(M&M 2e) Bruises - 'In Play' Tab - Toughness

[Nigel Fogg The Wayfarer]

At last Saturday's 2nd Edition game my fellow player, who was using the software on his laptop at the game table, pointed out to me that when he adjusted the bruise he took in one of the rounds of combat on the 'In Play' tab it failed to reduce his Toughness by one.

Additional bruises also failed to reduce the Toughness value.

Each bruise is supposed to impose a -1 penalty to Toughness saves, reference: M&M, page 171

Keep up the good work,
Nigel Fogg, aka The Wayfarer

[Duggan]

It may be because Bruises only reduce the Toughness for non-lethal damage. Injured conditions reduce the toughness for lethal damage. It occasionally comes into play with targets with regeneration from Injured being hit with lethal attacks. They get hit, regenerate away an Injured condition, leaving the Bruised condition, but suffering no penalty to the following round's lethal attack (while leaving them much more vulnerable when someone does the non-lethal attack).

[Nigel Fogg The Wayfarer]

Originally Posted by Duggan

It may be because Bruises only reduce the Toughness for non-lethal damage. Injured conditions reduce the toughness for lethal damage. It occasionally comes into play with targets with regeneration from Injured being hit with lethal attacks. They get hit, regenerate away an Injured condition, leaving the Bruised condition, but suffering no penalty to the following round's lethal attack (while leaving them much more vulnerable when someone does the non-lethal attack).

Okay, but again, why not have the Toughness automatically decrease each time one takes a bruise and/or injury?

The idea of using the software in a laptop at the table is for the machine to keep track of the adjusted scores as the character is affected by things. Thus freeing up the player to think about his next bit of dialogue and/or appropriate action to take.

Nigel Fogg, aka The Wayfarer

[Duggan]

Possibly because it's conditional. If you have a regular Toughness bonus of +10 and you have three Bruised and two Injured, you're at +7 for non-lethal and +8 for lethal. I suppose they could probably display the bifurcated score. I can't remember if Toughness already gets displayed as bifurcated, though, when one is using a Device, and having it mean different things at different times could be confusing.

Personally, I'm still kind of wishing that they had a "right click the bonus and return a d20 roll added to it" function.

[d20Maverick]

The 3rd Edition ruleset doesn't change the Toughness, either, on the tactical console. Since I DO use a laptop at the gaming table to run my M&M games, it's a minor frustration at best, but it IS a frustration.

[Nigel Fogg The Wayfarer]

So, umm, what's the thinking on this from Lone Wolf's side of things?

Nigel Fogg, aka The Wayfarer

P.S.: Happy Anniversary to me! It was three years ago today that I joined the Forum. **pats self on back**