Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Called Shots?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 3102104" data-attributes="member: 1457"><p>What effect are you going for? In other words: why do you want called shots?</p><p></p><p>If you want your players to be able to describe how they're attacking, well, let them. "I hack at his neck!" + an attack roll isn't a called shot; it's a fun description. If the attack succeeds (normal roll that beats AC) but doesn't kill the target (normal damage that doesn't exceed HP), describe how the foe barely deflects the lethal blow but keeps on fighting. If the damage exceeds HP, go ahead and describe the foe's head coming clean off. </p><p></p><p>Fun!</p><p></p><p>If the player has been listening to your combat descriptions and comes up with a shot that would be particularly effective (DM: the blackguard leans over to deliver a coup de grace to your fallen comrade! Player: He's leaning over? Called shot to the back of his neck!) then go ahead and reward the player with a circumstance bonus on the attack roll. That's what circumstance bonuses are <em>for</em>.</p><p></p><p>If you want your players to be able to achieve specific game effects, well D&D already handles that. If the intent is to hamper the foe's ability to attack ("Called shot to his eyes!"), then have the player make an "Aid Another" check, aiding a buddy's AC. That's already in the rules. If the intent is to disarm, that's in the rules too. If it's meant to cripple, there are feats for that (Hamstring and other sneak attack feats, or the feats from PHB II that force the target to make saves or suffer Sickened, Stunned, or other conditions).</p><p></p><p>And, again, you can always impose circumstance <em>penalties</em> on the bad guys as a way to reward called shots: </p><p></p><p>DM: The rogue scampers up the wall, fleeing the scene of the crime!</p><p>Player: No way is he getting away! Called shot to his hands!</p><p>DM: Okay that's a -6 circumstance penalty to your attack, but if you hit and do damage he'll have the same penalty to his Climb check.</p><p></p><p>Point is, there are plenty of rules that can cover attacks that aren't vanilla strikes. Use them! And if all the players want is more detail, well, you don't need rules for that. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>-z</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Zaruthustran, post: 3102104, member: 1457"] What effect are you going for? In other words: why do you want called shots? If you want your players to be able to describe how they're attacking, well, let them. "I hack at his neck!" + an attack roll isn't a called shot; it's a fun description. If the attack succeeds (normal roll that beats AC) but doesn't kill the target (normal damage that doesn't exceed HP), describe how the foe barely deflects the lethal blow but keeps on fighting. If the damage exceeds HP, go ahead and describe the foe's head coming clean off. Fun! If the player has been listening to your combat descriptions and comes up with a shot that would be particularly effective (DM: the blackguard leans over to deliver a coup de grace to your fallen comrade! Player: He's leaning over? Called shot to the back of his neck!) then go ahead and reward the player with a circumstance bonus on the attack roll. That's what circumstance bonuses are [i]for[/i]. If you want your players to be able to achieve specific game effects, well D&D already handles that. If the intent is to hamper the foe's ability to attack ("Called shot to his eyes!"), then have the player make an "Aid Another" check, aiding a buddy's AC. That's already in the rules. If the intent is to disarm, that's in the rules too. If it's meant to cripple, there are feats for that (Hamstring and other sneak attack feats, or the feats from PHB II that force the target to make saves or suffer Sickened, Stunned, or other conditions). And, again, you can always impose circumstance [i]penalties[/i] on the bad guys as a way to reward called shots: DM: The rogue scampers up the wall, fleeing the scene of the crime! Player: No way is he getting away! Called shot to his hands! DM: Okay that's a -6 circumstance penalty to your attack, but if you hit and do damage he'll have the same penalty to his Climb check. Point is, there are plenty of rules that can cover attacks that aren't vanilla strikes. Use them! And if all the players want is more detail, well, you don't need rules for that. :) -z [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Called Shots?
Top