[Adder]

There doesn't appear to be an actual rule on this (unless I missed it).

How do people typically house rule this, if at all? For D&D it's historically been something like -4 to attack.

[ScytheKnight]

There's a called shot that lets you split damage, can't recall off the top of my head if it's core or Run & Gun though, might possibly be a Martial Arts technique.

[PiXeL01]

Scytheknight is right. CRB p. 196 "Splitting the Damage"

[ikarinokami]

the answer is on page 186 of the core rulebook, in the sidebar called "changing damage types"

if the weapon is not designed for non lethal it's a called shot. otherwise, you can use it with no penalties ( if infer the latter). so a bat  would get no penalties but sword would, as in the example.

[Adder]

Thanks for the references everyone.

This turned out to be harder than parse than I expected. I believe this is the correct interpretation of the rules?

Dealing Stun damage with a lethal melee weapon as an improvised weapon (p.186 Changing Damage Types)
   ** If opponent is unarmored, attacker can use weapon as a club (Clubs skill, Accuracy 3)
   ** Blades lose all Reach when used as such (must hit with pommel)


Dealing Stun damage with a lethal weapon as a Called Shot (p. 196)
   ** Must Call a Shot (free action) to "Split the Damage" which gives a -4 penalty
   ** Target must have armor that is > AP of the attack
   ** Final damage is split evenly between Physical and Stun tracks (odd remainder goes to Stun)
      ^If the total DV is less than the target's modified armor, it only does the half to Stun damage

[Raven2049]

Dealing Stun damage with a lethal melee weapon as an improvised weapon (p.186 Changing Damage Types)
   ** If opponent is unarmored, attacker can use weapon as a club (Clubs skill, Accuracy 3)
   ** Blades lose all Reach when used as such (must hit with pommel)

i disagree with the bold part, you should still be able to hit with the flat of the blade, and in the rapier's case smack him with the blade instead of thrusting it into his face.

but just my .02

[Sir_Prometheus]

I actually don't like how this works, currently.....

First of all, way more weapons don't do stun dmg natively anymore (which I'm ok with in a way, a baseball bat is actually a pretty deadly weapon, but even a "sap" does Physical dmg now?!?  C'mon)

Secondly, if you're trying to knock someone out without killing them, it doesn't seem to me like "splitting the difference" actually helps with that.  Assuming stun and phsyical tracks are of similar size (usual) you just wind up knocking them out about the same time you they start dying, but it takes twice as long. 

The most reliable way to do stun dmg is just to keep the dmg value below the armor.....unless with split the dmg does it count the whole dmg, or just half for beating armor?  If it's just half, then an lot of the time you WILL wind up doing all stun dmg.  That's a decent rules questions, actually. 

[Namikaze]

Yeah I actually am not a fan of the rules for how to convert physical damage to stun.  I think that the idea was focused on guns, rather than melee weapons which would explain some of the quirkiness.  For melee weapons, I'd just cut the DV in half, assume 0 AP, and then use the relevant melee skill with a small penalty (-2 probably).

[Herr Brackhaus]

Keep on mind most mooks have a single damage track; splitting the damage with a sap migtht mean you knock em out but leave a nasty gash in the back of their head.

[prismite]

In the past I've let the player choose one of the two following:

1. You dont have to roll your full pool. This can help reduce damage so the attack might be stun.
2. Roll a normal melee attack, but the damage is 1/2 normal and stun.

Option 2 is just way easier to deliberate.

[Rift_0f_Bladz]

I like some of these house rules, especially for melee, which should be easier to deal nonlethal damage with a melee attack then a gunshot.

[Sir_Prometheus]

Keep on mind most mooks have a single damage track; splitting the damage with a sap migtht mean you knock em out but leave a nasty gash in the back of their head.

Obviously not the case we are talking about. 

[Lucean]

Yeah I actually am not a fan of the rules for how to convert physical damage to stun.  I think that the idea was focused on guns, rather than melee weapons which would explain some of the quirkiness.  For melee weapons, I'd just cut the DV in half, assume 0 AP, and then use the relevant melee skill with a small penalty (-2 probably).

When would you do the halving?
And yes, I certainly agree to losing AP when using it to deal Stun damage.

The next problem that could arise is that Swords are not meant to be used with their flat side. They chance to break could be increased.

[Namikaze]

When would you do the halving?

Right off the bat (pun intended).  Something that normally has (STR + 2)P damage gets calculated out.  Let's say it gives 7P damage.  This would in turn translate to 3.5S damage, which gets rounded up to 4S.

The next problem that could arise is that Swords are not meant to be used with their flat side. They chance to break could be increased.

True, I think on a critical glitch they should receive damage to their AP or Reach value (a topic covered in Run & Gun.

[Lucean]

True, I think on a critical glitch they should receive damage to their AP or Reach value (a topic covered in Run & Gun.

Do critical glitches happen often enough to invent rules centered around them? I don't think so, especially when it comes to combat. I prefer rules to use for actual characters, not Joe Average.