Help me understand the damage effects

[Maetco]

What is the difference between Invulnerability and Immunity?
Does FGU understand the concept "Magic" as a damage type or are the damage types completely custom things that must be added to the attacker as well?
Where are the Key Words written for damage types?
What is concerned "Arcane"? Does it mean anything sourcing from the Power tab?
How should I make resistance against non-magical attacks? My guess is that I should increase the Toughness to represent the non-magic damage and give a bonus to magic damage. For example giving the target [@Magic +2].

[Zacchaeus]

I'm not terribly familiar with the SW ruleset but there's a section on the wiki which describes the effects available and what they do https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996643800/Savage+Worlds+Effects

[Maetco]

I'm not terribly familiar with the SW ruleset but there's a section on the wiki which describes the effects available and what they do https://fantasygroundsunity.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FGCP/pages/996643800/Savage+Worlds+Effects

I know, but it doesn't explain what Arcane, Immunity or Invulnerability are. It also doesn't have an example of creating some kind of resistance against non-magical attacks. So instead of doing a lot of trial and error, I decided to ask for help.

But I now noticed that there is a text box for the Key Words, so question #3 should be solved.

[Mike Serfass]

Immunity negates all or some damage from a damage type.
Invulnerability negates all damage from all sources, except any specified.


[@Invulnerability]
makes the character invulnerable to everything.


[@Invulnerability, @Normal Silver Damage]
makes the character impervious to everything except silver.


[@Invulnerability, @Halve Arcane Damage]
makes the character impervious to everything, but take half damage from arcane (spells).


[@Invulnerability, @Double Melee Damage]
makes the character impervious to everything, except melee damage, which causes double damage.

Immunity is like the flip of that.

[@Immunity Frost]
makes the character take no damage from frost, and take damage as normal from everything else.


[@Immunity Arcane|Frost]
the character is immune to spells and frost. So a frost blade only tickles, and powers ruffle her hair, but no harm is done.

Note that
[@Immunity]
makes the character immune to all incoming damage because you didn't specific what the character is immune to, so it defaults to everything.

If a character is unharmed by everything except silver and sunlight, it's easier to use @Invulnerability.
If the character is unharmed only by a couple of damage types, use @Immune.

Immunity takes damage type keywords.
Invulnerability uses the keywords @Normal, @Halve, @Double.
There's no @Quarter or @Triple. @Halve@Halve doesn't quarter. @Double @Double doesn't quadruple damage. I tried those.

I hope that clarifies.

[Mike Serfass]

Arcane is a reserved keyword the SWADE code understands.
All powers are Arcane. That's handled in the underlying code.
If you put Arcane as a keyword on a sword, it will count as a power / spell. You probably don't want to do that unless it's a spirit blade.

Melee is another reserved keyword that' automatically applied to melee weapons.
Ranged is applied to shot weapons (guns, bows).
Thrown is for turtles and tortoises.
I'm kidding. It's for weapons that use Athletics as their attack skill. I wanted to see if I could throw you.

There's one or two other built-in attack types which rarely come up. Like Bombadier, only needed by WWII bomber pilots and beetles.

Other attack types, like Frost, Fire, Laser, Sonic, Sunlight, Turtles, are ad-hoc. I mean, they're damage types you add to weapons and powers in the keywords box, whatever you want.
So sci-fi will have things like sonic, laser, psionic. The GM decides what damage types and trappings things have.
Fantasy would have fire, frost, enchanted, moonlight, whatever fits the setting.

[Mike Serfass]

Toughness has some variations.


[Toughness +4]
adds 4 to general Toughness, of course.


[Arcane Toughness +4]
adds 4 Toughness only against powers.


[Arcane Toughness -2]
lowers Toughness against spell damage by 2. This makes a nice cursed item for an annoying character.

[Ranged Toughness +4]
makes the character tougher against shot weapons.

You recognize those built-in attack / damage keywords?


[Arcane Defense +2]
makes powers harder to affect. The caster must make a TN 6 against this character.


[Arcane Defense -2]
makes powers easier to affect. The caster must make only a TN 2 against this character.


[@Arcane Damage -2]
decreases incoming arcane damage by 2 points


[@Arcane Damage +2]
increases incoming arcane damage by 2 points (another nice cursed item or heritage weakness effect)


[>Arcane Damage +2]
increases the outgoing power / spell damage. Put this on a power or wand / arcane device, for example.

Arcane can be replaced by Melee, Ranged, Thrown.
Are you starting to see the pattern?

That should get you on your way.

[Maetco]

Thanks a lot @Mike Serfass.

[Maetco]

Toughness has some variations.


[Toughness +4]
adds 4 to general Toughness, of course.


[Arcane Toughness +4]
adds 4 Toughness only against powers.


[Arcane Toughness -2]
lowers Toughness against spell damage by 2. This makes a nice cursed item for an annoying character.

[Ranged Toughness +4]
makes the character tougher against shot weapons.

You recognize those built-in attack / damage keywords?


[Arcane Defense +2]
makes powers harder to affect. The caster must make a TN 6 against this character.


[Arcane Defense -2]
makes powers easier to affect. The caster must make only a TN 2 against this character.


[@Arcane Damage -2]
decreases incoming arcane damage by 2 points


[@Arcane Damage +2]
increases incoming arcane damage by 2 points (another nice cursed item or heritage weakness effect)


[>Arcane Damage +2]
increases the outgoing power / spell damage. Put this on a power or wand / arcane device, for example.

Arcane can be replaced by Melee, Ranged, Thrown.
Are you starting to see the pattern?

That should get you on your way.

Hi, I tried the [Arcane Toughness -2] but with a custom damage type "Magic" and it didn't work. Does the damage type not work with the Toughness syntax? Is there a way to add multiple types in the same code, like [@Arcane, Magic Damage -2]. I know this doesn't work as I tested, but is there a syntax to have multiple types in the same code?

[Ikael]

Hi, I tried the [Arcane Toughness -2] but with a custom damage type "Magic" and it didn't work. Does the damage type not work with the Toughness syntax? Is there a way to add multiple types in the same code, like [@Arcane, Magic Damage -2]. I know this doesn't work as I tested, but is there a syntax to have multiple types in the same code?

I just tested [Arcane Toughness -2] and it worked as expect. I added that effect as Hindrance called "Magic allergy" to PC with normal Toughness of 6 and made Power damage roll against the character. Chat and combat tracker showed following:



[Ikael] Toughness: 6, Magic allergy -2 = 4 -> Shaken!


You can add multiple types by separating them with | for instance



[Arcane|Melee Toughness -2]

Would make your Toughness be 2 less if damaged by Arcane or Melee

[Mike Serfass]

Where did you put the custom damage type "Magic"? On a weapon or power or elsewhere?

[Jiminimonka]

Arcane is a reserved keyword the SWADE code understands.
All powers are Arcane. That's handled in the underlying code.
If you put Arcane as a keyword on a sword, it will count as a power / spell. You probably don't want to do that unless it's a spirit blade.

Melee is another reserved keyword that' automatically applied to melee weapons.
Ranged is applied to shot weapons (guns, bows).
Thrown is for turtles and tortoises.
I'm kidding. It's for weapons that use Athletics as their attack skill. I wanted to see if I could throw you.

There's one or two other built-in attack types which rarely come up. Like Bombadier, only needed by WWII bomber pilots and beetles.

Other attack types, like Frost, Fire, Laser, Sonic, Sunlight, Turtles, are ad-hoc. I mean, they're damage types you add to weapons and powers in the keywords box, whatever you want.
So sci-fi will have things like sonic, laser, psionic. The GM decides what damage types and trappings things have.
Fantasy would have fire, frost, enchanted, moonlight, whatever fits the setting.

What setting has Turtle and Tortoise weapons... I want it!!

[Maetco]

Where did you put the custom damage type "Magic"? On a weapon or power or elsewhere?

It was a weapon. And it worked with the damage syntax [@Magic Damage +2] but not with the toughness syntax.


I just tested [Arcane Toughness -2] and it worked as expect. I added that effect as Hindrance called "Magic allergy" to PC with normal Toughness of 6 and made Power damage roll against the character. Chat and combat tracker showed following:



[Ikael] Toughness: 6, Magic allergy -2 = 4 -> Shaken!


You can add multiple types by separating them with | for instance



[Arcane|Melee Toughness -2]

Would make your Toughness be 2 less if damaged by Arcane or Melee

Sorry, my post was very unclear. The Toughness modifier from Arcane worked fine but not with a custom damage type "Magic"

Thanks for the "|", I'll try it.

[Ikael]

Sorry, my post was very unclear. The Toughness modifier from Arcane worked fine but not with a custom damage type "Magic"


Good catch! There was bug in effect keyword processing where only the hard-coded keywords worked. I have patched this in the upcoming 5.6.0 update.

[YggBjorn]

I can't get [>Ignore #Recoil, @Double Damage] to work. The recoil is ignored, but the Damage isn't doubled. I have tried it with keywords and without. I have even tried it with only [@Double Damage] and still getting normal damage. What am I doing wrong?

[Ikael]

I can't get [>Ignore #Recoil, @Double Damage] to work. The recoil is ignored, but the Damage isn't doubled. I have tried it with keywords and without. I have even tried it with only [@Double Damage] and still getting normal damage. What am I doing wrong?

@ means against me. Ie. Damage against you (attacker) is doubled. Remove the @ if you want to cause double damage to your targets

[Jiminimonka]

@ means against me. Ie. Damage against you (attacker) is doubled. Remove the @ if you want to cause double damage to your targets

This appears to not be working at the moment. Gonna try without extensions

[DaddieCat]

Seems to not be working for me either.

I'm only running Maker, Maker Tweaks, and Keywords at the moment.

[Mike Serfass]

Use >Double Damage.
Also, you must have a character targeted for the effect to kick in. If you roll damage without a target, it won't double damage.
I suspect that's because there are various other calculations that must run before the double damage effect. It doesn't know how much damage should be doubled.
(I think things like immunity, resistance, damage types, etc. must be calculated first.)

[Jiminimonka]

Use >Double Damage.
Also, you must have a character targeted for the effect to kick in. If you roll damage without a target, it won't double damage.
I suspect that's because there are various other calculations that must run before the double damage effect. It doesn't know how much damage should be doubled.
(I think things like immunity, resistance, damage types, etc. must be calculated first.)

Ahh I think I was dropping (damage) dice on a target for my first test.

[Jiminimonka]

Ok. I made a new campaign, set ot up with all the extensions I normally usw and eveythinv working as expected.

[Tokolosh]

Hey, all. I'm having trouble coding creatures with multiple resistances to different damage types. Specifically, I'm trying to code the resistances for a Demon from the East Texas University campaign setting, and the book says they are immune to Fire and Bludgeoning damage, take normal damage from Magical Sources, and half damage from everything else. I tried coding this as follows:

[@Halve Damage, @Normal Arcane Damage, @Immunity Fire, @Immunity Bludgeoning]

The result of this is that it halves all incoming damage - including that from Fire and Bludgeoning Sources - but treats Arcane damage as normal. Is there any way to correctly code the additional resistances on these demons beyond just the damage reduction?

Thanks so much!

- ToKo.

[Doswelk]

Not able to test right now, but how about this?

[@Halve Damage,@Normal Arcane Damage] [@Immunity Fire|Bludgeoning]

[DaddieCat]

Curious. In for answers. Since you are halving all damage entirely what if you switched it up to halve only Melee and ranged?

[Jiminimonka]

Not able to test right now, but how about this?

[@Halve Damage,@Normal Arcane Damage] [@Immunity Fire|Bludgeoning]

Put them on the NPC under the abilities. The ruleset will parse them seperately. So you put the Vulnerability effect under the Vulnerable section, etc. Not at home so can't screenshot it. Look at some sample NPCs like Vampires and Werewolves for examples.

[Tokolosh]

Not able to test right now, but how about this?

[@Halve Damage,@Normal Arcane Damage] [@Immunity Fire|Bludgeoning]

It still seems to be halving fire and bludgeoning damage along with every other source. Specifying Melee and Ranged also produces this result.

Very weird.

- ToKo