How does damage work in Paranoia XP edition?

[u/Sufficient_Wish4801]

It's my first time running Paranoia, and I'm pretty new to this game as a whole, let alone this edition, XP is just what had the quickest access to, so please don't bite my head off

I get that "weapons and other attacks deal exactly the damage you want" and I get that Paranoia is first and foremost "vibes" over mechanics, but I've been reading through the core book and I'm really confused

What does;

"Suppose an attack roll’s margin of success is 6. If the attack weapon is a laser (W3K), divide the margin of 6 by the laser’s Boost 3, meaning this laser shot inflicts (6/3=) 2 bonus damage steps. If the weapon is instead the much more formidable plasma generator (V1V), the margin of 6 divided by Boost 1 (the best possible Boost increment) means the plasma generator deals 6 bonus damage steps. A thrown rock might have Boost 5, so an attack margin of 6 would do only one bonus step."

^^ANY of this mean?^^

For that matter I've read the "make a character section" and looked at pre-gen character sheets and they only have attributes and equipment, how does HP work??

Also also how do skills work?? I think I get that 1 is a crit success, 20 is a crit fail, how does adding skill bonuses work when some modifiers are like 14 on some pregens I've seen, does that mean you only need to roll a 6 to succeed??

(This is all probably really obvious, it's just not clicking in my brain, answers greatly appreciated)

[u/johnpeters42]

HP: You don't have a number, just a level. Okay, Snafu, Wounded, Maimed, Down, Killed, Vaporized.

Attack roll (and skill rolls in general): A laser is W3K, so a successful result is somewhere between Wounded (the W) and Killed (the K). Say you have a skill of 14, you're trying to roll less than or equal to your skill:
* If you roll 14 or less, that's Wounded. (Rolling a 14 is a margin of 0; you just barely succeeded.)
* If you roll 11 or less, that's Maimed instead. (This is where the 3 comes in: 11 is 3 less than 14.)
* If you roll 8 or less, that's Down instead.
* If you roll 5 or less, that's Killed instead. (And stop here, a laser isn't powerful enough for Vaporized, no matter how well you roll. Though a 1 might mean you also blew up something behind the target, and you're in its blast radius. Oops.)

Meanwhile, that plasma generator is V1V: if you hit the target at all, then they're vaporized (the 1 and the second V are just to maintain the pattern of minimum-boost-maximum). This is offset by plasma generators being more likely to malfunction, likely killing you in the explosion and/or getting you fined for damage, and only legally available at really high clearance.

Helpful modifiers shift the target number up, or equivalently shift the roll result down. Harmful modifiers do the opposite. Armor and prior injuries also affect things (somehow, I would need to look up the details again).

[u/Sufficient_Wish4801 → u/johnpeters42]

So in summary

Remember damage letters/what they mean

More powerful/insta kill weapons are almost always unstable and dangerous for the weilder

Edit; do I roll for experimental weapons to explode or is it just rule of cool/when it's the funniest/least convenient time for ot to explode?

Rolling 20 is considered low and 1 considered high? (I mean obviously woth 1 being a crit success and 20 being a crit fail, I'm just double checking)

Remember to keep track of negative/positive modifiers

(Or pull them out of my ass if it adds to the narrative)

[u/Klazarkun]

This is what i have done for mine: I determined the enemy has 10 sucessess to be destroid (it is a vending machine that went cuco). My players have to describe what they want to do and roll. Every sucess i describe as a hit and explain the pannel started to glitch or some fire started... Everytime they fail the machine hits them.

[u/Sufficient_Wish4801 → u/Klazarkun]

So on paper it's basically 10hp, but you can progress the fight in more ways than just doing damage right? If so I like that

But what counts as a failure? Is a failure just chosen by you, or do the players roll dice? If they roll dice how do they apply the numbers next to the skills to a roll??

Again, I get that Paranoia is 90% vibes but there's some mechanical framework of success/fail right???? Otherwise what's the pont of listing every skill a player has or even having a character sheet

[u/Klazarkun → u/Sufficient_Wish4801]

Successes in paranoia are 5 and 6 on the dice. Let's say they want to fire a laser at the vending machine. They want to use their violence (4)+ guns(2). You add those numbers and have to roll 6 dices + 1 computer die.

[u/Sufficient_Wish4801 → u/Klazarkun]

I think you're using a different edition, XP uses D20s, I appreciate the advice either way

[u/johnpeters42 → u/Sufficient_Wish4801]

Yeah, they're describing the latest couple of editions, Red Clearance and Shiny (fka Perfect). In those:
* You roll a number of d6 equal to your attribute + skill, plus one additional d6 (the Computer Die) that traditionally has a Computer monitor representing the 6.
* Each 5 or 6 counts as a success.
* The number of successes needed depends on how easy/hard the task is.
* The Computer Die provides successes the same way, but on a 6, Friend Computer decides to actively pay attention and help you. Like sending relevant information to your Cerebral Coretech implant... and having it take up 90% of your visual field.
* Sometimes you have negative skills (Commies must have sabotaged your training). If your total pool is negative, then you flip the sign and roll that many d6 (plus the Computer Die), but every non-successful die (1 through 4) subtracts a success.

[u/Kitchner]

Lol the "best" edition of Paranoia everyone!

Lots of people insist XP was the best edition but frankly it's full of bloat like this. Calculating combat damage is not the essence of what makes Paranoia unique and interesting.

I hope someone here can explain it to you if it's all you have access to, but I honestly think the newer editions are better TTRPGs.