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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6668097" data-attributes="member: 4937">If you equate 'head shot' with 'critical hit', you don't fully understand the D&amp;D combat system.&nbsp; A critical hit in 3e or later editions indicates an unusually good hit, but it still in no way specifies the outcome in any fashion.&nbsp; It could still just be a scratch on the arm.&nbsp;&nbsp; We don't actually know until the DM applies hit points to the target.&nbsp; Maybe.&nbsp; Nothing prevents a critical hit from an axe only doing 3 damage (normal strength, minimum damage).&nbsp; The normal person with 4 hit points might be severely lacerated, but he's not dead.&nbsp; And the normal person with 2 hit points, might be dying, but not necessarily dead.&nbsp; In either case, the color of the outcome need not be 'head shot'.&nbsp;&nbsp; The only time 'heat shot' can be equated with critical hit is when the target is a helpless foe and the player colors his proposition with, &quot;I hit him in the head.&quot;The outcome is by no means counter-intuitive, and I've long since given up assuming that situations don't come up in someone's game.&nbsp; All anyone means by that is that they don't come up in their own game.&nbsp; That 20th level commoner is a semi-divine legendary folk hero in his own right.&nbsp; He's the fairy tale figure that tricks giants, befriends talking animals, and wins the hand of the princess even though he's only the 3rd son of the miller.&nbsp; When you swing an axe at Jack, even if you critical hit, the outcome is not necessarily going to be, &quot;Battle axe to the face; Jack's dead.&quot;&nbsp; Jack has 50 hit points, and even his combat skills while shabby compared to Heracles are those of a heroic 5th level fighter.&nbsp; Jack is wounded by your mighty blow, but by dint of his luck and hardiness he has largely dodged aside at the last moment and suffered a serious gash but not mortal wound.&nbsp;&nbsp; Had Jack instead been an ordinary peasant, of course he wouldn't have been as lucky or fleet of foot and so your blow would have landed true and the target would have been dead.&nbsp; That is the expected intuitive result.&nbsp; That's how hit points are interpreted, whether a critical hit is indicated or not.&nbsp; Barring a Coup de Grace, we never in D&amp;D start with, &quot;He's been hit in the head&quot;, and then try to figure out how much hit points he should have lost.&nbsp;&nbsp; Some systems explicitly do that, either by allowing a called shot as a proposition (&quot;I try to hit the orc in the head.&quot;) or by allowing a hit to the head as fortune (&quot;The injury table says Head Shot.&quot;).&nbsp; But D&amp;D isn't such a system.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6668097, member: 4937"] If you equate 'head shot' with 'critical hit', you don't fully understand the D&D combat system. A critical hit in 3e or later editions indicates an unusually good hit, but it still in no way specifies the outcome in any fashion. It could still just be a scratch on the arm. We don't actually know until the DM applies hit points to the target. Maybe. Nothing prevents a critical hit from an axe only doing 3 damage (normal strength, minimum damage). The normal person with 4 hit points might be severely lacerated, but he's not dead. And the normal person with 2 hit points, might be dying, but not necessarily dead. In either case, the color of the outcome need not be 'head shot'. The only time 'heat shot' can be equated with critical hit is when the target is a helpless foe and the player colors his proposition with, "I hit him in the head." The outcome is by no means counter-intuitive, and I've long since given up assuming that situations don't come up in someone's game. All anyone means by that is that they don't come up in their own game. That 20th level commoner is a semi-divine legendary folk hero in his own right. He's the fairy tale figure that tricks giants, befriends talking animals, and wins the hand of the princess even though he's only the 3rd son of the miller. When you swing an axe at Jack, even if you critical hit, the outcome is not necessarily going to be, "Battle axe to the face; Jack's dead." Jack has 50 hit points, and even his combat skills while shabby compared to Heracles are those of a heroic 5th level fighter. Jack is wounded by your mighty blow, but by dint of his luck and hardiness he has largely dodged aside at the last moment and suffered a serious gash but not mortal wound. Had Jack instead been an ordinary peasant, of course he wouldn't have been as lucky or fleet of foot and so your blow would have landed true and the target would have been dead. That is the expected intuitive result. That's how hit points are interpreted, whether a critical hit is indicated or not. Barring a Coup de Grace, we never in D&D start with, "He's been hit in the head", and then try to figure out how much hit points he should have lost. Some systems explicitly do that, either by allowing a called shot as a proposition ("I try to hit the orc in the head.") or by allowing a hit to the head as fortune ("The injury table says Head Shot."). But D&D isn't such a system. [/QUOTE]

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