Rules-wise, is there ANY way to lose a limb or become crippled?

[Cake Mage]

mongoose pub in there quin fighter had a "called shots" rule where when you threat, insteaf of rolling for criticle you could roll for called shot and they recieve penalties. we have also added as a house rule to that that you can loose limbs after so many hits

just make or modify rules is what I say. its not to hard

 

[Zappo]

Those are the rules of Warhammer Fantasy RPG. You start suffering critical hits when you run out of hit points.

Yay! I'm going to start a new WHFRPG campaign soon, after a long hiatus. Last time, I got a character's lung punctured, losing a point of toughness permanently (toughness is kinda like DR, definitely not something you want to lose), but at least I still had all my relevant bits by the time we quitted. I like that system a lot, except for something about the psychology system. I still haven't found a way to rationalize why my character developed alcohlism after viewing a major demon. Oh well, CoC had that problem too.

 

[Dingleberry]

The scythe falcon from the first Creature Collection can hack off specific limbs with a critical "dismemberment" hit.

 

[Ziggy]

May I suggest a house rule I've been considering?

I've been thinking of saying that any time you're dropped below 0 hit points, you receive a permanent scar or injury. I haven't decided precisely how to determine if it's just a scar or if you actually lose a limb or something--maybe a Fortitude save, based on the amount of damage you took in the injury that dropped you below 0. And of course, the wound would have to make sense; you can't cut someone's arm off with a club, but you could shatter the bones.

I haven't decided to implement this yet, because it does make combat a lot more dangerous. But it's a thought.

I use those rules, but with a twist. I limit the effects to scars and broken bones, no missing limbs (yet). A Cure-spell will mend any such wound if it is applied with 1 minute of the damage is suffered. Heal will always heal any such damage unless the wound has already closed (i.e. natural healing).

If magical healing is not used (or used to late), you must roll a % change for permanent injury (or scars for a light wound). The base is 0%, with +5% for each point below 0, -10% for each level of a cure spell used to heal you. I also give modifiers if much time has passed before the would is healed, and for flithy or otherwise unhealthy conditions.

The end result is that PC with a high-level cleric is pretty immune, while lower-level parties and "ordinary" people will pick up scars and broken bones.

.Ziggy

 

[Darkness]

There are some rules in the DMG regarding damage to specific locations. That would be the only "official" 3E rules that I know about.

It also has rules what kind of penalty you get for missing all these body parts...

 

[jmucchiello]

It also has rules what kind of penalty you get for missing all these body parts...

Which are not in the SRD and thus cannot be used by d20 publishers.

 

[Crothian]

Which are not in the SRD and thus cannot be used by d20 publishers.

But they can create their own. It's not that hard to realize what happens when someone loses an arm or other limb.

 

[dave_o]

Good Ole' 2E AD&D

There was a DM screen from 2E DnD which had critical hit locations, and severity. It was pretty much a house rule, but it made critical hits a lot more lethal, and fun.

Then PO: Combat and Tactics when and expanded it from the Slashing, Bludgeoning, and Piercing tables to include various forms of magical attack (Electricity, Acid, etc.).

I'm sure you could convert those without too much trouble.

 

[Deedlit]

It doesn't take a game designer to realize that when missing a limb, they can only hold 1 weapon/shield, and they take a -4 penalty to hit if you are missing your dominant hand and don't have ambidexterity.

 

[Buttercup]

Re: Swashbuckling Adventures

Swashbuckling Adventures has a very complete system of rules for loosing limbs and eyes and such. They even have rules for primitive prosthetics and what type of weapons do what sort of injuries.

This is the first thing I've heard about Swashbuckling Adventures that makes me want to buy it. I had already been thinking that critical hits should cause scarring or other permanent damage. I'm pleased to see that rules are available now.