damage and the wild die

[cheshire]

I've got a quick question for you guys and gals of the Pit. I was taking the role of a player for once and my character took a shot at an NPC. My blaster roll was a success. Then I rolled damage. I rolled a 1 on the wild die (for damage). The GM invented a plot complication and declared that I missed. I didn't argue much, but did mention that's what I thought the previous role was supposed to confirm or deny. It really wasn't worth making a fuss about, particularly because my character lost his temper and threw a grenade the next round. Overkill is his thing.

But, I just wanted to ask you how you handle damage and the wild die? Do you remove the highest and lowest? Do you throw in an unrelated complication? Do you declare that they miss altogether?

[Gry Sarth]

Damage and the Wild Die. Remove the 1 and the highest dice, that's it. If it ends up doing no damage (which could also happen even if the Wild didn't roll a 1, but the whole pool was poor) then we usually say that it was just a glance shot, that the armor absorbed the damage and things like that. We never say the shot missed, just that it very barely did and so did no actual damage.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[masque]

To quote the rulebook (2E, R&E):
"Whenever a character makes a skill or attribute die roll, the player must choose one die..." yadda yadda.

I take that to mean that if it's not a skill or attribute roll, no wild die is used, so no wild die for damage rolls.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Effex Seven]

[Gry Sarth]

What? You guys don't use the Wild Die for damage rolls?? I know the Rulebook says "skills and attributes", but not using it for damage? That's very weird... specially considering that with this reasoning melee weapons and thrown weapons would get the Wild Die, but ranged weapons won't. I find that to be quite inconsistent....

I can see the sense in not allowing Force Points to enhance a weapon's damage (while it does increase a melee or thrown weapon's damage), but the Wild Die is just a part of the basic system. The Wild Die is how dice get rolled in the D6 system.... Are you saying you don't use the Wild for Hull and Shield rolls, Laser and Missile damage, none of that?
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[PsiberDragon]

I kinda agree w/ the theory that if the wild die is a one, then the shot does no damage (power cell drained, armor absorbed, etc)... but not a miss... that is what the blaster skill check is for...
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[Jamfke]

The rulebook also say this:

"The wild die rule counts for all die rolls in the game, including skill and attribute checks, weapon damage, and rolling Perception for initiative."
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[Gry Sarth]

Ah, there you go. Nearly lost the ground there for a moment.

My group and I don't play that if you roll a 1 on the Wild Die it's an immediate failure. Your total has to be pretty low as well for that.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[Orgaloth]

It also states in the R&E that 0-3 damage (after soaking) is stunned. So if you hit and still do no damage you have managed to stun your opponent. Maybe the blast was all flash and not power.
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[masque]

I just use it for character actions in my game, so yes, I don't use it all for damage rolls and the like. Skill and attributes only. My thinking is that the randomness has already influenced the roll to succeed, I don't see the point of added randomness when calculating the damage, there's enough of that with the fact of rolling for damage itself. I throw the weapon malfunctions and/or incredible damage boosts in when they roll to hit, as explanations for the wild die's actions then, so doing it again when rolling for damage is redundant.

I do count it every time a one comes up, though, although I also do the same for sixes. 1s either subtract the highest die, or something else twitchy, if i'm in the mood. I don't necessarily make it an automatic failure, but I'll do something odd.

With 6s they keep rerolling, and I've had instances where players rolled 3 or 4 6s in a row on their wild die. Sometimes I throw in some particularly cinematic result in lieu of rerolling, in instances where the roll has already succeeded.

As for the melee weapon thing, I have them use the wild die when they roll to hit. If they successfully hit, I have them roll the total of STR+whatever without the wild die. Just like with ranged combat.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Effex Seven]

[Jamfke]

The way I see it is that the rules are there as guidelines for you to base your style of playing on. If something doesn't jive with how you want things to work, then drop it. The key thing is to be certain you stick to it. Don't decide to use the wild die for damage in one situation and decide not to in another. Makes for a very unhappy bunch of players.
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[Ankhanu]

I've always used the wild die in damage. Just, as with initiative, you can't complicate.
A 6 on the wild die may represent hitting a soft spot or something. The 1 would represent hitting somewhere a little hardier.

[garhkal]

[cheshire]

THAT IS EVIL!

I'm going to have to do that to my players too!