Throwing damage with baseballs?

You are on your own. The Army is MIA and our government is gone! There are no communications of any kind. Cities and towns have gone dark, and zombies fill the streets. The dead have risen and it would seem to be the end of the world. Help me, Mommy!

Moderators: Immortals, Supreme Beings, Old Ones

User avatar
J. Lionheart
Rifter® Contributer
Posts: 1616
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2003 2:01 am
Location: Arlington, VA

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by J. Lionheart »

Against a zombie, I would honestly have a baseball do only zero to one point of damage, unless you're firing it from a howitzer. A baseball thrown by the most powerful pitchers, like Nolan Ryan or Randy Johnson, can definitely hurt a human, and is known to cause concussions, knock out teeth, and give black eyes, but I'm not convinced it would do significant harm against the supernaturally tough zombies of DR. A baseball absorbs an enormous amount of force on a hard impact, which reduces potential damage immensely, and will literally blow apart at the seems if it strikes something too hard.

While I would certainly allow a player to stagger a Z with a hard throw such as the character you list could make, I wouldn't even come close to granting full PS damage bonus to it, or even half PS. The ball itself limits the damage that could be done. On a hit to the head, I would allow a point of damage and 1 action "stun" type effect, and a leg hit might knock over the zombie from sheer impact force, given how unstable zombies are. Main body hits, as well as arms and other locations, just wouldn't do anything in my mind.

As far as throwing miscellaneous items, I believe there is an item in the PS attribute description next to the bonus table that gives range for something like "miscellaneous half-pound object" which can be scaled accordingly. If it's not in DR, check HU or PF (I'm out of town, so don't have my books available to double check).
Jeremiah Lionheart (Evan Cooney)
Image
Only person ever to kill another player in KS's "Secret Enemy" game.
"Julius is convinced Evan Cooney was born to play Weasel Man." -Kevin
User avatar
azazel1024
Champion
Posts: 2550
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:43 am
Comment: So an ogre, an orc and a gnome walk in to a bar...
Location: Columbia, MD

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by azazel1024 »

Pretty much what J. Lionheart said. If you are following PB rules pretty closely, I'd say something like 1d4+ half PS bonus. Using more real world, even with inhuman strength a baseball would likely disintegrate on an impact hard enough to actually shatter a skull.

also hitting a baseball in to a person with a bat is going to be extremely hard to do. I'd give it a -10 to strike, but I'd allow a full PS bonus with it...supposing you'd allow 1d4+ half PS bonus normally.

Now using a baseball bat against a zombie's skull...well I hope he is using an aluminum bat. Wood would certainly still work, but as strong as he is, he is likely to be breaking bats left and right if they are wood.

Of course as strong as he is and his training, fist sized or smaller rocks would be pretty deadly, I'd just use 1d4+half PS bonus and give it a range of 30ft + 5ft per point of PS bonus or rely on the 1/2lb misc. object range table if you have it handy in a book. Going to be awfully hard to hit something the size of a head at more then a few dozen feet though. Not if you'd look at PB rules however (course DR rules of an unmodified 17 or higher to strike and do damage to a zombie's head would possibly just be realistic in a thrown rock scenario).
-Matt
User avatar
azazel1024
Champion
Posts: 2550
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:43 am
Comment: So an ogre, an orc and a gnome walk in to a bar...
Location: Columbia, MD

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by azazel1024 »

Ohhh, whicked, I like the idea of circular saw blades :twisted:

You'd want to wear some leather work gloves to throw them though (like a discus), otherwise your going to cut up your hands with any kind of really hard throw.

Zombie decapitation games anyone?

I like the idea of making or using javelin. You can thrown them pretty far, with practice you can be pretty accurate, especially at closer ranges, they are silent like arrows, but have a heck of a lot more impact. Also since you can fashion them out of basically a walking stick with anything from a knife or a sharpened point on the end they are easy to make.

A minor gripe on PB, a javelin does way to little damage compared to an arrow. A strong throw from a javelin does a lot more damage then a short bow, basically about as much as a long bow arrow if not somewhat more. Javelin damage should probably be more like 4d4+1/2 PS bonus.
-Matt
User avatar
J. Lionheart
Rifter® Contributer
Posts: 1616
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2003 2:01 am
Location: Arlington, VA

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by J. Lionheart »

Having actually been present for circular saw blade throwing (I love theatre!), and narrowly avoiding being conscripted for it myself, I gotta say - wear arm guards! Gloves alone aren't enough. The teeth of circular saw blades have little flairs on the end that stick out each direction, and throwing them without something like a hard leather arm guard results in a bloody mess. It'll still fly, stick, and be scary/deadly, but the thrower's arm will be torn up in a heartbeat.

I was surprised to see, however, that it wasn't hard to be accurate at a range of about 15 feet, with a little practice. Our guy could regularly hit a man sized target made of wood, and sink the blade about an inch in to it on each hit. The sound and sparks when a second blade hit the first though, yikes! :-D It was a trip. Of course, the problem with zombies is that you aren't aiming for a man sized target that's unmoving and dies with a once inch deep cut. You're aiming for a neck sized target that's mobile and must be hit at a certain angle, and with more force than a human could manage. Oh well :-)
Jeremiah Lionheart (Evan Cooney)
Image
Only person ever to kill another player in KS's "Secret Enemy" game.
"Julius is convinced Evan Cooney was born to play Weasel Man." -Kevin
User avatar
azazel1024
Champion
Posts: 2550
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:43 am
Comment: So an ogre, an orc and a gnome walk in to a bar...
Location: Columbia, MD

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by azazel1024 »

Well as strong as he is (PS26!) a blow or two to the head should be enough to kill a zombie. Heck a strong person with a baseball bat can easily crack a person's skull, a couple of blows can easily kill a person.

Finding steel spheres is going to be hard, fist sized or smaller rocks is going to be much easier, and at up to a few dozen yards accuracy is still probably going to be about as good.

An archery arm guard would probably work to protect your forearm from throwing a circular saw blade.

My favorite is still either chainsaw, or battery powered circular saw for zombie cutting goodness. The later has the benift that you can gain quick access/exit to/from most buildings with one as well, just cut yourself an opening.
-Matt
User avatar
ZorValachan
Adventurer
Posts: 438
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2008 3:57 am

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by ZorValachan »

I've just finished writing an article (mainly for BTS-2) that includes sports stuff, like using sports gear as armour and damage from things like throwing/hitting baseballs, cricket balls, etc. If it gets approved and published, you might see it in a Rifter. Should work nicely with DR as well.
User avatar
asajosh
Hero
Posts: 1019
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:50 pm
Location: In a van down by the river

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by asajosh »

Just stick with a good old fashioned baseball bat.
I have a survivor type character (former gang banger/petty criminal) with a PS of 14. In one encounter, He smashed his way thru three zeds while another player was fumbling around with his pistol. Just my humble opinion. :wink:
Be at peace, my people. All shall be looked up.
Carl Gleba wrote:My original line of thinking goes along with asajosh...
Carl

Jesterzzn wrote:So just remember that its just the internet, and none of our opinions matter anyway, and you'll do fine. :)
User avatar
Thinyser
Knight
Posts: 4119
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 7:58 pm
Comment: "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
~George Carlin
Location: Sioux Falls SD

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by Thinyser »

ZorValachan wrote:I've just finished writing an article (mainly for BTS-2) that includes sports stuff, like using sports gear as armour and damage from things like throwing/hitting baseballs, cricket balls, etc. If it gets approved and published, you might see it in a Rifter. Should work nicely with DR as well.

I would rewrite it specificaly for DR and and see if you can get it published. DR is probably more on Kev's "to do" list than BTS.
"We live in a world where people use severed plant genitals to express affection.
Rifts is really not much weirder than that." ~~Killer Cyborg

"If we let technical problems scare us away from doing anything, humanity would still be in the trees flinging poo at each other."~~Killer Cyborg

"Everything that breeds is a threat."~~Killer Cyborg
User avatar
azazel1024
Champion
Posts: 2550
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:43 am
Comment: So an ogre, an orc and a gnome walk in to a bar...
Location: Columbia, MD

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by azazel1024 »

Javelin, discus or wheel rims. Shot puts, even from a really strong person don't go very far. Frankly I'd want to reach out and hit them from 100+ft, not from 30-40ft.
User avatar
King Newt
Wanderer
Posts: 97
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 1:23 am

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by King Newt »

I would give a baseball a d4 damage plus 1/2 strenght.Only if it strikes a limb. I had the idea in dead reign of using a pitching machine from the batting cages to throw at zombies. It was mostly all in fun and never actually put it to use. The damage would have to target a limb to do any real damage to zombies, since I don't really think they care if they break a rib or two.

The thing is if I get to the point to where all I have are baseballs to throw at zombies then I am pretty well screwed. Yes to a normal they would do a mess of damage, but I doubt the zombies would much care.

Take my advice if you want to indulge in this baseball fasination and want to throw stuff at zombies, make it a grenade instead of a baseball. You still get to to the throwing damage, but you also get to watch it go BOOM!!!
User avatar
Tearstone
Adventurer
Posts: 408
Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:22 pm
Location: Oklahoma
Contact:

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by Tearstone »

Why not substitute baseballs with billiard/pool balls?
Image


If I quote you, you will get spell-checked.
User avatar
Killer Cyborg
Priest
Posts: 27954
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2001 2:01 am
Comment: "Your Eloquence with a sledge hammer is a beautiful thing..." -Zer0 Kay
Location: In the ocean, punching oncoming waves
Contact:

Re: Throwing damage with baseballs?

Unread post by Killer Cyborg »

Tearstone wrote:Why not substitute baseballs with billiard/pool balls?


A lot of people don't have the balls for that.
Annual Best Poster of the Year Awards (2012)

"That rifle on the wall of the laborer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there." -George Orwell

Check out my Author Page on Amazon!
Post Reply

Return to “Dead Reign™”