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Post by providence13 on Sept 18, 2013 8:44:22 GMT -8
When my players encountered the medbots in MOD, one hit (heck, 1/2 attack damage) and the bots would be toast.
Feeling a little cheated that my opposition were so weak in END and DV, I made the players use the Hit Location chart on pg 106.
The medbots have 8 arms, each one capable of making an attack (since they're infected with a weak strain of Mecha Virus). So they blasted off a few limbs, limiting the bots attacks and eventually hitting their main body (END). It also encouraged them to use specific targeting of body locations; another aspect of the rules I encourage.
I think the players felt a bit slighted at first, with this added complication, but then understood my reasoning behind it. It helped the realism and story.
Although it adds another step/roll to combat, I think I'll be using the hit location chart from now on with every battle.
Does anyone else use it?
For every attack or just important battles?
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Post by maxstone on Sept 20, 2013 15:19:11 GMT -8
I've been thinking about using it for a while but I really don't know how to implement it effectively. Hub rules suggests to use it more as a flavor element than as a gameplay element and I don't feel encouraged to use it.
Do you plan on adding DMG multiplier of injuries effects based on the hit location?
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Post by rexbannon on Sept 21, 2013 5:33:34 GMT -8
Id like to use it but i also dont want over complicate the game for my players. Most of them are noobs to the tabletop world and couldn't handle it. Besides we try to keep the game realistic and someone who gets shot in the arm with a shot gun at close range is going to lose that arm permanent. Let alone getting shot in the back with a shot gun would insta-kill.
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Post by providence13 on Sept 21, 2013 9:03:58 GMT -8
WE and other damage bonuses are getting to the point where 1/2 player's total damage is lethal. The average person has 25 END. Instead of the opposition just getting crossed off a list or knocked down like playing cards, hit location is adding to the story.
The printed chart is on my home brew GM's screen, so it's easy enough for me to roll it, if needed.
If it isn't used, there's going to be little chance of losing a limb to have it replaced by cybernetics.. The target will just take the necessary amount of "damage" and die.
I don't plan on using damage multipliers for hit locations.. but have toyed with the idea that different areas have different % of total END.
Consider pg 110; According to RAW..
Anyone trying to hack off a hand does 1d10 damage with any kind of suitable weapon.. 8-9 points does such severe nerve damage that no matter the target's END, that hand is useless. By doing 10 pts, that hand is gone, never mind the END of the target. Never mind the STR bonus to damage. You do 1d10. I'm going to assume this is for flesh and blood foes and not robots.
Swinging an axe or sword at an aluminum pipe might not cut through it. If robots are at least steel.. you get my point. How much damage is needed to cut off that medbot's stunner? How much is needed to just disable it?
What if the opponent has a hard crab shell or a bio-engineered replicant hand? I'll bet those are harder to slice and dice.
Thanks for the discussion. I always appreciate the feedback.
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Post by aardvark892 on Sept 21, 2013 16:44:38 GMT -8
There's a fine line between adding the realism of hit locations (and the resulting effects to limbs, for example), and just using "hit" without specifying where. I like the idea of hit locations, but only if you not only figure out END based on each location, but also armor coverage, as in what area's of the body does each armor type cover. It goes without saying (unlike I'm about to) that this adds a large amount of die rolling and time to each and every attack. It's a slippery slope to how different types of attack (electrical, freeze-ray, flamethrower) affect each part of the body as well. As it stands, at least in my upcoming game, we'll probably not use hit locations; we've been playing D&D 3.5 for so long now no one would even notice.
That said, I just had an idea... what if the random location chart included information you could use, such as a percentile reduction or increase of damage based on location, like -30% for a hand hit and X2 for head hits? You could also specify a percent chance based on damage to disable limbs, like "damage incurred = percent chance of the limb being disabled". These are just ideas, of course... the specifics would have to be hammered out if anyone liked that idea.
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Post by providence13 on Sept 21, 2013 23:33:11 GMT -8
Maybe I'll just use GM bias and invoke hit locations whenever it suits the story.  That way, players will learn to call shots if they really want them to matter. There were some charts in old 2300AD. Silhouettes of critters with different boxes on various body locations.. Hit them in a heart shaped box (head or chest), they're dead. Hit them in a diamond shaped box, it's serious but not lethal. There were also a few square boxes scattered inside the animal's outline to show minor wounds that could occur. Every alien race and even animal type (grazer, predator, duck..) had their own chart. Yeah, I like the simplicity in TME. No need to shoot myself in the foot. |
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