Armor vs Called Shot and/or Lightsabers

[Law]

Has anyone tooled with the idea of reducing armor resistance bonuses with a called shot? I was thinking of reducing the armor bonus to +1 pip per +1d of resistance vs a called shot. I was curious if anyone had tried something like this and what it's effect was on play and survivability. IF you implemented this rule, what penalty would you assign? Something greater than -1d to the shot? For the most part I would only see this as a tactic employed by PCs and non-fodder NPCs on heavier targets that seem to shrug off damage. Firing on a character with a normal character level strength and a blast vest or light armor would probably just benefit from an extra shot on them during the round..

Additionally, as we are using something similar to the no MAPs LS Combat variant which has nerfed LS damage to some extent, I was considering using this reduction of armor on all resistance rolls against Lightsabers.

Just looking for some thoughts.

[Bren]

We have not ever decreased the armor. Though we allow some extra damage for shots that are rolled above the number needed to hit. I think we use +1 pip damage per 5 over the difficulty. I believe we also allowed increasing the damage by increasing the difficulty as a called shot. Something like -2D to the attack roll = +1D damage for placing the shot in a critical or vulnerable location. In general we have gone with increasing the damage rather than decreasing the armor.

Since lightsaber combat already allows a Jedi a way to increase their damage, I probably wouldn't allow the Jedi to also decrease the armor.

[Law]

I think the dilemma over increasing base damage with a called shot was that -2d for +1d of damage is actually more beneficial than +1 pip per 5 over the difficulty (which we were/are using). -3d for +1d would be the same scale but I guess the disadvantage of the called shot for slightly higher damage on a sucess would be the greater chance of failure with no damage inflicted.

Lightsaber damage was more of an after-thought. What I have to ask myself is if I feel the base damage of a lightsaber is any more or less effective against armored opponents then a heavy blaster pistol based on what we see in canon. Given, most stormies go down in one shot from any blaster in the movies, which is generally how I handle the canon fodder in my games when confronted in large numbers.
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"Mister, we deal in lead."
-Vin (Steve McQueen) The Magnificent Seven

"Nothing wrong with a little shooting, as long as the right people get shot."
-Turk (De Niro) Righteous Kill

[garhkal]

Depending on the armor, i have allowed anywhere from a +5 to +15 called shot (the + adds to the diff to hit) to totally bypass the protection. So say someone in standard stormie armor (+10). If you hit, you just managed to get it past the plating.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[kinfo_howlingwolf]

What I never understood was that the only standard advantage a called shot did was hitting an unarmored piece of meat. In other games I played a headshot over a regular body shot did more damage. Does anyone think it would make sense having maybe another die added to the dmg?

[Raven Redstar]

In the 2nd Ed R&E they have an optional rule for head shots doing +1D damage.
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RR
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[CRMcNeill]

Should it just be for head shots? Most weapons would tend to do more damage at very close ranges, as the energy of the shot / attack hasn't dissipated to the degree that it might over a greater range.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[ZzaphodD]

[ZzaphodD]

[CRMcNeill]

[ZzaphodD]

[garhkal]

As an option.. one player i had at a con game was suggesting an advanced skill for performing more damaging called shots...
Each 2D your advanced skill is, you get to add 1d to damage.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Naaman]

Our method has always been to increase the difficulty and reduce the resistance (for a head shot).

For the sake of a game, I think its appropriate to impose a risk/tradeoff between damage and accuracy. Its harder to hit a smaller target, after all.

A couple of other thimgs that we do to overcome armor are inspired by real life. Double tapping which counts as a single action and uses one additional round of ammo allows the character to add 1D to damage if his roll is 5 over the target's dodge. If he only rolls 4 (or less) over he rolls normal damage but still uses up the additional round.

The armor drill (two in the chest, one in the head) works exactly like the double tap but you spend three rounds and if you roll 10 over your target does not get the benefit of armor (unless he's wearing a helmet) and his strength is reduced to the minimum for his species. Notr that for the armor drill you still get the bemefits of the double tap.