Follow-Up Damage

Some attacks, such as poison darts
and exploding bullets, have “follow-
up” damage: a second type of damage
that occurs an instant after the pri-
mary effect. The primary effect is
always ordinary damage of some type
– piercing, impaling, etc.
If the primary damage penetrates
the target’s DR, the follow-up effect
occurs inside the target. DR has no
effect! Follow-up effects that occur
internally never inflict knockback or
blunt trauma – even if their damage
type usually does.
If the primary damage fails to pen-
etrate DR, the follow-up effect occurs
outside the target, if appropriate, as if
the target had been touched – just like
critical hit. Bonuses to hit (e.g., for All-
Out Attack or a large target) do make
critical hits more likely, while penal-
ties (e.g., for a difficult target) make
critical hits less likely.
Example: Louis LeBlanc needs to
roll 15 or less to hit Filthy Pierre. He
rolls a 5. That’s a critical hit for him!
(A 3 or 4 would be a critical hit for
anyone!) Because this is a critical hit,
Pierre gets no defense roll. The blow
automatically hits!
A critical hit is often the only way
for an unskilled character to injure a
superior opponent in a fair fight or get
through heavy armor with a light
weapon. Once in a while, everybody
gets a lucky shot. But note that the
most likely result on the table is “no
a linked effect (see below). Thus, poi-
son that must enter the bloodstream
would have no effect if the arrow that
carried it failed to penetrate. On the
other hand, an explosive projectile
would still do damage . . . but the DR
that stopped the primary damage
would protect against it.