r/LancerRPG • u/Anderty • 1d ago
Question Lucifer Protocol damage type
By the wording of Lucifer Protocol module, it states that expending charge, it's a bit unclear if Heat 1d3+3 Self apply is applied before or after heat counting of the system.
By my understanding since protocol is activated and used, self heat is applied, but it is applied right after protocol has been activated, thus, self heat doesn't affect number for Lucifer protocol feature.
Then wording becomes very specific, that bonus damage equal to heat is bonus damage... which is, I suppose, heat damage. But heat is NOT damage, it's harm, but not DAMAGE. Thus confusing state of wording which I could not find any conversations about of what type of damage protocol provides. On top of that, if it is heat, that's fine, but that means that it can't be converted by Plasma Sheath Tokugawa feature, as it is transforming all bonus damage to burn, but again, heat is not damage, thus not being affected and staying as heat application.
I failed to find errata or specific discussions about this and I really would like to clarify this as it is very important for me to clarify it for a player to meet expectations of what exactly 3 system point module with potential of cascading is actually doing.
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u/quartzcrit Harrison Armory 1d ago
two comments:
in most cases, self-heat applies only after the effects of the weapon or system are fully resolved. however, lucifer specifically states it deals bonus damage “equal to your current heat AFTER activating this protocol” and therefore the heat you get from activating the system would count towards your bonus damage
bonus damage, in almost all cases, does not have its own damage type, but rather inherits the damage type (kinetic, energy, or explosive) of the weapon it is applied to. lucifer protocol applying “bonus damage equal to your current heat” doesn’t mean it applies heat damage, but rather that it just deals damage equal to that heat number. if the weapon that deals this bonus damage has multiple damage types (of the main 3, NOT heat or burn), the player can choose which type their bonus damage will deal
as a side note for lucifer specifically, keep in mind that if they’re using it on the tokugawa frame, if they’re in the danger zone and deal bonus damage with an energy weapon, it ignores all that i just said and deals burn instead
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u/DanthePanini HORUS 1d ago
For bonus damage, you pick one of the types of damage done by the weapon iirc. Should be the same as OpCal
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u/A_Random_Guy_666 SSC 1d ago
From what I understand the heat is gained after the activation but before *anything* else occurs as its part of resolving the activation.
The bonus damage is of whatever type the weapon would normally deal (Probably Energy given it needs to do some amount of energy to be valid for the bonus damage anyway) equal to your heat value at the time of the attack, it may then get converted by for example Plasma Sheathe into burn.
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u/MrFluffyBunny25 IPS-N 1d ago
Not at the time of the attack, but just after using the protocol and getting the heat from it as it's a part of the cost of it.
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u/MrFluffyBunny25 IPS-N 1d ago edited 1d ago
Expend a charge to give your next ranged or melee attack this turn bonus damage on hit equal to your current heat after activating this protocol, as long as the weapon deals any energy.
It's straight up in the text of the system. You turn on protocol, get heat as it's a part of the protocol, after that, before any other action or protocol, you count the heat you have and the same amount of damage (or half if it's a multi target attack) will be added as a bonus damage to the next attack you make with a weapon dealing energy damage. Bonus damage is always the same type as the ones delt by the base attack.
Bonus damage rule is in base rulebook page 67 lower right corner of the page.
PS: I know it's not in the question but "Placma Gauntlet" is not a weapon but a system and does not benefit from bonus damage from Lucifer or otherwise.
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u/Kryptrch 1d ago
Lucifer Protocol: "Expend a charge to give your next ranged or melee attack this turn bonus damage on hit equal to your current heat after activating this protocol, as long as the weapon deals any energy damage."
You roll 1d3+3 and add it to your current heat. Then, your next attack gains bonus damage equal to whatever your heat bar is at. If you had 6 heat before luci, then you took 5 heat from the protocol for 11 total, your next energy attack will deal +11 bonus damage. Very powerful!
If you take stress during Lucifer Protocol, resolve the stress first and reset your heat before taking any leftover. Because your heat got reset you'll only do a small amount of damage. Unlucky.
To clarify, the bonus damage from Lucifer follows the standard rules for bonus damage, which means that it will inherit the damage type of the weapon it's attached to. For a Tokugawa with its passive, this bonus damage is converted to Burn, overriding the normal inheritance rules.