Critical Hits with a Lightsaber (graphic)

[Exoviper]

Critical Hit Table (Lightsaber)
If a one is rolled on the Wild Die while rolling to resist injury, a Critical Hit has occurred. Ignore the damage results and roll a D20:

1. Arm severed. Roll 1D: Odd= Left, Even= right. Player is Wounded.

2. Hand severed. Roll 1D: Odd= Left, Even= right. Player is Wounded.

3. Jaw severred. The saber slices horizontally through the player's face with ease. The Character's smoking jaw clatters onto the floor. Player is Wounded but suffers from 1D rounds of shock (stun). Now would be a good time to call that Cyber Doctor..

4. Saber Power Surge! A temporary power surge causes the blade to flare brilliantly, doubling the blade width for a split second. Damage is increased x2!

5. Blade Frequency Hiccup. While swinging the saber, the hilt begins to vibrate for a moment and the blade dims slightly. Damage is cut in half, rounded down.

6. Blinded! The blade passes horizontally through the character's eye cavities, frying everything in its swath. Player is wounded, blind, and suffers 1D rounds from horror/shock (Stun).

7. Gut slash, angled. The blade slices through the character's belly with a sharp hiss! Steaming entrails fall at the character's feet. The Character is incapacitated. First aid difficulties are doubled until the character moves to Wounded Twice status.

8. Impalment, Heart. With a sharp thrust, the blade enters and character's chest, exiting out the back. The Character is mortally wounded and will die in 1D rounds.

9. Impalment, Face. With a sharp thrust, the blade enters and character's mouth, exiting out the back of the skull. Intense heat causes the living tissue to ignite. Character is Killed.

10. Both legs severred! The blade passes through both limbs, under the knees with a hum! Character is Wounded Twice, and suffers 1D rounds from shock (stun). Move reduced to a crawl (1/4).

11. Prolonged impalement, Torso. With a sharp thrust, the saber enters the characters chest and exits the back, without retrieval. After a second or two, the character begins to ignite, burning from the inside out until gravity pulls the corpse through the blade. Character is killed.

12. Miss! Looks like today is your lucky day!

13. Figure Eight Fatality! The saber dances across the character's body with a dazzling array of martial prowess! After seeming unaffected for a moment, the character's body parts begin to slide off one at a time until only two body-less legs remain standing. Character is killed.

14. Vertical slash. The saber blade enters the groin and exits the forehead. both body halves slump to either side, smoking. Character is killed.

15. Bowel explosion! A small knick in the gut ignites a large pocket of intestinal gas. Roll 1D:
1-5: A high-pressure stream is fire erupts from the wound before a ball of flame exits the character's mouth and nose. Character is incapacitated from severe internal burns.
6: The character explodes dealing 4D damage for 3 meters. Flaming body parts rain down. Character is killed.

16. Decapitation! 'Nuff said. Player is killed

17. Blade Polarity Reversal: A small failure in the power cell containment gives the blade electrical effects. Instead of cutting, a wave of coursing, dazzling arcs of electricity are brought down upon the character. Character suffers only stun damage!

18. Colon fried! The blade...er well, just use your imagination. A shallow thrust wounds the character. Move is reduced by one quarter.

19. Vertical Spinal Tap. A vertical slash begins at the tailbone, following up the length of the spinal column, and exiting between the shoulder blades. Player is Mortally Wounded. The character will die in 1D rounds.

20. Coup de Gras of the Lotus. The assailent creates a dizzying display of blade acrobatics, slicing at imperceivable speeds like an artist. The very air around the defending character is superheated in the flurry. Once the burning breeze dies down, all that remains of the defender is a pile of ash, twisting in the wind. Character is killed......duh!

[/i]
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[Gry Sarth]

[Boomer]

Some of the things on that chart I have never seen a lightsaber do, and I doubt I ever will.

My suggestion, just use the D6 hit location table. The part hit is severed.
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I'm Boba the Fett!
And I bounty hunt for Jabba Hutt,
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[Gry Sarth]

I don't know about you, but I always play out my lightsaber battles. Grab a broomstick and simulate the fight blow by blow. So if someone scores a very high damage, it becomes quite clear what happened to the target by seeing what kind of blow he took.
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"He's Gry Sarth, of course he has the stats for them."

[Akari]

Honestly? No way! I'm glad the D6 system has no critical hits and I would never use this, especially not with a lightsaber! Jedis are supposed to have more or less complete control over their blades, able to adjust damage up or down.

Lets say you have a Jedi with 4d in Control. A drunkard attacks him and the jedi parries and scales down damage of his lightsaber to 1d to not hurt him more then, say a bruise. Still there is a 1 in 6 chance he cuts something off or kills him outright? I don't think so...

[Exoviper]

Ah, thus the beauty of the "House Rule." Its use can be relative to those who are interested in using it. My group loves these kinds of things.

Honestly I prefer the critical hit chart for blaster damage. This is just something to add a little flare from the norm, if you will.

One hole this chart is the fact that a saber is weapon of elegance and precision. Blasters are far more random in their effects.

Anyhoo, to each his/her own 8)
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[Exoviper]

[Neo-Paladin]

I thought about suggesting the 3-D6 but the statistics wouldn't be the same. With 1-D20, there is a 1:20 chance of rolling any number, flat probability distribution. The probability distribution is a bell curve for 3-D6. Not to say 3-D6 wouldn’t work, but you might want to adjust where things sit on the table.
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Science is organized knowldge, wisdom is organized life
-Kant

[Sandokiri]

Also a serious question. If these "critical hit tables" are supposed to reflect a botch on the soak roll, then why do some of the "critical hits" strictly penalise the attacker? Scenario.

"Ok, Darth Vader's getting really annoyed by yer Full Parry rolls, so he blows a DSP* and an FP in the same round, trebling his rolls... this round, he beats yer Parry by 87 points, and rolls 29d against, what's yer Strength, 2d+2? Roll it."

-The GM rolls 29d for Vader's saber damage, and gets... 120.
-The player rolls soak... and gets 6, w1 +2=9.

"Oo, that's a 1 on the wild die... but it doesn't matter. Take 113 damage... that's higher than 17, and therefore a kill. Vader cleaves you in half vertically..."

"Wait! Don't I get to roll on the Critical Hit Table?"

"Yeah..."

-A d20 is rolled and the result is 12...

"HA! Vader MISSES me after all! HA!"

*"Blowing a DSP" was our group's vernacular for calling on the Dark Side to get an FP. As this could be used "in addition to any force points used in the same round," we interpreted it as cumulative (and double-double = treble.) Vader is being presented with "only" 8d control, just for example.
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*Find yer own truth.*

[Exoviper]

I didn't know that DSP's could be used. I assumed that they acted as a tally.

Personally, I like using the chart (which I made off the top of my head) to add a bit of gory "flare." You're right though. Mabey I should edit # 12, removing the penalty....It is a pealty on the receiving end of the damage, after all.
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[Sandokiri]

[Firehawk0220]

[jmanski]

[Firehawk0220]