Mandatory Collateral Damage on Powerful Attacks

[Scriptus]

I was wondering if there should be a point where the sheer force of an attack mandates collateral damage even if the action does not have the disadvantage.

Example: A completely enraged Hulk drops a 21 stone attack on the Hulkbusters' latest attempt at a robot that could subdue the brute. The Hulkbusters came out in force today. Not only did they have a giant robot with them but they also had a group of military vehicles serving in the role of escorts. As the blow lands it decimates the robot for sure but what should happen to the rest of the vehicles in the area?

What I'm looking for are guidelines here people.

1. Should there even be mandatory collateral damage after such a powerful attack?

2. If so at what level should it start?

3. And how should the damage be handled? Is an area effect or variant thereof a viable option here?

[terramax]

Personally I would say that this would have to be determined on a case by case basis by the GM. Some actions have a greater potential to deal uncontrollable damage. For instance, if the Hulk punched an enemy into the ground it would would damage a small area. If he through a truck at the enemy at full force, the truck would bounce around a bit causing random objects to be hit. Or perhaps in the case of a thrown or struck object at such magnitude would cause the object to fly straight back damaging the next object behind it. Depending on the force of the attack compared to the weight and relative hardness of the next object, it may have the chance to penetrate a line of objects. Then there are masteries. Human Torch might release a suped up nova blast (or whatever it's called, it slips my mind at the moment) and cause a great deal of area damage while Pyro could release a force blast that would damage everything in a straight line. Other actions may not have any recoil or collateral at all. Consider if someone could deal a great blow from close combat or ninja without a high strength bonus. Maybe they have awesome weapons and a high agility bonus. The damage would be devastating to a single target, but would not cause any kind of collateral damage.

[malice]

I'm basically with terramax on this one. It's not as hard to do case-by-case as it might seem. My players learn to restrain themselves. They don't need to spend max stones every time they attack someone, and the first accidentally killed NPC usually teaches them that. They probably shouldn't nova-blast in Times Square, because while many GMs reason that "everyone ran away when the fight started" the truth is that just as many hid and a lot stayed to watch.

I use mandatory collateral damage to teach new players what they're capable of and to show my seasoned RPers what happens when they're careless.

One of my players was liberal with his "collateral damage" and "can't shield others" disadvantages but still wanted to play a hero. He argued with me about 12 civilian casualties, but resigned himself to making his characters and taking his actions more carefully.

To conclude: It happens, and it happens often.