Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Madmartigan]

I am running a NE campaign and I've been running into this scenario almost every session and need some ideas what to do.

Nearly all the PCs have heavy armor so as I understand it only a heavy weapon can damage them. That is fine all the drones and fins can overcharge their blasters to do heavy weapon damage, so when it is apparent that they are fighting supers, and often this occurs in the first round or sooner, the start overcharging to do damage to them. As blasters are base 3d6 damage and it seems that most of the time the PCs go from either taking no damage relative to their toughness, just being shaken, and soaking the low damage or they're incapacitated in one shot. This happens to my wild characters too, like the "bosses." The PCs can't seem to do much more than shake them in most attacks then BAM! the "bosses" are incapacitated.

I need help fixing this because inevitably one character or more goes down in one shot.

I know that NE is a scary setting, and it is true in Savage Worlds exceptional damage rolls are supposed to be a worry (In my first Savage Worlds adventure, which was 50 Fathoms, my first character died from the first attack in the first round of combat. I am familiar with wild luck.).

[UmbraLux]

Not sure I'm clear on the issue you want to change - is the occasional exploding die causing massive damage the issue? Or is making combat more interesting than waiting for massive damage rolls the issue?

The first probably requires a fairly intrusive change to the system - it's a feature of SW after all. That said, I think there are a couple threads discussing damage and making it less random. Remember Incapacitated is not Dead! Particularly in NE where you generally won't kill PCs unless you do so intentionally.

The second issue is easier to fix. Either smart tactics (when appropriate for the NPC) or numbers of weaker NPCs will help. Best, use both! (Warning: I've come closer to killing PCs with extras using good tactics than with any BBEG.) But a group of relatively wimpy 'd6 NPCs' attacking from cover or using tricks and called shots can be deadly.

[operations]

Your players need to learn to use cover. Really. Changing the TN to hit them has a large effect on the amount of potential damage taken.