What happens when you deal damage with a raise but the victim is already shaken?

Question

Let's say a wild card foe gets shaken (either through damage or other means). Per the rules, if she gets "shaken again" through successful damage, she gets a wound instead (and remains shaken).

What if a PC successfully hits her and beats her toughness with a raise (instead of simply beating it)? Does the foe get one wound or two wounds (one for being shaken again and the other for the raise)?

Answer 1

The process for determining whether a target hit for damage is shaken and/or wounded can be summed up as follows:

If the target is not Shaken

• A success on the damage roll = Shaken
• 1 Raise = 1 Wound and Shaken
• 2 Raises = 2 Wounds and Shaken
• 3 Raises = 3 Wounds and Shaken
• And so on...

If the target is Shaken

• Success = 1 Wound and remains Shaken
• Raise = 1 Wound and remains Shaken
• 2 Raises = 2 Wounds and remains Shaken
• 3 Raises = 3 Wounds and remains Shaken
• And so on...

The important part (and where a lot of players get it wrong) is how a success and the first raise affect a target that is already shaken. The reason for the game being designed like this has been explained as 'because it makes it easier for a Shaken Wildcard to be wounded but not seriously wounded'.

See here for an official take on this subject, which gets asked A LOT on the official forums.

An additional post with a more detailed breakdown can be found here.

Answer 2

The way I simplify it is that you count the success and each raise as a wound. If the target is not shaken, the first wound causes the target to be shaken instead. Also, I make the shaking flavoursome, such as "you panic as your sleeve catches fire."

So in your case, you roll a raise: two wounds. If the target is already shaken, they receive two wounds. If the target is not shaken, they become shaken and take one wound.

Note that it's possible to roll multiple raises on a damage roll, resulting in several simultaneous wounds.