Shadowrun Play > Gamemasters' Lounge
Getting out of restraints
Michael Chandra:
Yeah, if you're using cheap restraints it's easy to break them. Just try to brute-force them, and roll your own damage resist to see if you end up with bruises. Metal and Plasteel are tougher. Also, if you're tied up in a bad position, it'd be Escape Artist to try to break out. If they're just hands in front, y'all are idiots for tying up like that.
Overbyte:
--- Quote from: Michael Chandra on ---Yeah, if you're using cheap restraints it's easy to break them. Just try to brute-force them, and roll your own damage resist to see if you end up with bruises. Metal and Plasteel are tougher. Also, if you're tied up in a bad position, it'd be Escape Artist to try to break out. If they're just hands in front, y'all are idiots for tying up like that.
--- End quote ---
But the question really is... what is the rule for "Just brute forcing them" as you said?
I like what SSDR proposed.
Reaver:
--- Quote from: Overbyte on ---
--- Quote from: Michael Chandra on ---Yeah, if you're using cheap restraints it's easy to break them. Just try to brute-force them, and roll your own damage resist to see if you end up with bruises. Metal and Plasteel are tougher. Also, if you're tied up in a bad position, it'd be Escape Artist to try to break out. If they're just hands in front, y'all are idiots for tying up like that.
--- End quote ---
But the question really is... what is the rule for "Just brute forcing them" as you said?
I like what SSDR proposed.
--- End quote ---
page 447 has this to say:
--- Quote ---Restraints: Standard metal restraints (Armor 16,
Structure 2) come with a mechanical or a wireless-controlled
lock (Barriers, p. 197). Modern plasteel restraints
(Armor 20, Structure 2) are flash-fused and remain in
place until the subject is cut free. Disposable plastic
straps (Armor 6, Structure 1) are lightweight and easy to
carry in bundles. Containment manacles are metal (Armor
16, Structure 2) and attached to a prisoner’s wrists
or ankles to prevent her from moving faster than a shuffle
or extending a cyber-implant weapon.
--- End quote ---
So they are treated as barriers. Going to page 197 we find:
--- Quote ---Destroying Barriers
If a character intends to destroy a barrier (or knock a hole
in it), resolve the attack normally. Since barriers can’t
dodge, the attack test is unopposed. The purpose of the
attack test is to generate extra hits to add to the Damage
Value. If a character got no hits, then only apply the base
Damage Value. The only way a character could “miss”
is if he got a critical glitch on the attack test, thus proving
themselves literally unable to hit the broad side of a
barn. A character may use Demolitions as the attack skill
if he has the proper materials and time to set charges.
Before rolling the barrier’s damage resistance test,
adjust the modified Damage Value to reflect the type of
attack, as noted on the Damaging Barriers Table.
Resolve the Damage Resistance Test by rolling the
barrier’s Structure + Armor. Barriers ignore Stun damage.
Apply the remaining DV as damage to the barrier. If
the total boxes of damage are greater than or equal to
the Structure rating, the attack has made a hole in the
structure. Each hole is one square meter per increment
of Structure rating. For example, an attack that dealt 30
net points of damage to a Structure 15 barrier would
create a 2-square-meter hole.
--- End quote ---
So, basically.. "Yer F'ed." Barriers ignore stun damage, with is all unarmed damage (except for some cyber weapons, and adept abilities - Some of which won't work here), so you have no hope of damaging the restraints.
You need a way to inflict physical damage the restraint to have a chance... and your options are going to be limited to what restraints and how (position) you are in. Even under the "Escape Artist" entry it says that not all restraints can be escaped from (and that has way lower thresholds on the test)
Sometimes, you need a helping hand... or a swift kick to the junk (followed by retrieving the keys!) to get out of bad situations.
Michael Chandra:
--- Quote from: Reaver on ---
So, basically.. "Yer F'ed." Barriers ignore stun damage, with is all unarmed damage (except for some cyber weapons, and adept abilities - Some of which won't work here), so you have no hope of damaging the restraints.
--- End quote ---
HAH! Bone Density Augmentation for the win! Instantly turns your unarmed damage into physical! Take that, you weakling mages! =D
Anyway, yeah, what Reaver said: If you can do damage to the things, you follow Barrier rules.
Stainless Steel Devil Rat:
The reason I don't like the "use the unarmed attack and barrier rules" idea is that unarmed attacks use an unstated assumption of being able to move. Turning your hips into a punch, having the room to make a swing, etc. You may have an unarmed attack value of 14P, but if you're denied the room to maximize your leverage I'm not giving you 14P versus a barrier*. Trying to destroy something by squeezing it in your fist is obviously less effective than taking advantage of making a powerful blow, just as yanking something apart in front of you using both hands with your elbows out is far easier than if that object is holding your wrists together behind your back.
So Michael Chandra makes a good point: the exact circumstances matter with regards to what'd be the best way to mechanically represent breaking out of restraints.
*= if you have some crazy martial arts techniques, ok. I'd entertain the possibility of punching your way out of a "Texas Funeral" all Kill Bill 2 style. SR is afterall, fairly firmly set within the "Movie Physics" part of the RPG cosmos...
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