[SR] How do I convert damage from 2nd ed to 3rd ed? (2024)

Post by Florian 'Irian' Schaetz
Somehow, I can't agree: IIRC 6M2 meant, that you had to have 2 succeses
to increase the damage level by one (three with 6M3, etc.). So having a
low number at the end seems to be much more usefull than a high one
(=more succeses needed). So why should a low number (=more powerfull)
be converted into a less powerfull 3rd Ed. weapon?
I don't think, that there's a generel conversion rule, I would just use
the according 3rd Ed. weapons instead.

You pretty much have to know the whole first edition system for combat to
get a better grip on things...

A few notes:

1) Each bullet was rolled. If you fired 7 shots, you would roll 7 times...
calculating damage after each bullet.

2) There was no "Combat Pool"

3) Damage codes broke down like this: (X)(Y)(Z)...
X was the power of the attack...
Y was the base damage
Z was the staging number...
5M3 is an example damage code... that means to resist damage, your
target number was 5... the base level of the attack was Moderate and 3 was
the staging number... for every 3 successes rolled on attack, the damage was
staged up a level... for every 3 successes rolled on defense the damage was
staged down a level

4) When you attack with a gun, you ONLY roll your skill... there was nothing
to augment the number of dice used.

5) There was instead a "Dodge Pool". You used this for defense, NOT
offense.

6) You didn't roll your dodge pool... instead each die was an automatic
success.
IE: if you got hit with 5M3 shot from an SMG and had 3 dice allocated to
dodge, you would stage that down to 5L3 (the 3 dodge 'dice' are automatic
successes against the power of the attack)

7) Armour does NOT reduce the power level of an attack, it was instead
automatic successes against damage (just like dodge pool)
IE: If you were shot by 6S3 damage... and had 3 dice from dodge and you
were wearing an armoured jacket... that is 8 successes against the shot... 3
stage it down to moderate, 3 down to lite... and you have 2 leftover... if
you roll 1 success on your body (roll body dice with a target number of 6)
you take no damage from the shot

8) Damage over deadly didn't exist... if you took "more" than a deadly wound
then you would take a deadly wound and any extra damage from the attack roll
would instead reduce your ballistic armor (or impact if it was relevant to
the damage roll)

So thats about the basics... now we will take a quick look at 4 scenarios...

#1) Shot at by an SMG.
UziIII did 4M3 damage... say the attacker is rolling 6 dice and looking
for 2s (smartgun link and close range) and gets 5 successes. He applies his
successes and stages the damage up to 4S3.
The defender then applies dodge pool dice... say they have put 2 into
resisting the shot... and applies armour (5/3 armour jacket) this gives them
7 successes so far. The defender then rolls BODY dice with a target number
of 4 (the power of the attack) and gets 2 successes. So with nine successes
they stage the attack down 3 times (9 divided by the staging of the weapon
(3) = 3). Therefore, the defender takes no damage from the attack.
If the attacker was firing something like a 3 round burst... he would
then proceed with bullet #2...

#2) Shot by an Ares MP Laser.
The laser did 8M8 damage. Not only did that mean you needed 8 successes
to stage it up a damage level (obviously only attainable if you have atleast
a skill of 8) but you needed 8 successes to stage it down a level.
If the attacker didn't stage the damage up... that would mean you would
need atleast 16 successes to stage the damage down to nothing...
TRANSLATION: no matter what, you were always gonna take a wound from these
(and remember: laser damage was resisted with impact armour... so it made it
even tougher)

#3) Shot by a Panther Assault Cannon.
10D4 damage! Thats how these things got their rep... 1st edition
Shadowrun. With the base damage level starting at Deadly, that means to
shrug off damage (take no damage from it) you had to get 16 successes.
Since odds were good the attack would probably shoot off atleast 1 point of
armour (from staging the damage one step up) an armour jacket at best would
drop the damage to Serious.
Its obviously hard to roll a few 10s on a body roll... so you would
usually pump all your dodge pool into this thing or take a beating.

#4) Shot by a dinky little Streetline Special.
Ya might think "Woooooooo 3L1 damage? I am shaking in my boots... NOT".
But these things were actually pretty potent. Sure against a deadly
level attack you only needed to roll 4 threes on your body to take no
damage... don't worry about armour or dodge pool.
BUT... imagine if a d00d has a streetline special, a skill of 8, has it
smartlinked, and is shooting you at point blank range with the thing...
Rolling for 2s, say he gets all 8: Stage damage up to Deadly (using up
3 successes) and... woops, he has 5 extra successes! That means your 5/3
armour jacket is now (0/0).
Next round, his buddies shoot you with SMGs... suddenly your 5 automatic
successes from armour are gone...
Translation: Call this thing "the can opener". A party armed with 2 guys
with streetline specials and 1with a panther assault cannon can pretty much
kill anybody off, even if they are a troll in a full suit of armour (the 2
streetline specials should destroy all his armor... leaving them with body
dice, a target number of 10 and needing 4 successes just to stage the damage
down to Serious)

Thats a roundabout way of getting to your answer and giving a glimpse into
the world of SR1... and maybe an indication of why they needed to do SR2

Clint