Solving the Called Shot Problem

[Kahuna Burger]

Called Shots = Power Attack.

Penalty to attack, bonus to damage.

power attack, however, does not equal called shots, without applicability to ranged attacks and light melee, a dex or int prereques, and killing the double damage on two handed weapons.

 

[sukael]

The basic idea is the same, though.

What about the -2 attack for +1 die of damage feats from Star Wars Saga Edition?

 

[AnonymousOne]

Perhaps you set up something using the Martial Adept style of attacks found in Bo9S?

For example you could use a called shot at a certain anatomical location X times during an encounter. Another idea is to create a skill or level chart for it.

At level 1 you can take X kind of called shot (X referring to the effect of the shot or the location of damage). At level 3 you can take Y called shot and so on.

Thought it would play well into the hands of high skill point characters you could make the called shot mechanic a separate skill that players can put points into, though I would hesitate to lay out a mechanic until I had time to fully build the skill and its outcomes.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

power attack, however, does not equal called shots, without applicability to ranged attacks and light melee, a dex or int prereques, and killing the double damage on two handed weapons.

Those are details. The general idea of power attack (-at +dmg) works well for called shots, I think, at least in a system with hit points where you don't get any penalties for being wounded.

 

[Awakened]

That is totally too much.



The 2e Complete Fighter had a reasonable system for called shots; insta-kills and dismemberment weren't allowed, but disarming, pinning ("stapling", actually) limbs, stunning, numbing, temporary blindness, all kinds of Robin Hood/William Tell/Lone Ranger stunts were.

Allowing called shots for flavor or tactics is fine, but insta-kills/crippling?


Not so much.

I didn't say anything about insta-kills, although I'm for those too! Can I remind you that vorpal weapons kill by chopping heads off, and the vorpal quality is in a core book? To defend the upcoming "yeah, but vorpal weapons are EXPENSIVE! Giving the possibility of maiming a foe to anyone unbalances the game!", I have to say, you're missing the point. The tweaking I'm looking for in this thread is supposed to curb the chances of introducing a potentially game-breaking system.
Also, I'm not interested in just using power attacks, or just making up a catch-all one-mechanic rule for called shots, ONLY detailing hits in description, or otherwise fully abstracting the process.
What I'm interested in is applying the farely well-penalized (in terms of balance) called-shots in Torn Asunder, or in similiar books. (I'll have to read up on the ones helpfully mentioned above). You see, my players like called shots. They like targeting specific areas from time to time, so telling them to just power attack will not work.
What I learned from this thread is this:
Spending a commodity like action points is a good way to balance an otherwise easily abusable system, and demands for players to make the choice only when they want the dramatic flair or the chance at injuring a particularly enticing weak or strategic spot.
The valid point above was that (I don't remember who said it), perhaps AP is too precious to spend on a penalized attack that may not even hit.
Well, I plan to increase AP reservoirs for out-of-game activities, like making family trees and sigils. I won't be handing them out like candy, but for a player who wants to be able to spend AP on crucial rolls AND the occasional called-shot, the system will very possibly work and work well.

You see, I want called shots to be an occasional thing, and I believe that's what these mechanics will do to them. Thanks a lot for all the help, because these seems to be a system I'd like to try out.

 

[Awakened]

And on top of that, what D&D player DOESN'T love overkill?
"Hey, let me disarm him!"
"No."
"Well, I should shoot the artifact out of his hand."
"No."
"Well, what then?"
"I'm going to try to cut his arm off."
"Ummm... fair enough."

 

[Nebulous]

I don't have a book in front of me, but how does Star Wars Saga handle a called shot? I was thinking (perhaps incorrectly) that it is tied into the Swift Actions. I've also been wanting to add called shot mechanics to my d20 Cthulhu game, but i agree, figuring out exactly a fair and consistent method isn't always easy.

For example, i've been thinking about zombies a lot. What if they had DR 10, so that most attacks wouldn't do a whole lot of damage, unless you were up close with a gun. However, in good old zombie-lore, we know that headshots are deadly. So, would this be a simple -4 penalty to hit the head, and bypass the DR? Or maybe you have to take a Move action to AIM at the head, reducing your chances to escape if you miss.

 

[Awakened]

That's interesting, Doggone. I like the idea of having areas without DR, and somehow making this area researchable or otherwise discoverable by the PCs.

 

[mmadsen]

The primary issue with called-shot systems is that they bypass hit points, which are supposed to be the arbiter of when bad things happen to a character. Have hit points? Then you're in the fight! Out of hit points? Then you're out of the fight.

This works nicely for providing predictability to players and plot-protection to their characters, but it doesn't model real or fictional combat nicely.

 

[Greg K]

You might consider looking at the maneuver system from Book of Iron Might. A character takes penalties to hit to achieve various effects on a successful hit often provided the opponent also fails a save. Many of the penalties are -10 or more although adding different elements (e.g., opponent gets a save) ) can bring down the penalty down. Also, if a character requires a natural 20 to hit , they cannot attempt maneuver (this prevents players from having their characters attempt certain maneuvers, because they know that unless they roll a natural 20 the character will miss anyway).

You can actually find the build the maneuver system and several sample maneuvers on Monte's site. IIRC, there are two files. One is a preview and the other is sheet with the different elements for creating maneuvers.