Combat damage thoughts??

[garhkal]

One rule i 'showcased' 2 gencons ago, i have started to use more frequently, is when an npc (since it mostly happens with them) shoots a PC on a called shot (legs, arms mostly) what ever 'damage' is scored, is lessened 2 catagories, and applied overall to the person.

EG stormtrooper commander, just took over the Eweb, after witnessing both of his stormtroopers go down. The pcs have already taken 13 of his 20 stormies out of the combat, and so this commander is really peeved, but he is under explisit orders to take prisoners.
His movement is over (and also ends that round).
Next round, he drops a force point (one of his 2 he has), and takes 4 shots, all being called shots.

He wins initiave. His first shot, streaks out and tags PC #5 (who he feels has caused the most damage so far), and scores a brutal hit on the left leg, destroying it outright (30+ overflow of damage). Since incap is 2 levels lower than death, the leg gets the kill, while the pc overall takes the incap..

His second shot (after successfully dodging the pcs counter shots), takes pc #7's weapon arm out, but only gets a mortal wound on, rendering it useless until healed. The pc though takes a wound overall...

First off. Whom likes that rule?
Do you feel 2 level difference is a good one, or should it be 1 level? 3 levels??? No levels?
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[Sandokiri]

White Hats with Force Points? Scary.

The only thing I don't like about this called-shot mechanic is that it doesn't define what happens if you get a natural Stunned or Wounded result; the result would end up being no damage.

Might I propose an alternative, which is a variant of the Maimed rule.

Kiri's Optional Variant Rule: Shooting to Not-Kill

Whenever a character deals enough damage (after soak rolls) to deal Incapacitated or better damage, he may choose to lessen the damage by exactly two ranks (Incapacitated to Stunned, Mortally Wounded to Wounded, or Killed to Incapacitated) and apply the hit to a specific hit location, inflicting a special-effect injury.

In general:

Stunned results in a -2d penalty to certain checks, until healed.
Wounded renders the affected checks impossible, until healed.
Incapacitated inflicts a permanent "Maiming" injury.

Arm Shots: Character is disarmed of anything in that arm's hand; penalty applies to Dexterity, Mechanical, Technical, and Strength skill/attribute checks, except for soak rolls against damage.
Maiming injuries are often sever results (such as the Jedi's cho-mai manoeuvre.)

Leg Shots: Character is knocked prone; penalty applies to Dexterity and Strength skill/attribute checks, except for soak rolls.
Move is reduced by 2 for a Stunned result, or reduced *to* 1 for a Wounded.
Maiming injuries are often crushed hips or severs (such as a Jedi's cho-sun manoeuvre.) "Getting one's butt shot off" is also a potential, if embarrassing, effect of such a critical hit on a leg.

Head Shots: Character is knocked prone: penalty applies to all skill/attribute checks except Strength. On a stunned hit, the effects on Perception and Knowledge* only last for 1d rounds, or for 30 minutes for a wounded.
Maiming injuries often inflict partial or total blindness, deafness, or loss of speech capacity.
*Regaining mental faculties is one thing. The vertigo effects on Dex, Mech, and Tech which result from a good Boom Headshot... something else entirely.

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In short, just an expansion on yer idea. Try it out, take it or leave it as you see fit. ^^
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"Worry to lose is to lead to the evil augury."
*Find yer own truth.*

[garhkal]

[Liquidsabre]

This called-shot HR looks pretty good, though I probably wouldn't allow called-shots with such a large weapon system and I only allow FPs for heroic characters and the bigger-villains in a game.

The 2 stage decrease should work nicely.

[garhkal]

[Firehawk0220]

These are precisely the difficulties that practically forced me to scrap the stock rules entirely and write my own.

Personally, I think that energy weapons damage (except lightsabers) should soak, but be halved or something in the soak to other areas. However they shouldn't soak until the section that was hit was destroyed completely.

Additionally, I agree that called shots with such a weapons system would practically be impossible. One would likely only be able to shoot high or shoot low. Then I'd roll the location accordingly.

[Phalanks Balas]

Regarding damage localisation, I prefer to limit maximum injury possible for the character and allow "special" additive result. For limbs, maximum damage is incapacited with amputation needed (no healing allowed with medpac) on 16+ damage result (dead limb). I don't add damage level on head or other part of the body.
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Phalanks

A day you will be facing the guns of the Black Pearl. You will know what means damned pirates !

[Firehawk0220]

[garhkal]

Fare enough... but part of me, still feels that if a limb takes damage, the body overall should still have some 'lesser' damage....
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Firehawk0220]

[Liquidsabre]

[scott2978]

I sort of disagree.

What you're saying is that if a person's arm or leg gets shot off, they CAN'T die from it. That just sounds silly to me.

What should the effect of losing an arm or leg be? It should depend on the situation, and the GM should decide what the effect is based on the needs of the game and realism. If the victim needs to survive, or if the PC shooting him intended for him to survive, then he should be allowed to survive. If not, well then maybe the shooter got lucky and took off not just the arm but that whole side of his torso. It also depends on who's getting shot. If it's a PC, then it's just too cool to let them die, a missing limb would be more fun. Especially since it's Star Wars and plenty of cool prostetics are available from normal looking and feeling limbs to droid parts. In the end I don't think a damage system is the answer, and that's probably why none was presented in the main book.

Scott

[Gry Sarth]

Agreed. What amount of "real" damage a character suffers when he has a limb severed depends greatly on the situation and what's the best way for a scene to play out. Normally I'd say that a character who has an arm or leg blown off is Incapacitated. But sometimes it's fitting that the oponnent just keeps on fighting, regardless of his missing limb, so great is his drive and obstination. In that case I'll assign a Wounded or Wounded twice status.
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[cheshire]

I've missed this thread before now. I'm rather sorry that I did. Thanks for the resurrection on it.

I think I like the "two levels less" theory with a limb shot. Wounding an arm won't necessarily render the person completely out of comission, though anything with that limb could suffer a penalty. Someone with a broken arm could conceivably run away just as well. Someone with a leg blown clean off will probably need complete assistance considering the shock they'd be in.

I like this.

[Pel]

I like it also. Very handy when a character is attempting to shoot for a specific effect, e.g. not killing the alive-only bounty, just blowing off a limb or two to slow them down.
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Aha!