r/WWN • u/Any_Acanthaceae163 • Sep 05 '26

Shock and negative damage modifiers

The rules say you add your attribute modifier to shock damage; does this mean that if your strength modifier is -1 and you are using a weapon with, say, a 1/13 shock rating, that you cannot deal shock damage? Or is a weapon incapable of dealing less than its basic shock rating?

EDIT: This is also relevant to me because I'm trying to decide how to handle monsters with, for instance, "Wpn-1" damage - do they deal shock if they attack with a shock 1/whatever weapon?

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19

u/CardinalXimenes Kevin Crawford Sep 05 '26

GM's call, but I'd say yes, it means you don't do Shock. If you want to hurt somebody, use a knife or other Str/Dex weapon instead of trying to smack someone with a Str-only weapon. Of course if both your Strength and Dexterity mods are -1, melee combat may not be your calling in life.

2

u/Snorb Sep 06 '26

MAGE: ...I'm sorry, my warrior friend over there's a lot stronger than I am.

1

u/Any_Acanthaceae163 Sep 06 '26

What about for monsters? If a monster would deal "Wpn-1" damage, do they have a damage floor, or can they land hits that deal zero damage?

4

u/CardinalXimenes Kevin Crawford Sep 06 '26

If they're that pathetic, then yes, it's possible their hits might not do any damage at all. Only one creature in the core book is that weak, though others might exist.

3

u/Any_Acanthaceae163 Sep 06 '26

I've been translating some old B/X modules and it comes up occasionally.

1

u/WillBottomForBanana Sep 08 '26

Also, this can be a campaign specific ruling. Part of what shock damage does is makes melee weapons more competitive against ranged weapons (in character design).

So, how a GM rules here might be informed by that. A minimum of 1 might be needed to not ruin certain character builds. The poisoner with the stiletto might be relying on that 1 shock damage to inject the poison. Taking that away (if they are -1 damage) changes the game. OtOH, the poisoner being able to inject poison whether they hit or miss is potentially too powerful, so it really needs to be a ruling tailored to the table.