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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7694666" data-attributes="member: 42582">In D&D you can't. Unless Vader is wielding a very specific magical weapon, there is no mechanic for translating hit point loss into dismemberment. This is a consequence of the abstraction of D&D, which I have already mentioned a couple of time upthread.In Rolemaster, or Runequest, or Burning Wheel, or plenty of other FRPGs, on the other hand, the combat mechanics are not abstract like D&D's, and they produce concrete results that include specific injuries.Nothing. I don't think there is any general concept of "failure" or "fumble".It all depends on system.In RM, for instance, attacks produce one of three results: a hit (which may deliver concussion hit loss and/or specific injuries or conditions via the crit tables); a "miss", which may be a dodge or a parry or a shield block (there are rules for determining this, and then for determining weapon/shield breakage if appropriate); or a "fumble", which is rolled on a table and generally leads to the attacker suffering some sort of adverse consequence (such as some damage or other debuff).In RM, a non-attack skill check is generally resolved on a table which has different results depending on the overall result of the roll + bonus + situational mods. Each skill (or skill category) has a different table, but in general low results (eg -25 or down) result in some sort of adverse consequence for the PC and/or a debuff; mid-results (eg 06 to 75) leave the situation unchanged but typically (not always) permit a reroll, which in the fiction costs time; upper results short of outright success (eg 76 to 110) may allow a reroll with a bonus, or produce a change in the situation less than what the PC was hoping to achieve (eg jump 70% of intended distance); and then there are results that produce outright success.There is no notion of a "fumble" for these non-attack skill checks, although d100 rolls below 06 are "open-ended low", meaning that the d% is rerolled and the result subtracted from the first roll to determine the die result before bonuses and mods are added.RM also requires a roll for spell-casting. For non-attack spells, success occurs on a roll of 03 or up, but on a roll of 02 or 01 the spell is not cast as intended and a roll must be made on the spell failure table. The result of that roll can very from there being no additional consequence, through the caster suffering damage and/or debuff due to internalising the magic, through to the caster dying from the failed casting.Burning Wheel also requires a roll for spell-casting, and if the roll fails requires another roll to determine the consequences of failure. Consequences can include no additional result; or a random magical effect generated; or an unwanted summoning occurring.If someone at my table failed a BW spell-casting roll, and then the result of the failure roll was not no additional result but rather was unwanted summoning, then I wouldn't be described if another player described that as a fumbling of the spell. But fumbling here isn't a technical term.</blockquote>

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