Stun in Coda Rules

Hey All!

My group met this last Saturday and an interesting situation came up. My security officer (a player who thinks he is still in D20 and a 20th Fighter) charged out into the open, yelling like Rambo, during a phaser fight against some Cardassians.

He was hit, the Phaser was set on stun (I was being nice), and knocked him unconcious. The problem was that I didn't let him roll any kind of save or stamina check for the stun. He got understandably upset. He had purchased two traits that basically gave him insane bonuses to stamina checks versus stun. He wanted to be able to walk through the stun.

Here's my point.
No once in any episode of Star Trek that I have seen (feel free to correct me) where someone got hit by a Phaser on stun did they walk through it, stagger through it, shrug it off, blah blah blah.
When you get hit with Kill or Stun, that is what happens.
Some Alien races may be immune but he is a plain human.

I feel getting a saving throw or reaction roll against a stun is stupid and goes against Cannon. I feel that being allowed to save versus a Phaser set on stun is akin to saying, well your a God in the Star Trek Universe and the normal rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to you.

Star Trek is a game about thinking. Sure there is fighting but only as a last resort. It is easy to die in Star Trek and the weapons of the era should deter most from trying to end their life foolishly.

I know that I could let the Bad Guys roll versus stun just like the players but that detracts from the feel of Star Trek that the game is supposed to have.

Anyway, Any Players or Game Masters out there, please tell me what you think. I told my player that I would have a final ruling st the next session and unless someone out here can change my mind, I don't see any reason to do it. I will allow my player to pick new traits to replace the old ones.

But a stun is a stun.

or is it?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Some times it isn't as there are creatures out there who are immune to stun/only stunned on higher settings

On rare occasions people may recover almost instantaneously : Chakotay was hit by a Viviidian phaser in the episode "Faces" , he went down and B'Elanna helped him to get on his feet almost immediatly.

However, I agree you do not shrug off stunning effects in Star Trek. According to the rules (Player's Guide p251) even if you succeed you just "minimize the effect of stun" to quote the book: you don't ignore it.

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However, I agree you do not shrug off stunning effects in Star Trek. According to the rules (Player's Guide p251) even if you succeed you just "minimize the effect of stun" to quote the book: you don't ignore it.

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And that minimisation comes with some heavy penalties! Staggering around with a -12 Test Penalty for a Heavy Stun would certainly take the wind out of anyone's sails!

Yes, I agree. I actually had this conversation with Ross Isaacs on this board two years ago. Stun is stun, Kill is Kill. No saving throws. If you don't want the ramifications, either avoid the situation or use some courage points with a dodge action.

Charles

I would rule that the bonus vs. stun only applies to physical attempts of being knocked unconscious (Vulcan nerve pinch notwithstanding ;)).

Well firstly Welcome to the boards Outlander :) Just being all neighbourly and all!

But getting to the order of business. I have to say that I dissagree. Stun is quite variable and inconsistent in the show. Some people if hit by stun fall over and crawl away. Some are knocked cold.. Some get up 3 seconds later and begin to fight anew....

Again it's a case of plot devices - it's much like Enteprise' Plot drive.. it goes as fast as they need it too - so to does the stun setting!

I don't see a problem with your player giving himself serious bonuses to avoiding being stunned.. Bottom line is the rules state that even if he avoids being unconsceous he is on a HUGE penalty.. This basically represents the crawling away aspect seen, or the moving off with a nasty limp with the help of a ship mate..

if your PC wants to continue fighting then sure he can... but if he gets hit again then his penalties will stack! Sure he might stay consceous through it all - but I challenge him, even with a super gimped munchkin character to do ANYTHING with a -24 penalty ! :D

The point is it is a 'Stun' setting - everyone who gets hit is 'stunned' it's just that some people don't fall unconsceous as easilly as others. it is not an 'unconsceous' setting :D

I suggest if he thinks he is immortal.. have the bad guys hit someone (preferably a 'redshirt' to make a point) with setting 8 - that'll make him think twice about doing his next rash action! :)

Come to think of it, no one ever got out of the Vulcan Nerve Pinch either.

:D

In CODA Trek, nobody ever gets out of a Vulcan nerve pinch. Providing the Vulcan can actually hit that nerve! It is awful small, you know. ;)

Thanks for the greeting Tobian :)

I didn't think charcters could withstand a phaser beam set to stun, but I haven't seen all ST shows (I saw Voyagers, some ToS episodes and DS9 first 3 seasons). I had few, very few examples about people recovering quickly and none about people able to keep standing. But I trust you on that: I saw almost no TNG episodes :rolleyes:

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Originally posted by stule
Come to think of it, no one ever got out of the Vulcan Nerve Pinch either.
:D

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Not true, actually. There is at least one canon instance where a character was entirely immune. I won't tell ya who, but I'll tell you that it was Spock doing the nerve pinch, so if you're not familiar with TOS, you might have trouble... ;)

And let's not forget Dr McCoy's failed attempt to knock out a Starfleet security officer with a nerve pinch in that bar in Star Trek III. :D

The old FASA rules had full effects and "graze" effect. If you made a successful Luck roll you only took the lesser graze damage, but that was still pretty hefty and in the case of a hit with heavy stun, most characters would still be unconscious from even a graze.
I agree with the general consensus, aside from dodging being hit in the first place, there is no way to avoid the effects of a phaser.

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Originally posted by Fesarius
Not true, actually. There is at least one canon instance where a character was entirely immune. I won't tell ya who, but I'll tell you that it was Spock doing the nerve pinch, so if you're not familiar with TOS, you might have trouble... ;)

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And the immune character was a full human as well... :D (I'm not especially a TOS buff, but I noticed this example as I was heavily into the RPG when I saw the episode)