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Site Navigation   Home Advanced Rules Answers & Erratas Armour Campaign Info Catalogue of Books Equipment & Supplies Humour Magic Miscellaneous Info Monsters & Critters Psionics R.C.C.'s & O.C.C.'s Reference Material Skills Vehicles Weapons About Awards & Feedback Guestbook Links & Web Rings Search What's New	Damage Soak Rules   By: Dustin M. Ramsey (DustinM@rifts-rpg.com) Due to its inherent toughness, armour is able to resist or negate a relatively small amount of damage before it is hurt. This is called Damage Soaking, and the tougher the object in question, the more damage it is able to Soak. This rule is quite intuitive when you think about it, and is intended to add realism to games. Examples of Damage Soaking in real life include (1) no mater how many times you pelt an elephant with stones from a slingshot, you are not going to kill it; (2) no mater how many times you fire a 9mm pistol at a M1A1 Abrahms tank,you are not going to destroy it; and (3) no mater how many times you hit the Great Wall of China with a baseball bat, you are never going to break the wall. The gaming mechanics for Damage Soaking are quite simple: an object can soak up to 10% of its damage structure (either S.D.C. or M.D.C.) from every attack. Therefore if the Main Body of a powered armour has 250 M.D.C., it is able to Soak the first 25 points of damage from every attack. The only kind of damage that cannot be Soaked is damage done by armour penetrating weapons (which automatically do full damage). Example: Three bandits in Gladius Exo-Skeletons and armed with NG-E4 attack a lone Samas. The first bandit fires a short burst from his plasma ejector and does 48 M.D., however, due to the Samas's intrinsic thoroughness, it soaks 25 points of damage (10% of its Main Body) and only takes 23 M.D. Then the second and third bandits open up and do 36 and 42 points of damage. Because the Samas is able to soak 25 M.D. from each of the two attacks, it only takes 1 M.D. from the second bandit's blasts, and 17 M.D. from the third's. Being outnumbered and out gunned, the Sam fires both its mini-missiles (one high explosive and one armour piercing) at the lead bandit. Both missiles explode on their target, and the bandit takes 20 M.D. from the HE (with his Gladius Soaking 18 points of that damage) and 30 M.D. from the AP (remember, armour piercing ordinance does full damage!).

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