Monk's and broken limbs!

[Corlon]

wouldn't it be cool to see a half-orc challenge an elvish or halfing monk to a fight, then when he tries to punch, the monk grabs his arm and snaps it!

There should be rules for this, and if not for grab/break, mabye something to do with grappling??

 

[Valmur_Dwur]

That would be flavor text for a rolled threat then critical IMC. Why add more rules? Use the ones we have. But yes that is a cool image

 

[Virgil Sagecaster]

This add more description and detail on what happens to a creature that a monk this scored a critical hit on........(Snap,Crackle,and Pop)

 

[Vaxalon]

In general, "called shot" mechanics don't work very well in DnD.

 

[Virgil Sagecaster]

Why dont the "called shot" mechanics work weel with the DnD system of combat? Any suggestions?

 

[Vaxalon]

Because the hit point system assumes that a more able fighter is able to change a debilitating strike into a less damaging one.

 

[Valmur_Dwur]

The higher level pcs are assumed to have seen more "tricks" than some one of a lower level. Therefore the ability to give more damage, strike more often. On the other side when they do get hit they rll wilth the blow or interpose their sword or shield or the pillar! between them and their attacker at the last moment. Try this idea on for size. If an attacker misses by 1 on the die roll call it a close shave, cuts a thin line that starts to bleed a little or knocks off part of their armor. If you roll exactly what you need to hit, the blow is felt and perhaps a look of shock or a slight grunt is felt. If it is 4 above the number needed to hit it is a solid blow that causes blood to flow freely and staggers(no penalty) the defender. A critcal hit causes some sort of real damage, broken bones, eyeball hanging from the socket, 2 fingers on sword hand chopped off. The only thing to remember is that if it is good enough for pcs it's good enough for NPC's. If you don't over do it this becomes a good "hook" for the game. Then the pc can call himself Hrothgar one-ear or some such. Try this instead of adding rules for things

 

[Corlon]

hmmm, my friend came up with an interesting way to do it (skill: Martial arts) it sounded kind of overpowered, but if he reads this, he'll probably explain it and it might not be too overpowered after all.

 

[Umarth]

The problem with called shots is they are easier than killing someone normally. If I can kill or seriously disable something with one hit why don't I just keep doing that rather than doing HP damage. Say I've only got a 1 in 10 chance...well if it will take me 15 hits to kill it normally I should just keep doing called shots.

Besides that it makes combat much more leathl for the PCs. Any mechanic that makes combat more dangerous or random is in the end far worse for the PCs. Say you have a rule that avrages out to an auto kill once ever 20 fights. Keep in mind that means 1 PC will die to it ever 20 fights as well.

The best critical rule system I've seen so far is in the Quintessental fighter. If you score a critical hit then instead of extra dmg you can have a diblitateing effect. Something like -2 to there attacks for the rest of combat. Still no permanant injuries though.

 

[the Jester]

I use a "colorful critical hit" system imc... in brief: when you crit, the damage vs. CURRENT hp of the target determines the severity; then you roll location. From there you roll exact effects (it's actually quite simple, the whole system takes only one handwritten page which I have paperclipped inside my screen).

So you only cut someone's head off or pierce their heart if you kill them.

The lowest severity effects (less than 1/2 current hp) include things like knocked back 5', knocked down, etc. A broken bone is usually over 1/2 hp but still above 0, whereas limb loss (yay! a use for the regenerate spell!) would occur when you get knocked below 0 but don't die.