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Dramatic Damage III - Being Thrown

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by: Belladonna

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?

Flying Distance When Hit

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

Distance Thrown by Bullet Impact

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

Throwing Distance

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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