Help! Body location hit rules?

[Zander]

Are there any rules for hitting particular parts of the body? If so, where (book and page #)?

What's the penalty on your attack roll to hit someone on the head?

 

[the Jester]

Hm, the DMG has a section on damage to specific body parts, but I don't know of any 3e rules for hit location determination off hand. It all goes along with the abstract combat system- hit points and all that, you know.

 

[kreynolds]

What the Jester said. dkilgo and myself have been working on a house rule for locational damage, but my god, it just gets more and more complicated as time goes by.

 

[Zander]

It all goes along with the abstract combat system- hit points and all that, you know.

Yes, I know. But I need to determine the likelihood of hitting someone in the face. Any suggestions?

 

[Umbran]

Yes, I know. But I need to determine the likelihood of hitting someone in the face. Any suggestions?

That depends - why do you need to know the likelyhood of hitting them in the face, and what effect do you expect it to have?

 

[pogre]

At the risk of sending this to the house rule section why not have players roll percentiles to hit instead of D20?
01-05 = 1
06-10 = 2
11-15 = 3
etc.

Reverse the percentile rolls
01-10 = head
11-25 = rt arm
26-40 = lt arm
41-80 = torso
81-90 = rt leg
91-00 = lt leg

Taken straight from WFRP.

 

[Zander]

That depends - why do you need to know the likelyhood of hitting them in the face, and what effect do you expect it to have?

Good question. Unfortunately, I can't answer the first part because it's for a d20 product I'm in the process of writing and I can't talk about it until it goes to print. In answer to the second part, it's only really a touch attack. It doesn't have to do physical damage.

I was thinking perhaps -4 on the attack roll to touch someone's face. But perhaps -6 or -8 would be better. What do you think?

 

[Wee Jas]

Where are my Top Secret rules when I need them?!

 

[Umbran]

What do you think?

Admittedly, I'm working with limited information. However, what I think it, "You don't want to open that can of worms."

You introduce this one thing that does something special when you hit a certain body location. That sets a precedent that hit location can matter. You then get the flood of questions about every other possible hit-location effect, "Hey, Ray of Frost is only a ranged touch attack! I don't want to do extra damage, but if I hit in the face, do I freeze his eyes and blind him?" The number of possibilities are endless...

There's a reason why hit location means nothing in the core rules - it's more trouble than it's worth. Some may think it adds some verisimilitude to fights, but it also bogs combat down.

You need to have a really, really good reason to make one thing depend on hit location, when nothing else in the game does.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Are there any rules for hitting particular parts of the body? If so, where (book and page #)?

What's the penalty on your attack roll to hit someone on the head?

You could:

1. Work it like the old Carrion Crawler. Give one AC for attacking the face and another AC for general attacks.

2. Work it like "Striking an Object". Or, specifically, like striking a worn helm that isn't actually there.

Attacking a held, carried, or worn object provokes an attack of opportunity. Objects that are held, carried, or worn by a combatant, are harder to hit. The object uses the combatant's Dexterity modifier (not its own –5) and any magic deflection bonus to AC the combatant may have. The attacker doesn't get any special bonus for attacking the object. If the target object is in the opponent's hand, it gets a +5 AC bonus because the opponent can move it quickly out of harm's way.

Table: Size and AC of Objects

Size AC Modifier
----- -----------
Colossal -8
Gigantic -4
Huge -2
Large -1
Medium-size +0
Small +1
Tiny +2
Diminutive +4
Fine +8

Treat a head like a Tiny object. The final AC will be 10+Dex bonus+armor bonus if wearing real helm+2 for Tiny "object". And definitely make this attack provoke an AoO.

3. Use a random hit location table with each strike (tip: use a different table for piercing attacks).

4. Make it so a natural 20 = head shot.


I'd refrain from writing a "random head shot chance" into your rules. If a head shot has a special effect upon something for plot reasons, then make the PCs deliberately target the head (I recommend the "attack an object" rule). Don't leave it up to chance.

In fact, I'd just go with this:

5. Make the players describe each attack. If the player describes that he's attacking the head, and rolls a hit, then guess what: he just hit the head. If player is not specific, assume he or she picked a target other than the head.

-z, who prefers hearing players say "I swing at his legs! Then I reverse the motion, coming up under his arm!" instead of "I attack twice. I hit. I miss." Or, worse, "16. 12. Does the 16 hit?"