Critical hits?

[Robot Ron]

Am I correct in assuming that there are no official rules pertaining to critical hits or excessive success in combat? Do any of you have any sort of house rules you play with? I'm wondering, because last session one of my players got something like a 46 when he only needed about 15 to hit, and we figured it should have done more than 4D of damage. I think I let him roll a few extra damage dice, but I don't remember that clearly. Anyways, how do you think that attack rolls should affect damage?
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[Crell Damar]

when you successfully hit someone, you do the weapon's damage

if he rolled 42, he really creamed the guy's attempt to avoid the attack, but when it comes down to it, can he really do any damage?
it's not likely that you'll be able to kill a barbel with a hold-out blaster, that's the way the system works. Hit only determines whether or not your attack is sucessful

[Son of Fire]

For some reason I can’t picture Star Wars with critical charts.
Perhaps its because I don’t really see it as “graphic”.
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[Loc Taal]

On page 63 of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Second Edition) book, it says "If gamemasters wish, they may increase or decrease the damage of an attack depending upon where the character is hit. Torso hits subtract one die from damage total, head hits add one die, and limb attacks are treated normally". You could use a variation of that rule to say that if a character beats a dodge/parry roll by a certain number (maybe 10 or 15 points?) they automatically hit their opponent in the head, doing +1D damage...
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[Crell Damar]

yeah, i usually give a damage bonus if the character decides to shoot someone in the eye...

it's all GM's discretion

[Volar the Healer]

A hit is a hit. A miss is a miss.

I look for critical hits in the damage roll. If the attacker scores really high while the defender rolls really low, then I give a graphic description. I also sometimes change kills to maims...so the character can continue. But, he might continue with the need for a cybernetic eye or cloned hand.

This allows a popular character (one the rest of the group likes) to continue, but adds something cool to the character's story. If a character is unpopular with the group, I allow the player a chance to write up one more supportive of the group.
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[garhkal]

Well, one thing you can do, to simulate critical hits, is use the Dice pooling method from Rules of Engagement. There are a few ways to do this.

1) Straight up dice switching. Taking off 1 or more die from your too hit pool to add into the damage.
Eg you have 8d+2 in firearms, and you know you are going to easily hit that sentery as he is oblivious to your presence. BUT you know you must drop him in that one shot, so you take 3d off your to hit pool, to add to the damage (offsetting some of his armor).
2) Differential die pooling. Where say, for every +3-5 you add into the to hit difficulty, you add 1D to damage.


The above are just two ways.

Then you have called shots. Like bypassing the enemies armor. While this is harder, as it adds a good chunk to the diff (2d base, plus going for something small might add a further 4d). If you do hit, the damage goes around his armor.
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[KageRyu]

I just recently started testing my own critical hit's system which is so very easy to use, with limitted math involved. I am handling it like so:

• Attack Roll > 2 x Difficulty = +1D damage to represent a well placed hit.
• Attack Roll > 3 x Difficulty = +2D damage for an exceptional hit.
• Attack Roll > 4 x Difficulty = +3D damage for a superb hit.
Etc...
It is rare that anyone will ever get more than the +1D, unless at point black and with a very high skill. The Difficulty is the final, modified difficulty, after all modifiers for cover, movement, and dodging are added. The bonus are not cummulative. Just thought I'd share.

This system is a mirror of the 1st edition wound to damage comparison, which for me, makes it particularly easy to remember.
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[Gry Sarth]

We use a very empiric system, if you roll absurdly high, something higher than heroic when it was a moderate shot, we add +1D to the damage. We really don't know how much higher you have to roll. It simply that gut feeling when the guy rolls his dice and the entire table says "WOW", that's a +1D.

And I always try to give some description to injuries, be them stuns or killed shots, though it's more fun to describe how you completely blew off the guy's head, vaporizing it into a reddish dust cloud, and the rest of his body falls limp on the ground, bleeding on the sand.

[Boomer]

I prefer the die-pool/increased difficulty for called shots. For just a standard hit and damage, rolling really well on the hit I do not modify damage. I also don't take away damage for barely hitting.

To increase damage in that fashion, you need to roll super well on the damage roll. That's my ruling.
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[gollummen]

We were thinking about using the following rule:

"For every 10 points the attack exceeds the defence the damage is increased by +1D"

Any thoughts?

[entropy]

[gollummen]

Thanks for the advice entropy. I had not thought of that.

I tink this rule will only apply when you are hitting targets at the same scale.

[garhkal]

How about make it a called shot benefit. For each +5 you wish to take on the to hit difficulty, you can add 1d to damage, but you decide ahead of the shot how many dice bonus you are trying for. If you fail, you missed.

EG harcxixa has 9d in blaster, and is shooting an unaware Zero G trooper. Knowing that the armor is thick, he knows he needs a high damage roll to drop the trooper. Being he is at medium range (moderate diff) and the trooper cannot dodge (he has not been seen) he chooses to try for a +4d bonus to his damage (+20 to the to hit roll, +5 base for making a called shot). His total is now 20+5+moderate (11-15, which the gm set at 14) for a total of 39. Harcxixa rolls a 36 and misses.
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[Error]

Is ther an official "called shot" rule?
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