Below are some optional house-rules with somewhat more gritty and detailed mechanics that you may or may not like. I hold that the narrative is sacrosanct, no ruling or rules should get in the way of having fun and tell the most compelling story for your table (virtual or physical). Use and enjoy at your own risk.
They are inspired by the adventure SalvageOp.
NOTE:
The rules below may appear complicated and with overlapping and counter-working moving parts. My recommendation is to go with only the part or parts that you think will increase tension and fun around the table. As always, the narrative is sacrosanct, no ruling or rules should get in the way of having fun and tell the most compelling story for your table.
Punctures and breaches – consequences and how to deal with them
If a vac suit takes the right kind of and/or sufficient damage from an attack from firearms, knives, other weapons or hazards, it can puncture or breach the suit. If the wearer finds themself in a vacuum, this is a rather inconvenient situation. Air will escape the suit and the wearer will eventually suffocate. In such a situation the air will run out in 2d6 rounds (or in some instances straight away) unless the suit is patched.
Patching up punctures and small breaches requires a major action by either the wearer or an assisting character to fix (if it is fixable).
Environment, space, and vac suits all come with emergency patches for small to medium-sized holes, rips, and gashes in the suit and similar circumstances (but not replacement faceplates, extra helmets, or whole replacement seals.) Emergency packs are ubiquitous and have no cost (unless you’re in a really remote location, then it is up to the GM).
Vac-suits for military and security personnel, and more advanced and expensive civilian suits, may come with built-in technology that automatically seals up punctures and holes from gunfire, knives, and sharp edges encountered during risky salvage work, immediately.
Few, if any, suits have built-in tech that can repair a breached helmet, destroyed faceplate or seal automatically – if such tech exists, only the most elite soldiers have access to it (at least before late TU-era, and who knows about Laconian tech).
If a character’s vac-suit is punctured and runs out of air before it can be patched, or if the vac-suit is breached, such as the helmet cracking open or faceplate being destroyed, the character immediately begins to suffocate (p. 247) and takes 1d6 penetrating damage each round until they are dead or reach a safe atmosphere or finds a replacement helmet or otherwise manage to repair the breach/puncture. This is a more “lenient” take on sudden exposure to vacuum that you might otherwise glean from the Hazard section in the rulebook, see page 247 (The Expanse Transport Union Edition rulebook), but it is dangerous enough I’d say.
What does “damage” to the suit mean in this case?
Injured or Wounded conditions can both cause punctures or breaches depending on weapon or hazard. Pure Fortune damage can also be sufficient to cause a puncture or breach, but arguably less often, impact can hurt and kill you without breaching or puncturing the suit. Below are my suggestions, for those who would like more gritty and detailed rules on this:
- Small arms (pistols) fire can likely cause the injured condition without puncturing, the damage comes from mere impact, at least if the vac-suit is armoured, but a Wounded condition is fair to assume would cause a suit puncture in most instances.
- Rifles and larger weapons will almost certainly puncture or breach a suit with an Injured condition.
- Bladed/penetrating stabby-cutting weapons should cause a puncture with the Injured condition. Narrative justification (and narrative called shots) could also justify punctures through normal Fortune damage. The stunt Called Shot would increase the chance of causing Injured or Wounded, but even if that is not the result, the SPs spent could justify a puncture.
- Blunt smashing weapons are less likely to cause punctures but can cause breaches by smashing faceplates or cracking seals or helmets. I’d argue for Wounded condition being the threshold here, but as with the stabby-cutting weapons using narrative called shots and stunts could justify a breach at Injured condition, and through normal Fortune damage.
- Clearly it is called “Fortune” for a reason, so the following is for those who wants more gritty and dangerous fights in vacuum. If you want Fortune damage to be able to cause a puncture or breach alone, I’d suggest that the damage total after subtracting for Toughness and Armour, should be equal to or double that of the TOU+AR rating to cause a puncture/breach (depending on armour type, weapon, and circumstances). Alternatively, if you want punctures more often, ignore Toughness from Con and count only armour bonus of the vac/space suit.
- For other hazards discretion is advised.
Example. I roll 1d6+4 damage with my light weapon (knife), maxing out at 10. The Tou+AR of the opponent is 4 (1 from Con and 3 from form-fitted space suit), that means 6 goes through, which is more than the target’s Tou+AR. If my GM wanted me just to equal my target’s Tou+AR, I have now punctured the vac suit. If on the other hand my GM wanted me to double the Tou+AR, the target is still sealed up – I am unlikely to puncture the suit unless I spend SPs on Stunts or cause the Injured condition.
If my GM preferred to count only armour bonus, my 6 damage is double that of the form-fitted space suit’s armour bonus and my target is in trouble.
Special ammo, qualities, and armour adjustments based on the above optional house-rule
Obviously, a rule like this interacts with other moving parts, both narrative, context, environment, and character choices, such as armour and ammo selection. Below are some suggestions and considerations on how to utilise the above house-rule with different types of vac suits, weapon qualities, unique weapons, and special ammo:
Protective gear and qualities (and flaws)
- Environment suit, vac suit, form-fitted space suits, and light vacuum armour (LVA) protect against vacuum and radiation. Against bullets, knives, batons, and sharp edges, they provide variable protection.
- In all but the rarest of instances an environment suit is punctured when the wearer receives the Injured condition, and Fortune damage should, if GM deems it so, easily puncture the suit too, at least if the damage equals or bypasses the wearer’s Tou.
- Vac suits, form fitted space suits, and LVAs, should protect better against Fortune damage, but Injured and Wounded conditions are clearly reasons to consider punctures and breaches.
- Effective: It increases armour bonus, thus reduces chance of conditions and damage going through, thus arguably sufficient in and of itself. If a space/vac/environment suit has this quality, one might also narratively consider it more difficult to puncture/breach (the same may be valid for Fine and/or Durable, if for whatever reason a suit would ever be given the Durable quality).
- Ineffective: It decreases armour bonus, thus increases chance of conditions and damage going through, thus arguably sufficient in and of itself. If a space/vac/environment suit has this flaw, one might also narratively consider it easier to puncture/breach (the same may be valid for the Fragile and Ineffective flaws, and potentially the Light quality).
Weapons and weapon qualities
- Spread quality: When weapons with this quality cause punctures/breaches it is likely that there are more than one puncture, at GM’s discretion (possibly supported by Churn points/a Churn-over) require both a major and a minor action to patch up.
- Automatic quality: If hit by an attack using a Stunt with “automatic” in the title (like Short Burst), consider the same ruling as for Spread above. It may be worth considering applying the same ruling regardless.
- Grenades:
- Fragmentation grenades should follow the same ruling as Spread above.
- EMP grenades may not puncture the suit, but could mess up life-support, computers, and more, requiring a different narrative solution, but similarly could be counted as a major action to fix, or a major and minor action, depending on your idea of fun. No skill test should be required by default.
- Sniper rifle: These rifles should cause a puncture or breach as long as the Fortune damage after Tou+AR subtraction exceeds the AR value.
- Effective/ineffective: This quality/flaw affects damage, and thus in itself affects the damage and chance for conditions. Any other considerations are narrative and up to the GM and the players at the table.
Special ammo
- Armour-piercing ammo causes a puncture with an Injured condition. Use the reduced (Tou+)AR for the purpose of calculating a puncture with Fortune damage.
- Anti-personnel ammo requires Wounded condition to cause a puncture. Use the increased (Tou+)AR for the purpose of calculating a puncture from Fortune damage.
- High-Explosive ammo causes a puncture with an Injured condition. Use the decreased (Tou+)AR for purposes of calculating punctures/breaches from Fortune damage.
- Incendiary ammo has no adjustment on the above mechanics (the extra damage is harsh enough).
- Low-Shrapnel ammo requires Wounded condition to cause a puncture. Use the increased (Tou+)AR for the purpose of calculating a puncture from Fortune damage.
- Non-Lethal ammo cannot cause punctures, but a Churn event could be used to cause an unintended suit breach.
- Shock ammo should generally not cause breaches or punctures (but can mess up life-support tech).
- Suppression ammo should generally not cause punctures, but a Churn event could be used to cause an unintended breach.
- Tracer ammo has no adjustment on the above mechanics.
- Tranquilizer darts could cause punctures of environment suits (they have no armor bonus), but not a vac suit.
NOTE:
The above may appear complicated and with overlapping and counter-working moving parts. My recommendation is to go with only the part or parts that you think will increase tension and fun around the table. As always, the narrative is sacrosanct, no ruling or rules should get in the way of having fun and tell the most compelling story for your table.