D&D 3E/3.5 Severing limbs in combat - 3.0 & 3.5

[frankthedm]

How i do it is -4 to hit a limb, damage applies to the targets current HP. If the attack's damage drops the targets HP to 0 or less the limb comes off and they bleed out at double rate, 1% stabilization chance instead of 10, Heal checks to stop bleeding at -4. Taking the head off is done the same way, but kills most things instantly.

Basically it's -4 to hit to bypass Dying / Diehard or just to show off.

 

[airwalkrr]

I prefer a fast-and-dirty rule for cleaving limbs if the player is so-inclined. It works like a sunder attempt. The opponent gets a +4 bonus to resist or a bonus equal to his armor's bonus, whichever is higher. It always provokes an attack of opportunity (even with the Improved Sunder feat), but Improved Sunder grants a +4 bonus normally. If the attempt succeeds, damage is rolled. If that damage equals 1/4 of the creature's total hp (not current hp), the limb is sundered. Otherwise its just normal hit point damage and you soaked an attack of opportunity for the price. Naturally this doesn't come up a lot because it is usually much more efficient to just deal damage to the creature's HP. I don't see the need for a ridiculously complex system like the OP proposed.

 

[Sotomonte]

I was thinking of using something like this for my battles.

THe idea I had was that when a creature has about 1/4 or maybe 1/8 of HP, you can try to cut off a limb when you roll a critical hit. Then you would need to roll another attack to know if you were sucessful in your cutting. Also, maybe a d6 to know which part of the body did you amputate (legs, both legs, arms, head..). Leg or arm should left the creature partially incapacitated, head = instant kill.

 

[0megas]

Ok after a year of practice we have revised this method to incorporated new information. Please give it a look and provide feed back.

 

[Mystic Lemur]

I prefer a fast-and-dirty rule for cleaving limbs if the player is so-inclined. It works like a sunder attempt. The opponent gets a +4 bonus to resist or a bonus equal to his armor's bonus, whichever is higher. It always provokes an attack of opportunity (even with the Improved Sunder feat), but Improved Sunder grants a +4 bonus normally. If the attempt succeeds, damage is rolled. If that damage equals 1/4 of the creature's total hp (not current hp), the limb is sundered. Otherwise its just normal hit point damage and you soaked an attack of opportunity for the price. Naturally this doesn't come up a lot because it is usually much more efficient to just deal damage to the creature's HP. I don't see the need for a ridiculously complex system like the OP proposed.

There's nothing stopping the players from designing their characters around using your method to sunder the opponent's head. Other than DM fiat, there is no reason for it to be within the rules to cut off an arm, but not a head. I would soak an AoO to be able to kill the opponent 75% faster.

I think frankthedm has the best variant because it requires you to bring the opponent below 0hp.

 

[Angrydad]

Probably for a good reason, as it's a PITA for everyone involved.

Mmmmmm....pita.

Anyway, I'd probably alter the rule so that severing limbs could only happen on a critical hit and then the attacker would need to deal enough damage to sever (1/6 total HP or something like that). Alternatively, one could use the Vitality/Wound points system and rule that any strike dealing 1/4 the target's Wound Points severs a limb of choice (except head).

 

[GreyLord]

I prefer a fast-and-dirty rule for cleaving limbs if the player is so-inclined. It works like a sunder attempt. The opponent gets a +4 bonus to resist or a bonus equal to his armor's bonus, whichever is higher. It always provokes an attack of opportunity (even with the Improved Sunder feat), but Improved Sunder grants a +4 bonus normally. If the attempt succeeds, damage is rolled. If that damage equals 1/4 of the creature's total hp (not current hp), the limb is sundered. Otherwise its just normal hit point damage and you soaked an attack of opportunity for the price. Naturally this doesn't come up a lot because it is usually much more efficient to just deal damage to the creature's HP. I don't see the need for a ridiculously complex system like the OP proposed.

This is something that's good to be brought up. If you are using Sunder (which I houserule half the time due to some ridiculous idea) and allow players to break another person's sword or weapon...then there's no real reason not to let them cut off an enemy's limbs. In fact, flesh is easier to sunder through than solid steel or solid iron. It's like the Empire Strikes Back or Revenge of the Sith (Mace Windu's hand chopped off), instead of trying to cut through another lightsaber, just get to the point and cut off their hand instead.

A Hand, a Leg, a head, if you can sunder a weapon, much easier to sunder those instead.

 

[cjosephs1s]

If you want a good premade system for doing severed limbs and whatnot and called shots and all the stuff this discussion is talking about I have a great answer.

Torn Asunder: Critical Hits by Steven Creech and Kevin Ruesch. It was published by Bastion Press in 2003 using 3.0 rules. Its got almost 100 pages of everything for critical hits including severing limbs and how to deal with these situations.

No its not a WotC book but it does use the OGL with permission from WotC. The book stickers for almost $23 bucks new but maybe you can find a games shop that has a cheap used copy or it might be online somewhere.

Hope this helps and good luck!