Hit location, and armor

[Snapshot]

I'm new to the d6 system and I'm a bit uncertain about some of the mechanics of combat damage.

If you don't use hit locations in your game, how do you handle armor that doesn't cover all body parts (eg., a flak jacket that gives +1D to the torso only)?

If you allow called shots on hit locations, do you find your players call "head shot" a lot since the penalty is only +1D (REUP edition)? +1D while target shooting seems plausible; in the heat of battle, I don't know...

[Naaman]

One way you could resolve this issue is to use the random hit locations; however, I find that to be a little bit too artificial.

You could rule that since body armor is designed to protect the most vital organs, that a shot is always assumed to hit the armor (giving the target the benefit of the doubt) unless the attacker accepts a difficulty increase to call a shot.

As for a +1D on the difficulty level for a head shot, I give the defender a +10 bonus on their dodge roll (or raise the difficulty by +10 if the target isn't choosing to dodge) anytime the shooter calls a shot to any location as specific as the head; and it's an all or nothing affair (they hit the head or they miss the character all together--there is no "you rolled high enough to hit the torso but not the head").

[garhkal]

[Mamatried]

I think the main reason that there is no hit location system is that the game take into account that in fact, most shot that are somewhat aimed are aimed at the largest part of the body, torso.
So I think most hits represent torso hits.


Called shots, or even for the defender a +/- to his damage roll could indicate a limb.

Most wounds to head and torso will be deadly, or close to, while a shot to the arm is less deadly, but more than enough to knock you out, stun etc.

A hit location system could however be a welcommed addition

[garhkal]

If i wanna use a hit location system, i've often defaulted to a modified version of the B/tech hit locations.
roll 2d6
2 right leg
3-4 right arm
5-8 Torso
9-10 left arm
11 left leg
12 head
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Raven Redstar]

I've used a D12 over the years. (Yes, I know it's not a D6, but it's nice to get some use from my full polyhedral sets.)

1: Head
2: Chest:
3: Right Shoulder/Upper Arm
4: Left Shoulder/Upper Arm
5: Right Hand/Lower Arm
6: Left Hand/Lower Arm
7: Gut
8: Groin
9: Right Upper Leg
10: Left Upper Leg
11: Right Lower Leg/Foot
12: Left Lower Leg/Foot
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RR
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[Mamatried]

NICE!

[Dredwulf60]

I developed a system where every shot, by default, has armor bonuses applied. (as mentioned by naaman, and others, most armor is meant to cover the most-often hit parts of the body)

If the person still gets wounded, even with the bonus to the soak roll, then one interpretation is that the blast hit a weak (or non existent) portion of the armor). Of course the other interpretation is that the shot penetrated the armor.

I let context, type of armor and weapon dictate which it is, narratively.

When I was running my Mandalorian based game, armor types, styles and coverage played a significant part.

I had a system to calculate 'coverage'.

So while normal shots defaulted to armour, a character had the option of trying to aim for a weak spot, or non-armored spot.

The coverage number was added to the difficulty. If the attack roll surpassed the coverage, then the target couldn't use any armor bonuses to soak the damage.

So very sparse armor might have a coverage of 6. So a 10 would become a 16.

Very extensive armor might have a coverage of 20. So a 10 would become a 30. Much harder to find the weak or un-armored spot.

[garhkal]

That is an interesting method.. Do you have a chart showing all that 'coverage' bonuses?
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Mamatried]

Looking at what happens if you loose a leg, reduced dex.
then I would actually say it can be quite relevant for hit locatons.

A called shot is a called shot, but an accidental shot can just as easily hita guy's leg as his chest, and at least if he has a chest armor nothing much happens, but if the leg is hit, with armors that do state cover upper body, then this wound, even if only resulting a slight stun should hinder movement and influence dex for moveing at least.

you won't be a worse shot if you have leg missing, but an arm...etc

[Naaman]

[Naaman]

[Mamatried]

[Naaman]

I see. In that case, I think it is also important to realize that a hit on the leg has no chance of instantly killing the target; so no matter what damage was rolled, a result of "killed" should be reduced at a minimum to "mortally wounded" (because, for example, the femoral artery was severed).

Another thing to consider is cover. Are the legs behind hard cover? If so, then did the character get a cover bonus? And if so, and he was still hit, then there are limits as to what body parts can still be hit.

The "simple way" to do this is to let the GM narrate what happens. Using a hit location chart (such as the one given in the rule book) may be good enough if all you're looking for is a quick and dirty solution. You could even roll hit location before rolling damage, though I would recommend letting a miss on a called shot be a miss all together, rather than letting a roll "still hit" if it was within the margin of error of the called shot.

Does that make sense?

[Mamatried]