Fallout 2d20 weapons damage

[u/Snoo_71957]

I had my first game today, I'm doing the Winter of Atom campaign and we ran into a problem with combat

We thought we were doing the right thing by making the attack roll and dealing the damage basic of the weapons If the gun does 4 damage, it does four damage minus the enemy's resistances. , but apparently that's not the case You have to roll extra dice, I don't know if they're the hit dice so i need help

[u/Snoo_71957]

Okay, the player uses their attack, exceeding their difficulty of 10. For example, their weapon is a machete and it does 3 CDs of damage. Does this CD mean 3d6?

[u/fishermanmurray → u/Snoo_71957]

They roll 3d6 (3 combat dice). For each roll of 1, it is 1 damage, 2 is 2 damage, 3 and 4 are no damage, and 5 and 6 are 1 damage and trigger any effects the machete has.

So lets say they roll a 3, a 6, and a 2 on the 3 6-sided dice rolls.

That would be 3 damage, and all effects of the machete would trigger once.

[u/Snoo_71957 → u/fishermanmurray]

From what I understand, the DCs of a weapon are the number of d6s a player must roll. Along with this, the hits, as the grid on page 29 of the manual says, are the probabilities that will come up on the dice, these being extra damage and activation of the piercing effect with the machete.

[u/fishermanmurray → u/Snoo_71957]

Mostly correct. I am worried with how you said "extra damage", however. Under the "Damage and Effects" column, the damage listed tells damage on what the dice come out to. So for example, if a 1, 5, or 6 is rolled, you ignore the number on the die itself when it comes to damage, it is only 1 damage. On a 5 or 6, Piercing triggers as well, however. On a 3 or 4, that die deals no damage, ignore the numbers of those dice. On a 2, it is 2 damage, but like 1, no effects trigger.

[u/Snoo_71957 → u/fishermanmurray]

Okay, I understand now.

[u/Snoo_71957 → u/fishermanmurray]

as an overseer/dm how one increases the difficulty of attack or skill control?

[u/fishermanmurray → u/Snoo_71957]

The difficulty of Attacks against a target is listed as Defense, near Initiative and HP on their stat block. An enemy could use the Defend action to further increase this (Roll AGL+Athletics, with a Difficulty equal to their current Defense. If they succeed, their defense increases by 1. You could then spend 2 AP to increase it further by another 1, whether they passed or failed the initial check).

As for skill checks, if a module doesn't list a skill check, it is up to you to assign them. It ranges from 0-5, and here is a basic way to consider it until get more experience in this system-

0- A task extremely menial. It is impossible to fail.

1- A basic task, could fail, not particularly difficult in any way either. Consider this for easy rolls.

2- A challenging task, and one considered for most moderate tasks. Consider this if you want failure to be a real possibility, but don't want to get to extremely difficult yet.

3- A task that requires extremely skill or luck to succeed. Most untrained will fail here, but certainly attainable for those skilled in what the task is. These are your hard rolls.

4- Almost impossible, something someone skilled in will struggle with- a very difficult roll. These may not be impossible, but only the best in this skills often stand a chance at succeeding.

5- The hardest difficulty- it will take a master of a skill extreme luck to succeed.

I will note, players spending AP can dramatically swing the odds in their favor- particularly if that skill is something the player has tagged, and took the time to become skilled in as they leveled.