I realize there are still some unanswered questions about the Impact Beam, but a related matter came up today, and I don't think it depends upon the resolution of those unanswered questions.

I'm wondering: do attacks that would not ordinarily deal knock back damage (e.g. the character is not knocked back because of charge or combat reflexes, or the character is knocked back but not into a square of blocking terrain, etc.) deal zero knock back damage or no knock back damage?

That is, does the Impact Beam inevitably deal at least 1 penetrating knock back damage (increasing the zero knock back damage from an attack that would not normally deal knock back damage to 1)?

Thanks.

KNOCK BACK DAMAGE
A character’s knock back path can’t continue beyond a square that blocks movement, elevated terrain of a higher elevation or the edge of the map. If it would do so, the character’s knock back path ends in the square before its path would cross into any of these areas, and the character is dealt 1 damage, as shown in Figure 10. This damage dealt is called knock back damage. It can be reduced as normal and is applied separately and after damage dealt by the attacker. Knock back into a terrain feature does not destroy it.

That's what causes knock back damage (and there is similar wording for knock back off of elevated terrain). If those things don't happen, back damage is not dealt. If knock back damage is not dealt, there is nothing to increase or make penetrating.

Normalview is obviously correct. I am going to piggyback though and say as far as I understand that in Heroclix you can increase 0, you can't increase "none."