 30 22 15 13 10 10 9 9 9 8
8 112 80 52 37 27 18 15 13 12 11 11 10 9
9 138 99 63 46 33 22 18 15 14 13 13 12 11
10 167 119 76 55 40 26 21 17 16 15 15 14 12
11 199 142 91 65 47 31 25 20 18 18 17 16 14
12 234 166 106 76 55 36 29 23 21 20 19 18 16
13 271 193 123 88 63 41 33 27 24 23 22 20 18
14 311 221 141 100 72 47 37 30 27 26 25 23 21
15 354 251 160 114 82 53 42 34 31 29 28 26 23
16 400 284 181 129 92 59 47 38 34 33 31 29 26
17 449 318 202 144 103 66 53 42 38 36 35 32 29
18 500 355 225 160 114 73 59 47 42 40 38 35 32
19 555 393 250 177 126 81 65 51 47 44 42 39 35
20 612 433 275 195 139 89 71 56 51 48 46 42 38
21 672 476 302 214 153 98 78 62 56 53 50 46 42
22 734 520 330 234 167 106 85 67 61 58 55 50 45
23 800 566 359 255 181 116 92 73 66 62 59 54 49
24 868 615 390 277 196 125 100 79 71 67 64 59 53
25 939 665 422 299 212 135 108 85 77 73 69 63 57
26 1013 717 455 322 229 146 116 92 83 78 74 68 61
27 1090 771 489 347 246 157 125 98 89 84 80 73 66
28 1169 828 525 372 264 168 133 105 95 90 85 78 70
29 1252 886 561 398 282 180 143 113 102 96 91 84 75
30 1337 946 599 425 301 192 152 120 108 102 97 89 80

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