I don't have the full description in front of me, but in the Mask of the Pirate Queen book, it says that Point Blank, "add +1 damage to one hit of a successful Ranged [Heavy] or Ranged [Light] attack made at short or engaged range"

At first I thought this meant that you add +1 damage to the roll, but I notice it states "of a Successful..." I assume this mean if you roll 4 successes and 4 failures, you fail. Where as if you roll 4 successes and 3 failures, your target gets 2 hits in? Or does it also need to go over soak before adding in the +1?

It is successful if it succeeds the check, doesn't need to also exceed soak, I would say. Though whether that is actually stated anywhere I am not sure. But successful checks are ones which generate more successes than failures.

22 minutes ago, Darth Poopdeck said:

At first I thought this meant that you add +1 damage to the roll, but I notice it states "of a Successful..." I assume this mean if you roll 4 successes and 4 failures, you fail. Where as if you roll 4 successes and 3 failures, your target gets 2 hits in? Or does it also need to go over soak before adding in the +1?

How would the target "get 2 hits in"? You usually just get one hit, which deals the damage of the weapon plus the number of remaining successes, potentially plus one for Point Blank.

So, if you were firing a damage 7 blaster with 4 successes and 3 failures and point blank, you'd get 7 (weapon) + 1 (remaining sucesses) +1 (point blank) = 9 points of damage before soak is applied.

To succeed in the roll you need to have 1 uncancelled success. So this would normally mean that damage is base damage + unravelled successes.

So on an even roll this would be no hit.

On 1 success you get base damage +1 (+point blank ranks) .

It does not add 1 automatic success to the roll, it adds one damage to a successful hit. The wording is key.

Another part of the question seems to be whether the damage of Point Blank ignores Soak, but the long-form description seems to indicate no: "The character adds 1 damage per rank of Point Blank to one hit of his successful Ranged (Heavy) or Ranged (Light) attacks made while at short range or engaged." In other words, the Talent is just regular damage per rank on one attack with a ranged weapon at short or engaged range. Soak will apply as normal.

The “one hit” is important too, if you’re using a linked, Autofire, or two weapon attack then only a single hit each round gets the additional damage

19 hours ago, Cifer said:

How would the target "get 2 hits in"? You usually just get one hit, which deals the damage of the weapon plus the number of remaining successes, potentially plus one for Point Blank.

So, if you were firing a damage 7 blaster with 4 successes and 3 failures and point blank, you'd get 7 (weapon) + 1 (remaining sucesses) +1 (point blank) = 9 points of damage before soak is applied.

I misspoke, I meant "get 2 damage in".

The answers above are correct and the question is pretty much answered, but I’m going to chime in anyway.

Point Blank Short is applied during Step 3 “Pool Results and Determine Damage” of “Perform a Combat Check.” You must have more successes than failures. Once that condition is met, you calculate damage by adding successes (including the first) to the base damage, plus any relevant talents. As others have said Point Blank Shot applies to only one hit (not additional ones from sources such as autofire or two weapons). You could decide to apply the talent to a subsequent autofire hit or the second weapon if you want as long as it’s applied to only one hit.

Soak is applied in Step 6 “Reduce Damage, Apply to Wound Threshold, and Apply Critical Injuries.” The damage from Point Blank Shot is applied in a previous step and is part of the total damage that is reduced by Soak before applying to the Wound Threshold. Therefore, the damage does not need to exceed Soak before Point Blank Shot is applied.

On 03/04/2018 at 2:03 PM, OriginalDomingo said:

The answers above are correct and the question is pretty much answered, but I’m going to chime in anyway.

Point Blank Short is applied during Step 3 “Pool Results and Determine Damage” of “Perform a Combat Check.” You must have more successes than failures. Once that condition is met, you calculate damage by adding successes (including the first) to the base damage, plus any relevant talents. As others have said Point Blank Shot applies to only one hit (not additional ones from sources such as autofire or two weapons). You could decide to apply the talent to a subsequent autofire hit or the second weapon if you want as long as it’s applied to only one hit.

Soak is applied in Step 6 “Reduce Damage, Apply to Wound Threshold, and Apply Critical Injuries.” The damage from Point Blank Shot is applied in a previous step and is part of the total damage that is reduced by Soak before applying to the Wound Threshold. Therefore, the damage does not need to exceed Soak before Point Blank Shot is applied.

So that also suggests that point blank would gain the benefits of a blaster's pierce rating

5 hours ago, jayc007 said:

So that also suggests that point blank would gain the benefits of a blaster's pierce rating

Yes. Technically, the Pierce quality is applied in Step 6 “Reduce Damage...” In that step, the Pierce rating is subtracted from Soak before reducing the total damage determined in Step 3. Since Point Blank Shot is added in Step 3 (along with other applicable talents) and form the total damage, there is no distinction between the source (base, successes, or talents) when Soak is applied. That’s why all damage from a Brawl check using the Pressure Point and Feral Blows talents can bypass Soak when dealt as strain.

Also, remember that Pierce only reduces Soak and any ranks in excess of the Soak have no effect. Ie. Pierce 3 and Soak 2 = 0 Soak, not +1 Damage.