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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7113305" data-attributes="member: 996">After mana/spell-point systems and critical hits, called shots & hit locations were probably the most-done variants back in the day.  Maybe a distant third, but they were certainly out there.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  Mostly, like mana systems, they were terrible.  D&D hps were (and are) an admirably abstract system encompassing all the otherwise impractical-to-model vagaries of combat, and called-shot systems tended to undermine that.One simple alternative for fight-ending called shots (like decapitations or the like), is to just rule that the character reducing the target to 0 hps gets to call how it happens, including consequences other than death or unconsciousness.   Better than most called shot systems I've seen.  You're pulling in extant sub-systems - disadvantage, reactions, saves, & conditions - rather than making up a lot out of whole cloth.  And, you haven't quite made it an end-run around the hp/damage sub-system (which is a huge part of how 5e scales, so bypassing it would be disastrous).  You might put added requirements on very potent conditions, like stunned - maybe that the target have only so many hps left, or that the attack deal damage of at least some fraction of original or remaining hps, or only a lesser condition is imposed.With called shot attempts reducing your overall expected DPR (because of the disadvantage & possibly cover), and requiring three d20 rolls in your favor to work (a hit with disadvantage and a failed save), I suspect the 'danger' would be with them going un-used, or succeeding so seldom as to make little impact, rather than being terribly OP.  (Not that you need to beef them up or anything, as a basic combat option open to all, they just can't be that powerful, anyway).If you want to make them a little more impactful (more likely to actually do something other than make you miss), you could find some other way to limit how often they can be attempted.  Maybe they could require Inspiration (or CS or SA dice), for instance?</blockquote>

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