Post your favorite Critical Hit charts!

Oryan77 · Apr 20, 2010

I'm looking for some good rules for Critical Hitting where you roll to target body parts and suffer some type of penalty from it other than just extra damage. I'm not looking for anything that is going to cripple a character in the long run, just things to give a small penalty until the wound is healed.

So far I'm not finding anything I like, so I'm wondering what rules other people use that work well in their game.

slwoyach · Apr 20, 2010

The only chart I use is a location chart. The victim must then make a fortitude saved based upon the amount of damage he took. Failure means he takes a penalty to all actions that involve that location equal to the amount he failed by, this penalty lessens by 1 point per day. Failing by 10 is bad. Failing by 10 on a head shot is VERY bad.

ChimericDream · Apr 21, 2010

slwoyach, would you mind sharing your crit table? I also am interested in different people's approaches to the question.

slwoyach · Apr 21, 2010

1–2 Right leg
3–4 Left leg
5 Abdomen
6–7 Torso
8 Right arm
9 Left arm
10 Head

I lifted it right from 2e combat and tactics, though I'm thinking of updating the table to take different forms of attack into account. For one I find being twice as likely in a knife fight to strike your opponent's leg as his arm a bit odd.

ValhallaGH · Apr 21, 2010

Try out the hit location table from the Original Deadlands

1d20 (odd left, even right)
1-4 Leg
5-10 Lower Guts
11-14 Arm
15-19 Upper Guts
20 Head

If attacking in melee, +2 to the location roll (max of 20). If elevated, +1 to the location roll.
So, you'll always stab them between the thighs and the head (inclusive), and you're much more likely to hit the torso, arms, or head in melee than the legs. If you're standing on a table or riding a war mount, then you'll hit them in the leg 1 out of 20 times, and in the head 4 out of 20 times (guts get hit 11 out of 20 times).

slwoyach · Apr 21, 2010

The +2 modifier for melee is a good idea, but I don't think there needs to be a difference between upper and lower guts. I'm thinking I'll make a 3d6 chart with the least likely areas on the two extremes.

Oryan77 · Apr 21, 2010

This was my first unfinished rough draft based on a chart in the Toolbox. Then I posted here to get better ideas.

1d20
1 Abdomen / bleed 1 point/round
2 Right-side ribs /
3 Upper back /
4 Right-side hip /
5 Right thigh / -5 ft. base speed
6 Upper main-hand shoulder / -2 penalty to physical actions
7 Upper main-hand arm / -2 penalty to physical actions
8 Lower main-hand arm / -2 penalty to attack rolls
9 Main-hand / -4 penalty to attack rolls with main-hand
10 Neck /
11 Chest / -2 penalty to Con until healed
12 Left-side ribs /
13 Lower back /
14 Left-side hip /
15 Left thigh / -5 ft. base speed
16 Upper off-hand shoulder / -2 penalty to physical actions
17 Upper off-hand arm / -2 penalty to physical actions
18 Lower off-hand arm / -2 penalty to attack rolls
19 Off-hand / -4 penalty to attack rolls with off-hand
20 Head / +1 critical hit multiplier

Theo R Cwithin · Apr 21, 2010

Question about hit-location charts in general: How do you account for multiple legs, wings, double heads and the like? Different chart, or do entries on the one chart do double duty?

Oryan77 · Apr 22, 2010

the_orc_within said:
Question about hit-location charts in general: How do you account for multiple legs, wings, double heads and the like? Different chart, or do entries on the one chart do double duty?

I made this for monsters but I didn't post it since a 1d30 die isn't very popular:
21-22 Tail / Fort save (DC equal to damage) or tail is severed
23-24 Tentacle / -4 penalty to physical actions
25-26 Additional Off-Hand / -4 penalty to attack rolls with wounded off-hand
27-28 Right-side wing / -10 ft. base flying speed
29-30 Left-side wing / -10 ft. base flying speed

I figure if I roll a result that the monster doesn't have, I'd just roll again.

ValhallaGH · Apr 22, 2010

slwoyach said:
The +2 modifier for melee is a good idea, but I don't think there needs to be a difference between upper and lower guts.

I'm reproducing a subsystem from an existing RPG product. That's the way it was written, that's what I'm giving you. (Minus the vitals entry).
It actually comes up a lot in that game due to the nature of cover. Because you roll hit location for every single shot, and someone's lower guts might be behind three inches of oaken bar while their upper guts were protected by a homespun shirt, having the distinction between upper and lower guts matters a lot.
The "Gizzards" (vital organs of the torso) are located throughout the guts, so if any of the Guts area was exposed then the Gizzards could be hit, even if one or the other areas were fully covered by a (relatively) impenetrable barrier.
That rules set uses extra damage for vital locations. +1 weapon die for the Gizzards (10) and +2 weapon dice for the Noggin (20). For each +5 you beat the "defense" by, you could adjust your hit location roll by +/- 1; so beat it by 18 and you could adjust hit location by +/- 3.
Maiming wounds to an area rendered it unusable (further wounds amputated it). Serious (or greater) wounds bleed out, and after a certain amount of blood loss cause a wound to the Guts. Maimed guts or heads mean that the character is dead.
Most monsters have between four and eight total limbs, making the table useful at all phases. Additionally, most have no more than two sections of torso (Abdomen and Thorax), making that distinction useful for giant ants, wasps, and such.
Two headed creatures take head-shots on a 19 or 20 (odd left, even right).
Hydras, and other really weird monsters get their own chart.

Good luck

Post your favorite Critical Hit charts!

Oryan77

Adventurer

slwoyach

First Post

ChimericDream

First Post

slwoyach

First Post

ValhallaGH

Explorer

slwoyach

First Post

Oryan77

Adventurer

Theo R Cwithin

I cast "Baconstorm!"

Oryan77

Adventurer

ValhallaGH

Explorer

Similar Threads