[Runequest] Acid and Dagger Damage

[Tom Cantine]

Seems to me that the thing about acid (or any other reactive chemical, 
unless it works as a catalyst) is that the amount of damage it does is 
related to just how much of it there is. That is, one mole of acid will 
only react with one mole of other stuff, and then become neutralized 
through the reaction.

So at a first glance, I think my approach to acid damage would be to 
assign two numbers to any dose: total quantity, and rate of reaction. 
The reaction rate would determine how quickly it would do damage, how 
many points per round, in other words. The quantity would determine how 
many points total it would do before it ran out.

Example: Adventurer steps through a puddle of acid. The whole puddle 
contains 20 damage worth of acid, and it has a reaction rate of 1. The 
adventurer keeps on walking, and I rule that about 2 damage worth 
sticks to his boot. Since they're 2 AP leather boots, in two rounds 
boot loses structural integrity, though he might not notice right away 
if he's not running or climbing.

If the adventurer had simply stood in the puddle with both feet, then 
in at the end of two rounds, he'd notice his boots leaking, (total 
puddle potency remaining = 16) and then at the middle of the third 
round his feet would start to hurt. Probably at this point he'd leap 
out of the puddle, and I'd rule there'd probably be another 3 damage 
worth of acid still coating each foot, soaked into the remnants of the  
boots and such, leaving 10 in the puddle. So he could leave his boots 
on and take another 1 HP to each foot for the next 3 rounds, or try to 
take the boots off somehow, possibly damaging gloves or hands in the 
process.



On 14-Dec-10, at 12:30 PM, Styopa wrote:

> I like a lot the mechanics you've presented.
> I'd guess that one of hitches with acid is splash - toss a flask of 
> acid at someone, or get acid spat upon you, it's going to hit 2, 3, or 
> even more locations simultaneously.
>
> Might want to have the rules for doffing your armor handy.  If you can 
> get it off before it eats through your armor, you can avoid the 
> damage.  (Imagines a rank of trollkin slingers heaving flasks of 
> acid.)
>
> On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 12:44 PM, Tony Den 
> <postmaster at runequest.za.org> wrote:
>>
>>  > ACID
>>  >
>>  >>>
>>  > I think the original rules just gave it a POT rating, and that 
>> rating
>>  > was immediately applied as extra damage that burnt through armour. 
>> We
>>  > found that a bit… deadly. At least, at low level. In my game acids
>>  > have two ratings: their potency and the number of rounds they 
>> remain
>>  > in effect. Here are some sample ratings:
>>  >
>>  Thanks Nikk. Somehow I recall vaguley rules for acid but for the 
>> life of
>>  me i coudn't seem to find them. Tis helps a lot.
>>  Cheers
>>  Tony
>>
>>
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