Defense below 2?

[Zombified Kiwi]

I'm new to the game and working on my first character.

In the core book (page 79, 2nd edition) it says that def is equal to 2 plus the character's evade and "(thus the lowest the character's defense can be is 2)".

In the listing for armor it says every point of armor brings the defense down by one point.
If my character starts with a defense of 2 can armor bring it down to a 1 or is 2 the lowest it can go due to the wording above?

[diki]

I think that just means the base value will always be 2 before penalties from armor etc.

Look at the NPC's I think there are examples with armour and no evade that takes it below 2.

[Zombified Kiwi]

That's what I thought, thank you.

Looks like even a blind rat will be able to hit my character.

[diki]

let's hope youf armour works then also I predict some leveling in evade in your future

[thefinaltuba]

Hey speaking of derived aspects, I am also wondering something.

When calculating Defense, it says "2 + the character’s Evade Skill or Speed Aspect, whichever is higher"

However, for Initiative it says "Initiative is equal to the character's Speed Aspect plus her ranks in the Notice Skill"

So, I've been playing both of these as ranks, but now I'm wondering if I'm meant to have been doing entire Evade skill bonus instead...

For Example: Trevor has 2 ranks in Evade, and has a Speed aspect of +3, meaning his Evade AV is +5. Is his Defense 4 (Baseline 2 plus 2 ranks in Evade) or 7 (Baseline 2 plus Evade AV of +5)? I've been playing it as the former, but when re-reading through things last week, I noticed that some derived aspects specifically call out ranks in a skill, while others just say the skill... Is this just unclear language or are they actually different? Thanks.

[diki]

I think it would clearly state if it wanted you to add the acting value. Note also whilst some skills have commonly associated attributes, these do vary by situation and aren't built-in to a skill.

Having looked at some of the NPC's in the books they only add either evade ranks or speed attribute to calculate defense.

[Zombified Kiwi]

On 8/24/2021 at 5:07 AM, diki said:

let's hope youf armour works then also I predict some leveling in evade in your future

If the poor character has a future.
I'm trying to go with the approach of healing back whatever damage was dealt, but it does me no good if the damage takes them out of the fight before they can heal it back.

[diki]

You might also want some toughness then - although then you just end up with a stack of conditions

 

[Zombified Kiwi]

Eh, the dice gods giveth the dice gods taketh away.