Glancing Hit Mechanics

Glancing Hit Basics

Glancing hits are attacks that don't succeed at an attack roll but due to a special weapon rule still manage to do partial damage.

• All firearms have either the Precise Burst trait or the Glancing Hits trait
• For weapons with Glancing Hit trait, any shot with 80%+ accuracy will cause a glancing hit if they "miss"
• For weapons with Precise Burst trait, a Burst Fire shot with 60%+ accuracy will cause a glancing hit if they "miss"; a Full Auto shot with an accuracy of 80%+ will cause a glancing hit if they "miss"
• All melee attacks always cause a glancing hit if they "miss"
• Traits and talents can change the accuracy level which grants the glancing hit
• Point Blank: All firearm attacks within 5 meters of a foe cause a glancing hit if they "miss"

The accuracy calculation takes into account any buffs on the attacker and debuffs on the target. This means that even weapons with low inherent accuracy can get a glancing hit if buffs and debuffs push the final accuracy high enough.

Glancing hits deal between 30% and 70% of their normal amount of damage but cannot ever shred armor, and cannot become a Critical Hit.

Glancing Hit Details

The exact amount of damage dealt depends upon two factors: the predicted probability of the attack landing, and how close to hitting the attack came in the end. The more likely the shot is to hit in the first place, the more likely it is to deal a higher amount of glancing damage. Similarly, an attack that narrowly misses being a full hit will usually deal more damage than one that almost totally whiffed it.

The equation works in three parts:

First, the amount of damage dealt is reduced per percentage point the predicted accuracy is away from 100%. So an attack with 74% chance to hit will have a "probability penalty" of 100% - 74% = 26%.

Second, the amount of damage dealt is reduced per two percentage points the actual accuracy roll was away from hitting. The game will roll a 100 sided die to see if the attack fully-hits. If it rolls 74 or lower, the attack hits and these glancing rules are irrelevant for that hit. However, if it rolls 75 to 100, it misses. For this example, let's say the player rolls a 96, missing their target threshold by 22 points. This is halved to create a "roll penalty" of 22 / 2 = 11%.

Third, if the sum of these two penalties is less than 30%, raise it to 30%. If it's greater than 70%, lower it to 70%. In this case we have "probability penalty" of 26% and "roll penalty" of 11%, so 26% + 11% = 37% total penalty. Because 37% is already in-between 30% and 70%, it doesn't need further adjustment.

Let's try some other examples to illustrate:

Example: Worst Ranged Glancing Hit Possible

The largest damage penalty a glancing hit could face from a firearm without relying on the "point blank" rule would use the 60% glancing hit minimum and a roll of 100 on the dice. This would be 100% - 60% = 40% probability penalty and (100 - 60)/2 % = 20% roll penalty leading to a 60% damage reduction.

So if only in the most extreme of cases can we hit 60% damage reduction, why is the range defined from 30% to 70%? The answer lies in melee attacks.

Example: Really Bad Melee Attack

Suppose with extreme debuffs on the player, some recoil from moving within range, and some buffs on the foe your chance to hit is extremely low. Let's say your chance to hit is 15%. Ouch. Well, you'll still be able to deal some damage because melee attacks always hit!

You roll, and it's a 68. Ok, so 100 - 15 + (100 - 68) / 2 = 85 + 32 / 2 = 101. So because 101% damage reduction is way over 70%, it is reduced to 70%. This really bad melee attack will still get to deal its minimum 30% damage.

Complete Damage Details

Let's say our fictional bad attack was from a sword that lists 200 kinetic damage with 5% pure damage upgrade due to 5 Strength on the user. The damage actually dealt will be rolled 150-200. Let's say a 180 is rolled. Now let's add the pure damage, 180 * 5% = 9 pure. Great, but let's use our horrific glancing blow to this and treat the damage with a 70% reduction. 180 * 0.3 = 54 kinetic and 9 * 0.3 = 3 pure. (See: Rounding)

57 total damage sounds not that great, but we still have to factor in enemy armor.

Let's say the enemy's armor is fairly weak, at 35% damage resistance. 54 * 0.65 = 35 kinetic damage and the unadjusted 3 pure damage makes it through to reduce a whopping 38 hit points.