Nicely put Crit. But what constitutes as hitting then?
What constitutes as hitting? Succeeding on an attack roll. You've HIT a baseball whether you clip it out into foul territory, smack it out of the park, or let out a weenie little bunt. I've HIT you whether I've given you an open-palmed smack like on NCIS, a punch to the nose, or a flick with my fingertip. I've HIT that Knight Errant squad car with my gun whether it was a shot to a tire, a shot to the engine block, or just a shot that takes off a rearview mirror.
I've DAMAGED only in a few of those instances above, but hit in every single one of them. Describing the difference between a hit and a damaging hit is part of the GM's job, especially in a game as full of abstractions and over-the-top cinematic ability as Shadowrun is.
HIT and DAMAGE are two entirely separate things, and you keep acting like they're not, and I think that's the basic disconnect, here.
That little old lady's purse cuts Lesner's/Tyson's face has he taken more damage than if the purse bruises them?
Yeah, probably. But they got HIT in either instance, didn't they? That's the difference between the little old lady's purse just thumping into a barrel-chested professional fighter, and the lady swinging wildly and not even connecting.
As for house ruling, I was thinking that if you get shot/hit/Blown up but your armor absorbs it, guess what your body does too! Get shot wearing body armor, the armor keeps the damage from being leathal but the wearer still gets battered and bruised. The concussion of a grenade can kill/harm the crew of a tank even though the tank is unbreached.
Which is already partially what armor does, whenever the Ballistic/Impact rating is more powerful than the incoming attack (when folks take stun instead of lethal)...so it's already, at least partially, been represented in the rules.
So Give the runner 1 point of stun damage to represent the impact that almost caused mortal damage. That to me is a good rule of thumb. Please note I am suggesting this and I am our groups Bullet catcher! To me that adds some realism to getting shot!
Sure, if that's what you and your game table wants to try. But how much do you increase the cost/essence value of a Trauma Damper, now? Because in a game with a rule like that, it's become THE piece of combat gear.
And get ready to be nickle-and-dimed to unconsciousness by every incoming attack. The most ineffective, limp-wristed, open handed, untrained, wussy, smack on the chest (like in the classic "I hate you, I hate you, SOB SOB SOB" scene in an action flick) is going to start doing damage, regardless of the crying lady having Strength 1 and no Unarmed Combat dice, and of her slapping on a massive Troll's chest, who's wearing Form Fit, Security Armor, and has a buddy sustaining a massive Armor spell on him -- becuase, hey, that lady has "hit" him, right?
