Targeting Specific Areas

[Three_Haligonians]

Hey all,

The 3.5 DMG has a variant rule about what happens when a specific part of a character's body gets injured. What they don't have are rules on how to go about hitting said parts.

So I thought of this system:

Any given part of a creature's body has a size. When aiming for a part, you add the size modifier to the creature's AC. Obviously, the size of a body part has to be smaller than the size of the entire creature and so I worked out the following.

Apendage (Arm, Leg, Tail etc): Base size -1
Extremity (Hand, Foot, Head etc): Base size -2
Digit (Finger, Ear, Eye etc): Base size -3
Detail (Tooth, Fingertip etc): Base size -4

This special size modifier stacks with the existing size modifer of the creature so the hand of a human would have a +2 AC (it would be considerd Tiny since a human is Medium size) and the Ear of a halfling would have a +8 AC (since it would be Fine).

The first problem is of course what happens when you go past the 9 sizes available (such as the tooth of a halfling). I'm thinking that since the math is very simple (the AC modifier doubles with each size change) you could just continue to do so (so that the tooth of a halfling has a +16 AC modifier, even though there is no existing "size" that small).

The biggest problem is for creatures that are larger than medium. Using this system as is, hitting the arm of an Ogre is no different than hitting the Ogre itself since its arm would be of medium size and therefore no modifier to AC would apply. (Well, technically it would be a mod of +0). This is the problem I'm having trouble with at the moment.

Any help or feedback would be happily taken.

J from Three Haligonians

 

[Land Outcast]

[I apologize if I sound aggressive]
3rd lvl Wizard: I magicmissile (yeha, it's a verb) the ogre's left leg.
*roll*=7 ---> 1/4 of ogre's hp, enough for a limb, I guess, = lame ogre

3rd lvl Wizard: I magicmissile (yeha, it's a verb) the ogre's left arm.
*roll*=7 ---> 1/4 of ogre's hp, enough for a limb, I guess, = no greatclub

3rd lvl Wizard: I magicmissile (yeha, it's a verb) the ogre's eyes.
*roll*=7 ---> 1/4 of ogre's hp, enough for a limb, I guess, = blind ogre

 

[Storyteller01]

The modifier for the ogre isn't that bad. You still take a 'penalty' (Large critters have that -1 to AC, aiming at the arm makes it -0) so it's marginally harder to hit said arm. even at that point, a human IS trying to target an appendage with a bicep as big around as his (or her) chest.

You may want to look into effects instead of damage (fort save [DC equal to damage] against the effect). Injured leg = half speed, both legs = no movement, etc.

Something I liked as well: When a player gets a critical hits, they can choose the extra damage, or hitting a random 'specific area' with the accompanied effect (I give them max damage an roll accordingly...).

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Land Outcast:
My first thought is that since there is no attack roll involved with magic missle, targeting rules shouldn't apply.

Storyteller01:
Your right. My problem was that I was letting the two size modifiers (one for the creature and one for the targeted area) to stack. I think my problem will be solved if the target size replaces the creature size instead.

As for damaging results of specific targeting, I don't know if I want to go much past the variant listed in the DMG. If it goes too far, "Hawkeye" style archers will be constantly shooting the enemy in the eyes because it should be an instant kill (it is an arrow in the eye after all..)

How does everyone feel about the DMG variant? Too little? Too much? Too simple? Too complex?

J from Three Haligonians

 

[genshou]

Oh, goody! Another randomly assigned bodily damage/called shot thread!

It's been a while since I've seen one of these, and I've developed a fairly balanced system for it recently. It's designed for a vitality/wounds system, so give me a few days to allow for some tweaking. I'll tell you this much; you won't see a Medium-sized combatant slaying a Colossal creature in one fell blow to the neck, except under very extraordinary circumstances (namely, when they can deal 64+ damage in a single attack)...

 

[Sravoff]

I look forward for your system genshou.

-Sravoff

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I've got a system I designed myself, if anyone is interested in taking a gander at it.

 

[HellHound]

Just one comment for ANY system that uses called shots in d20 - remove (or seriously nerf) the True Strike spell.

"-20 for a called shot to the eyes? No problem."

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Just one comment for ANY system that uses called shots in d20 - remove (or seriously nerf) the True Strike spell.

"-20 for a called shot to the eyes? No problem."

Good advice.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Indeed I am!

I've got a system I designed myself, if anyone is interested in taking a gander at it.

Please share!

It always helps to look at other ideas when designing something for yourself.

J from Three Haligonians