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Torn Asunder Critical Hits
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Note: This review actually contains two different d20 Magazine Rack staff reviews presented to help you form an opinion of your own about the product.
By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack
Sizing Up the Target
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Bastion Press. This is a 96-page black-and-white softcover by Steven Creech and Kevin Ruesch. The cover art by Jason Engle depicts a warrior attacking a giant who has just felled another warrior. Brannon Hall, Frank Krug, Phillip Gray, and Richard James contribute to the interior art. Torn Asunder: Critical Hits retails for $xx.xx.
First Blood
My players hate books like this. On the one hand, this book will give them some very distinct advantages. On the other, it will give those same advantages to their enemies. Torn Asunder, if you hadn’t guessed from the title, is a book about adding realism to your combats. Let’s face facts; D&D combat, while it works exactly as designed, is very simple. You either hit, or you don’t. If you hit, you do damage. If you do enough damage, that is, if the total damage you inflict exceeds the opponent’s hit points, then the foe falls.
For many gamers, that’s fine. If you’re one of those people who doesn’t need anything more than to know whether or not you hit the foe, then Torn Asunder probably isn’t for you. If, however, you relish at the thought of breaking the foe’s ribs or taking their arm off with a single swipe of your sword, then you’ll love what this book has to offer. Torn Asunder doesn’t make sweeping changes to the rule, it just changes the way that critical hits are handled.
A critical hit represents a blow that has gotten past an opponent’s defense and landed in an unprotected place where it can do the most damage. This is represented in D&D by doubling (or tripling, or even quadrupling the damage done). Torn Asunder just takes the concept one step further. What if you did some really severe damage?
The process is short, sweet, and simple enough that once you get accustomed to it, you won’t even need to think about it. If the initial attack roll is high enough to warrant a critical threat and exceeds the opponent’s AC by a factor of 5 or more, then the attack may carry a critical effect in addition to causing extra damage. The severity level (called the Factor Level) of the effect is determined by how much the initial attack roll exceeded the opponent’s AC. The three levels of severity are Mild, Moderate, and Serious.
Determining which body part was affected is as simple as rolling a d20 and consulting the table. The exact effects depend largely on where the blow lands and the Factor Level. In general, a Mild effect is likely to result in a simple penalty to certain skills or abilities, a Moderate effects results in a significant loss of ability, and a Severe effect may result in the loss of the affected appendage. It is worth noting that even creatures normally immune to critical hits can be affected by critical effects. While the loss of an arm may not phase a flesh golem, it will mean that the creature loses a Slam attack.
For those who just can’t stand simplified systems, a more complex system in which foes are divided by basic body profiles is provided. The effects are still largely the same, but the upside is that you aren’t as likely to get an “arm” result against a creature that has no arms. Though designing a system to cover every instance would mean charting individual tables for each creature, Torn Asunder still manages to provide a working system without going to that extreme.
Called shots are another aspect of D&D that gamers have been clamoring for, and Torn Asunder addresses this topic as well. Furthermore, it provide a legitimate reason for non-spellcasters to take the Concentration skill! A character attempting a called shot provokes an attack of opportunity and must roll a Concentration check (DC 13). If these conditions are met, making a called shot is a simple as attaching a penalty to the attack roll, based on the location being targeted. If the attack hits, normal damage is inflicted, but the appropriate critical effect is applied.
Since I know that some one will ask, yes, fair is fair. Torn Asunder also has a system for handling critical fumbles. If a character rolls a natural 1, they must make a Dexterity check (DC 15) of suffer a critical fumble effect. The exact effect ranges from striking an ally to a minor penalty on attack rolls, based on the roll of a die and the character’s Dexterity modifier.
If Torn Asunder were just a system for resolving critical hits, called shots, and critical fumbles, it would still be worthy of praise, but it doesn’t stop there! I’ve often heard my players lament that Heal no longer actually restores any hit points to the patient. With Torn Asunder, however, a superior roll on the Heal check can not only stabilize, but actually restore hit points! These rules also introduce the concept of short-term care, which can restore even more hit points to the patient (though it requires a Concentration check and provokes an attack of opportunity, and can only be used once per day). Long-term care (a high enough result on the Heal check) may double, triple, or quadruple the number of hit points the patient gets with a day of complete rest.
Further realism is added by increasing the DC for severe wounds. For a minor wound (1% to 20% of the victim’s total hit points), the DC may be unaffected, but faced with a life-threatening wound (81% to 100% of the victim’s total hit points), the Heal check DC is improved by 6 points (meaning that a result of 21 is required just to stabilize the victim)! The DC can be further increased if the victim has sustained any critical hits, and a certain amount of time is required for the wound to fully heal (even if the victim is at full hit points, they continue to suffer the effects until the fully recovered).
Torn Asunder also takes herbalism one step further, providing specific game effects for a small variety of herbs and plants (taken from Alchemy and Herbalists (Bastion Press) and Occult Lore (Atlas Games)). Of course, specific wounds (such as a broken arm) require specific treatment and the check to correctly treat these wounds must be made independently from the Heal check to handle the minor effects. In addition, magic curing may not be strong enough to cure specific critical effects. Thus, while cure light wounds may be sufficient to heal minor cuts and bruises, it may have no effect on a broken leg. Torn Asunder presents two means for handling this. Both a fairly simple to implement and the decision will have to made by the DM and players as to which applies for their campaign.
In the first method, curative magics heal the minor wounds first, then go to work on the more severe wounds. Thus, a fighter with a broken leg may be completely healed of any external damage, but would still be unable to walk because the bone in the leg has not knitted. Under the second method, the more severe wounds are healed first, then the minor wounds are taken care of. A cure serious wounds could be used to mend a broken leg, but would not have any effect on hit point restoration. A more powerful spell, like heal, would accomplish both tasks. In either case, three new spells are introduced to accomplish specific effects; heal critical injuries heals specific critical wounds, heal broken bones restores broken appendages, and mend severed limb allows a severed limb to be reattached (a handy alternative if the party cleric isn’t powerful enough to cast regenerate).
In the 1st edition of AD&D, a character reduced to –6 hit points before being tended was often badly scarred as a result of the experience. This had little game effect, mostly being a mechanic for role-playing, but Torn Asunder pays homage to those days by introducing rules for scarification. A wounded character rolls a d20 and adjusts the roll based on the severity of the wounds. If the result exceeds a DC of 20, then the wound has left a scar. Scars that are severe enough may result in a penalty to Charisma skills (but may also, at the DM’s discretion, grant a bonus to Intimidate checks).
Other healing effects, such as shapechanging and acupuncture are touched upon. A number of new pieces of equipment are introduced, such as the bone crank (which can do as much harm as good in unskilled hands), as well as some new herbs and magical items. In addition to the three aforementioned spells, six other new magics are introduced in Torn Asunder. These vary in effect from damage reduction which temporarily shields a subject from damage, to remove scars (the effects of which should be obvious). Eight other spells either defend against or promote critical effects on the target. There are also rules for prosthetics (both magical and mundane) and new armor types and qualities (as well as rules for piecemeal armor). Yes, the rules for armor providing damage reduction instead of protection are also here. A plethora of new weapons provide all new ways for a character to deal death to their opponents.
With all these nifty new rules, you’ll doubtless be chomping at the bit to try them out, and three new prestige classes permit you to do just that. Each is examined from the viewpoint of a standard fantasy campaign, the world of Oathbound, a futuristic campaign, and a modern setting, increasing the flexibility of these rules. The marksman is a specialist at finding the weak point in an opponent’s defenses, the spiritual healer is first and foremost a healer, and the apothecary is a variant core class for campaigns that use little or no healing magic (but they’ll fit into even the high-magic setting of Oathbound easily enough).
A total of 18 new feats increase the odds of making successful critical hits, make warriors better at what they do, or let characters avoid the effects of critical hits. Spells and traps can also inflict critical hits, and the rules for handling this are as quick and simple to use as the rules for critical effects from weapons. Finally, there are seven new monsters and three new templates in Torn Asunder that can make the lives of hapless player characters miserable.
A series of templates in a brief appendix in the rear of the book are provided to make it easier for DMs to track critical effects on different body profiles. These may be photocopied and they’re so handy that I feel I’m going to make a large supply and keep them with my gaming materials.
Critical Hits
The critical effects system is the heart-and-soul of Torn Asunder and Steven and Kevin should be proud. They’ve not only created a logical and fairly realistic approach to truly damaging effects of combat in D&D, but they’ve carried it one step further with the variant rules for healing, recovery, and prosthetic limbs. Without the extra rules, Torn Asunder is a fine product, the extras push it over the line to great.
As good as the critical effects system is, it’s the super-realistic healing rules that really stand out in my mind. It would have been easy for them to take the easy way out and simply rule that the system didn’t change, but they didn’t. They went the extra mile and changed the rules to handle these things, and that is what makes the product truly exceptional.
Critical Misses
Once again, the lack of an index is frustrating, but not so much so here as in other products. In this instance, the arrangement of the book is such that finding a specific reference is pretty easy (with one exception, see below) and the Table of Contents is enough to give you an idea of where to look to find what you need. An index would have been nice, but it isn’t so crippling in Torn Asunder as it would be in, say, a book of deities from a variety of cultures.
Overall, the layout of the book is good, with the sections divided logically for the most part. There are two exceptions, however. New armor, weapons, equipment, and magical items are scattered throughout the book. There is a logic of sorts to the placement, but I think I’d have rather had them all together in the same place. Likewise, there are two different selections of spells in two different places, where I’d rather have seen both put together.
Torn Asunder does add a new degree of complexity to the game, especially if all of the rules from this book are utilized. This isn’t a bad thing, per say, but it is something that people should be aware of before purchasing the book. Though the methods used to determine the effects of critical hits are fairly simple, the new rules for healing can really complicate the system and may be too much for newcomers.
Coup de Grace
I can see that this book is going to have a love-hate relationship among gamers. If you like realism and complexity, you’ll love what Torn Asunder offers. If you prefer your combats short, sweet, and abstract, you’re not going to like it. It’s that simple.
Everything in Torn Asunder with the exception of the artwork has been designated as Open Game Content and they’ve made excellent use of the OGL, drawing upon a good many resources in the production of this book. Perhaps best of all, the work is fully compatible with D&D v.3.5! Torn Asunder is starkly realistic and wholly original, while drawing on material from some of the most creative minds in the business. As was stated earlier, you’ll either love it, or hate it, but I recommend that you give it a try before making any snap judgments.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Bruce Boughner, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack
Sizing Up the Target
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits is a 96-page sourcebook published by Bastion Press. The authors are Kevin Ruesch and Steven Creech. The cover is by Jason Engle and is two fighters facing off of a giant under a full moon and it is available for $22.95.
First Blood
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits is one of the best source books to come out in a while. Filling the gap of the exasperated DM who refuses to allow that Robin Hood-like called shot between the eyes and the player who wants to make it. Bastion Press has long been one of the best in the industry with the quality of their sourcebooks on unique topics like Guildcraft and Ink & Quill (the PDF on scribes available from the Bastion website). Torn Asunder: Critical Hits addresses the lack of any critical hit system in 3rd edition products and is 3.5 ready.
As explained in the introduction the purpose of this book was to give a freer flow to the game and add life (?) to the character (realism maybe). Also with the relative size differences between, say, Giants and dwarves or gnomes and dragons, the idea of critical hits becomes more logical. The book is divided into four sections dealing with this critical hits ideal.
Critical hits provide critical effects and the severity of the critical effect is easily explained in a small chart. Severity increases from mild to moderate to serious on the basis of how much over the minimum attack roll a character by factors of five. From there, a body part is determined by a 1d20 roll on the body location chart. At this point, the DM consults the book for the mild/moderate/serious effect for that body part, for example: arm (appendage)-moderate; -8 to many feat rolls, if bludgeoned the arm is broken, if pierced, the joint punctured and if slashed the victim loses fingers/claws.
Body profiles allow the DM to better assign Body location, an abomination may not be bi-pedal like a human (like a Gibbering Mouther or Mimic) or they may be four, six or eight legged beasts or serpentine. The body location chart allows a description for body parts that differ from the normal bi-pedal body type. Combination profile help to fit those creatures that may fit more than one category like centaurs and driders.
Critical hits for specific targets or making the impossible shot are the sections where called shots to the eye or other body part are discussed. Penalties ranging from a –6 (groin) to –11 (eye, ear or mouth) make these shots as difficult as possible because they carry stiff damage, an eye shot can blind, a groin shot can cause extreme bleeding for example. Critical fumbles closes the section and this can have devastating effects as well, from hitting a comrade to impaling yourself on your own weapon.
Critical hits require critical healing; the next section deals in just that. First aid, short-term care and long term care are discussed as the natural means of healing wounds. Charts help determine the time of healing with modifiers for the quality of care versus critical effect modifiers. A large number of herbs are also discussed with special attention given to the kinds of wounds each herb can help heal and the healing modifier it provides. Modifiers are also given for the severity of scarring caused by wounds. A scarring modifier chart is also given to give reaction to the scars appearance. A chart is also provided to show how effective shapechanging is to healing critical wounds. Acupuncture and healing equipment are also discussed in this section. Devices like the bone setting box similar to the one in the movie A Knight’s Tale are shown. Druid’s plant and animal knowledge is also talked about with regards to the healing use of poultices. Nine new healing spells and ten new magic items are given as well. Magical prosthetic limbs are also given a few pages of discussion with several charts showing their effectiveness and changes to modifiers by their users. Magical effects provided by these devices are also given.
The protection of armor in preventing critical hits is the third section’s topic. One of the new advantages of 3rd edition is the use of partial armor. Anyone who has stepped onto an SCA lyste field or similar venue can tell you that if there is an open point of entry in your armor, an enemy will find it and exploit it. New armor pieces are given such as armored codpieces, full visors and mithral cloaks are a few of these new armor. Changes in the Armor as Damage Reduction given in the Bastion Press product Arms & Armor are then discussed. Using armor class to reduce damage is given a chart and several sections of discussion, armor bracing and using stackable but separate armor classes are part of this discussion. A werewolf (DR 10) wearing a suit of chainmail (DR 5) adds them together for a total DR of 15. Modifiers to this kind of stacking are also provided such as a lycanthrope’s weakness of silver.
Three new character classes are now given (two prestige and one core). The Marksman, Spiritual Healer and Apothecary are given their class skills and their use in the Oathbound setting as well as modern and futuristic setting as well. New feats such as Enhanced Critical and Perfect Strike are given. New spells such as Bloodletting , Mortal Wound and Power Word: Bone Shatter are given too, eight new spells in all. New weapon types such as Ironshod arrows and Ogre Mauls are provided too.
Seven new monsters like the mutant ogre/troll crossbred Bonecracker and the lizard-like Ramzadi are shown. Using the Ramzadi as a character race is also given stats. Templates for Primal, Spined and Threatening creatures are also provided, each with a sample of the template. An appendix with six charts of Body Types for photocopy use by the DM or player to track critical hits ends the book.
Critical Hits
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits is a great tool for both players and DMs, filling the void of critical hits left in the core rules and giving guidelines to make that cinematic, symbolic coup-de-grace easier to manage on both sides of the DM screen. The healing section adds a goodly amount of depth to player recovery and the serious consequence of facing swords and other weapons.
Critical Misses
I would have liked to have seen more artwork, despite the incredible usefulness of the text, visual description of many of the items would have come in handy.
Coup de Grace
Players and DMs alike can find use from this product. Weird Uncle Rufus is a bear for the way he handles critical shots. He has seen this book and I know he’s going to get a copy, for no other reason then the way I play my bard/sorcerer. But this book will provide a great deal of easy to follow direction in pin-point accuracy for archers, making that difficult stab with a sword through the visor slit or cutting the tail off a giant scorpion.
To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.
By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack
Sizing Up the Target
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Bastion Press. This is a 96-page black-and-white softcover by Steven Creech and Kevin Ruesch. The cover art by Jason Engle depicts a warrior attacking a giant who has just felled another warrior. Brannon Hall, Frank Krug, Phillip Gray, and Richard James contribute to the interior art. Torn Asunder: Critical Hits retails for $xx.xx.
First Blood
My players hate books like this. On the one hand, this book will give them some very distinct advantages. On the other, it will give those same advantages to their enemies. Torn Asunder, if you hadn’t guessed from the title, is a book about adding realism to your combats. Let’s face facts; D&D combat, while it works exactly as designed, is very simple. You either hit, or you don’t. If you hit, you do damage. If you do enough damage, that is, if the total damage you inflict exceeds the opponent’s hit points, then the foe falls.
For many gamers, that’s fine. If you’re one of those people who doesn’t need anything more than to know whether or not you hit the foe, then Torn Asunder probably isn’t for you. If, however, you relish at the thought of breaking the foe’s ribs or taking their arm off with a single swipe of your sword, then you’ll love what this book has to offer. Torn Asunder doesn’t make sweeping changes to the rule, it just changes the way that critical hits are handled.
A critical hit represents a blow that has gotten past an opponent’s defense and landed in an unprotected place where it can do the most damage. This is represented in D&D by doubling (or tripling, or even quadrupling the damage done). Torn Asunder just takes the concept one step further. What if you did some really severe damage?
The process is short, sweet, and simple enough that once you get accustomed to it, you won’t even need to think about it. If the initial attack roll is high enough to warrant a critical threat and exceeds the opponent’s AC by a factor of 5 or more, then the attack may carry a critical effect in addition to causing extra damage. The severity level (called the Factor Level) of the effect is determined by how much the initial attack roll exceeded the opponent’s AC. The three levels of severity are Mild, Moderate, and Serious.
Determining which body part was affected is as simple as rolling a d20 and consulting the table. The exact effects depend largely on where the blow lands and the Factor Level. In general, a Mild effect is likely to result in a simple penalty to certain skills or abilities, a Moderate effects results in a significant loss of ability, and a Severe effect may result in the loss of the affected appendage. It is worth noting that even creatures normally immune to critical hits can be affected by critical effects. While the loss of an arm may not phase a flesh golem, it will mean that the creature loses a Slam attack.
For those who just can’t stand simplified systems, a more complex system in which foes are divided by basic body profiles is provided. The effects are still largely the same, but the upside is that you aren’t as likely to get an “arm” result against a creature that has no arms. Though designing a system to cover every instance would mean charting individual tables for each creature, Torn Asunder still manages to provide a working system without going to that extreme.
Called shots are another aspect of D&D that gamers have been clamoring for, and Torn Asunder addresses this topic as well. Furthermore, it provide a legitimate reason for non-spellcasters to take the Concentration skill! A character attempting a called shot provokes an attack of opportunity and must roll a Concentration check (DC 13). If these conditions are met, making a called shot is a simple as attaching a penalty to the attack roll, based on the location being targeted. If the attack hits, normal damage is inflicted, but the appropriate critical effect is applied.
Since I know that some one will ask, yes, fair is fair. Torn Asunder also has a system for handling critical fumbles. If a character rolls a natural 1, they must make a Dexterity check (DC 15) of suffer a critical fumble effect. The exact effect ranges from striking an ally to a minor penalty on attack rolls, based on the roll of a die and the character’s Dexterity modifier.
If Torn Asunder were just a system for resolving critical hits, called shots, and critical fumbles, it would still be worthy of praise, but it doesn’t stop there! I’ve often heard my players lament that Heal no longer actually restores any hit points to the patient. With Torn Asunder, however, a superior roll on the Heal check can not only stabilize, but actually restore hit points! These rules also introduce the concept of short-term care, which can restore even more hit points to the patient (though it requires a Concentration check and provokes an attack of opportunity, and can only be used once per day). Long-term care (a high enough result on the Heal check) may double, triple, or quadruple the number of hit points the patient gets with a day of complete rest.
Further realism is added by increasing the DC for severe wounds. For a minor wound (1% to 20% of the victim’s total hit points), the DC may be unaffected, but faced with a life-threatening wound (81% to 100% of the victim’s total hit points), the Heal check DC is improved by 6 points (meaning that a result of 21 is required just to stabilize the victim)! The DC can be further increased if the victim has sustained any critical hits, and a certain amount of time is required for the wound to fully heal (even if the victim is at full hit points, they continue to suffer the effects until the fully recovered).
Torn Asunder also takes herbalism one step further, providing specific game effects for a small variety of herbs and plants (taken from Alchemy and Herbalists (Bastion Press) and Occult Lore (Atlas Games)). Of course, specific wounds (such as a broken arm) require specific treatment and the check to correctly treat these wounds must be made independently from the Heal check to handle the minor effects. In addition, magic curing may not be strong enough to cure specific critical effects. Thus, while cure light wounds may be sufficient to heal minor cuts and bruises, it may have no effect on a broken leg. Torn Asunder presents two means for handling this. Both a fairly simple to implement and the decision will have to made by the DM and players as to which applies for their campaign.
In the first method, curative magics heal the minor wounds first, then go to work on the more severe wounds. Thus, a fighter with a broken leg may be completely healed of any external damage, but would still be unable to walk because the bone in the leg has not knitted. Under the second method, the more severe wounds are healed first, then the minor wounds are taken care of. A cure serious wounds could be used to mend a broken leg, but would not have any effect on hit point restoration. A more powerful spell, like heal, would accomplish both tasks. In either case, three new spells are introduced to accomplish specific effects; heal critical injuries heals specific critical wounds, heal broken bones restores broken appendages, and mend severed limb allows a severed limb to be reattached (a handy alternative if the party cleric isn’t powerful enough to cast regenerate).
In the 1st edition of AD&D, a character reduced to –6 hit points before being tended was often badly scarred as a result of the experience. This had little game effect, mostly being a mechanic for role-playing, but Torn Asunder pays homage to those days by introducing rules for scarification. A wounded character rolls a d20 and adjusts the roll based on the severity of the wounds. If the result exceeds a DC of 20, then the wound has left a scar. Scars that are severe enough may result in a penalty to Charisma skills (but may also, at the DM’s discretion, grant a bonus to Intimidate checks).
Other healing effects, such as shapechanging and acupuncture are touched upon. A number of new pieces of equipment are introduced, such as the bone crank (which can do as much harm as good in unskilled hands), as well as some new herbs and magical items. In addition to the three aforementioned spells, six other new magics are introduced in Torn Asunder. These vary in effect from damage reduction which temporarily shields a subject from damage, to remove scars (the effects of which should be obvious). Eight other spells either defend against or promote critical effects on the target. There are also rules for prosthetics (both magical and mundane) and new armor types and qualities (as well as rules for piecemeal armor). Yes, the rules for armor providing damage reduction instead of protection are also here. A plethora of new weapons provide all new ways for a character to deal death to their opponents.
With all these nifty new rules, you’ll doubtless be chomping at the bit to try them out, and three new prestige classes permit you to do just that. Each is examined from the viewpoint of a standard fantasy campaign, the world of Oathbound, a futuristic campaign, and a modern setting, increasing the flexibility of these rules. The marksman is a specialist at finding the weak point in an opponent’s defenses, the spiritual healer is first and foremost a healer, and the apothecary is a variant core class for campaigns that use little or no healing magic (but they’ll fit into even the high-magic setting of Oathbound easily enough).
A total of 18 new feats increase the odds of making successful critical hits, make warriors better at what they do, or let characters avoid the effects of critical hits. Spells and traps can also inflict critical hits, and the rules for handling this are as quick and simple to use as the rules for critical effects from weapons. Finally, there are seven new monsters and three new templates in Torn Asunder that can make the lives of hapless player characters miserable.
A series of templates in a brief appendix in the rear of the book are provided to make it easier for DMs to track critical effects on different body profiles. These may be photocopied and they’re so handy that I feel I’m going to make a large supply and keep them with my gaming materials.
Critical Hits
The critical effects system is the heart-and-soul of Torn Asunder and Steven and Kevin should be proud. They’ve not only created a logical and fairly realistic approach to truly damaging effects of combat in D&D, but they’ve carried it one step further with the variant rules for healing, recovery, and prosthetic limbs. Without the extra rules, Torn Asunder is a fine product, the extras push it over the line to great.
As good as the critical effects system is, it’s the super-realistic healing rules that really stand out in my mind. It would have been easy for them to take the easy way out and simply rule that the system didn’t change, but they didn’t. They went the extra mile and changed the rules to handle these things, and that is what makes the product truly exceptional.
Critical Misses
Once again, the lack of an index is frustrating, but not so much so here as in other products. In this instance, the arrangement of the book is such that finding a specific reference is pretty easy (with one exception, see below) and the Table of Contents is enough to give you an idea of where to look to find what you need. An index would have been nice, but it isn’t so crippling in Torn Asunder as it would be in, say, a book of deities from a variety of cultures.
Overall, the layout of the book is good, with the sections divided logically for the most part. There are two exceptions, however. New armor, weapons, equipment, and magical items are scattered throughout the book. There is a logic of sorts to the placement, but I think I’d have rather had them all together in the same place. Likewise, there are two different selections of spells in two different places, where I’d rather have seen both put together.
Torn Asunder does add a new degree of complexity to the game, especially if all of the rules from this book are utilized. This isn’t a bad thing, per say, but it is something that people should be aware of before purchasing the book. Though the methods used to determine the effects of critical hits are fairly simple, the new rules for healing can really complicate the system and may be too much for newcomers.
Coup de Grace
I can see that this book is going to have a love-hate relationship among gamers. If you like realism and complexity, you’ll love what Torn Asunder offers. If you prefer your combats short, sweet, and abstract, you’re not going to like it. It’s that simple.
Everything in Torn Asunder with the exception of the artwork has been designated as Open Game Content and they’ve made excellent use of the OGL, drawing upon a good many resources in the production of this book. Perhaps best of all, the work is fully compatible with D&D v.3.5! Torn Asunder is starkly realistic and wholly original, while drawing on material from some of the most creative minds in the business. As was stated earlier, you’ll either love it, or hate it, but I recommend that you give it a try before making any snap judgments.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Bruce Boughner, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack
Sizing Up the Target
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits is a 96-page sourcebook published by Bastion Press. The authors are Kevin Ruesch and Steven Creech. The cover is by Jason Engle and is two fighters facing off of a giant under a full moon and it is available for $22.95.
First Blood
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits is one of the best source books to come out in a while. Filling the gap of the exasperated DM who refuses to allow that Robin Hood-like called shot between the eyes and the player who wants to make it. Bastion Press has long been one of the best in the industry with the quality of their sourcebooks on unique topics like Guildcraft and Ink & Quill (the PDF on scribes available from the Bastion website). Torn Asunder: Critical Hits addresses the lack of any critical hit system in 3rd edition products and is 3.5 ready.
As explained in the introduction the purpose of this book was to give a freer flow to the game and add life (?) to the character (realism maybe). Also with the relative size differences between, say, Giants and dwarves or gnomes and dragons, the idea of critical hits becomes more logical. The book is divided into four sections dealing with this critical hits ideal.
Critical hits provide critical effects and the severity of the critical effect is easily explained in a small chart. Severity increases from mild to moderate to serious on the basis of how much over the minimum attack roll a character by factors of five. From there, a body part is determined by a 1d20 roll on the body location chart. At this point, the DM consults the book for the mild/moderate/serious effect for that body part, for example: arm (appendage)-moderate; -8 to many feat rolls, if bludgeoned the arm is broken, if pierced, the joint punctured and if slashed the victim loses fingers/claws.
Body profiles allow the DM to better assign Body location, an abomination may not be bi-pedal like a human (like a Gibbering Mouther or Mimic) or they may be four, six or eight legged beasts or serpentine. The body location chart allows a description for body parts that differ from the normal bi-pedal body type. Combination profile help to fit those creatures that may fit more than one category like centaurs and driders.
Critical hits for specific targets or making the impossible shot are the sections where called shots to the eye or other body part are discussed. Penalties ranging from a –6 (groin) to –11 (eye, ear or mouth) make these shots as difficult as possible because they carry stiff damage, an eye shot can blind, a groin shot can cause extreme bleeding for example. Critical fumbles closes the section and this can have devastating effects as well, from hitting a comrade to impaling yourself on your own weapon.
Critical hits require critical healing; the next section deals in just that. First aid, short-term care and long term care are discussed as the natural means of healing wounds. Charts help determine the time of healing with modifiers for the quality of care versus critical effect modifiers. A large number of herbs are also discussed with special attention given to the kinds of wounds each herb can help heal and the healing modifier it provides. Modifiers are also given for the severity of scarring caused by wounds. A scarring modifier chart is also given to give reaction to the scars appearance. A chart is also provided to show how effective shapechanging is to healing critical wounds. Acupuncture and healing equipment are also discussed in this section. Devices like the bone setting box similar to the one in the movie A Knight’s Tale are shown. Druid’s plant and animal knowledge is also talked about with regards to the healing use of poultices. Nine new healing spells and ten new magic items are given as well. Magical prosthetic limbs are also given a few pages of discussion with several charts showing their effectiveness and changes to modifiers by their users. Magical effects provided by these devices are also given.
The protection of armor in preventing critical hits is the third section’s topic. One of the new advantages of 3rd edition is the use of partial armor. Anyone who has stepped onto an SCA lyste field or similar venue can tell you that if there is an open point of entry in your armor, an enemy will find it and exploit it. New armor pieces are given such as armored codpieces, full visors and mithral cloaks are a few of these new armor. Changes in the Armor as Damage Reduction given in the Bastion Press product Arms & Armor are then discussed. Using armor class to reduce damage is given a chart and several sections of discussion, armor bracing and using stackable but separate armor classes are part of this discussion. A werewolf (DR 10) wearing a suit of chainmail (DR 5) adds them together for a total DR of 15. Modifiers to this kind of stacking are also provided such as a lycanthrope’s weakness of silver.
Three new character classes are now given (two prestige and one core). The Marksman, Spiritual Healer and Apothecary are given their class skills and their use in the Oathbound setting as well as modern and futuristic setting as well. New feats such as Enhanced Critical and Perfect Strike are given. New spells such as Bloodletting , Mortal Wound and Power Word: Bone Shatter are given too, eight new spells in all. New weapon types such as Ironshod arrows and Ogre Mauls are provided too.
Seven new monsters like the mutant ogre/troll crossbred Bonecracker and the lizard-like Ramzadi are shown. Using the Ramzadi as a character race is also given stats. Templates for Primal, Spined and Threatening creatures are also provided, each with a sample of the template. An appendix with six charts of Body Types for photocopy use by the DM or player to track critical hits ends the book.
Critical Hits
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits is a great tool for both players and DMs, filling the void of critical hits left in the core rules and giving guidelines to make that cinematic, symbolic coup-de-grace easier to manage on both sides of the DM screen. The healing section adds a goodly amount of depth to player recovery and the serious consequence of facing swords and other weapons.
Critical Misses
I would have liked to have seen more artwork, despite the incredible usefulness of the text, visual description of many of the items would have come in handy.
Coup de Grace
Players and DMs alike can find use from this product. Weird Uncle Rufus is a bear for the way he handles critical shots. He has seen this book and I know he’s going to get a copy, for no other reason then the way I play my bard/sorcerer. But this book will provide a great deal of easy to follow direction in pin-point accuracy for archers, making that difficult stab with a sword through the visor slit or cutting the tail off a giant scorpion.
To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.
Messageboard Golem
First Post
Torn Asunder: Critical Hits
When critical just are not enough. The critical hit system in d20 is very simple and very abstract. That does not work for a lot people and there has been a few alternative systems out there but they rarely address odd creature body types and the healing of those wounds. A good critical hit to the torso that damages bones and internal organs just is not the same if a few simple cure light wounds can heal the person back up. That is one of the strengths of Torn Asunder. It does not just present a critical hit system and stop; it takes the system and applies it to other areas like called shots, prestige classes that really take advantage of the rules, and monsters that do as well. When I first read it last year I was expecting a typical critical hit system, and while the system is good; it was the healing that really showed me this was a good book.
Torn Asunder is by Bastion Press. They have been responsible for some great books like Alchemy and Herbalist, Fairies, and their setting Oathbound. Torn Asunder is a ninety six page softbound book. The art and layout are both okay. Nothing in it really stands out as particularly bad or particularly good. The book is black and white unlike some of Bastions earlier works that were in color.
The book starts right into the critical hit system. It works with the current system just adding a few levels of complexity. Not all critical hits will have one of these critical effects. It has different types of critical effects for different creatures depending on the body type. For instance a humanoid creature and six legged beast will have a different potential for critical effects. The system works pretty well and it is smooth once one gets used to it. There are three different types of critical effects: Mild, Moderate, and Serious. The type of weapon used (piercing, slashing, bludgeoning) also determines the damage inflicted. It makes for a good add on system that does not actually change anything in combat. People still roll to attack like normal, they confirm criticals like normal. If the confirmed critical beats the armor class by so much that is when one gets a critical effect.
The healing though is what sold me on this book. It limits what the cure spells can cure. They still cure hit points but might not be able to cure broken bones. It also expands on the heal skill making it useful. It also has how long these critical effects take to heal so that one does have to rest up for a few weeks if magical healing is not available. It adds a great deal of realism to games that want that and should enhance a good grim and gritty campaign. Even high magic game though will have the healing rules effected as a it will take a more powerful healing spell to heal many of the critical effects. This can give a character an injury that actually lasts and force them to seek out higher level clerics. There are new pieces of healing equipment as well as new healing spells to help aid in the curing of the critical effects.
The book has some new weapons and armor in it as well as magical version of them. There are of course new classes, monsters, feats and spells that take advantage of the new critical effects and the how they interact with the characters. There are some really good ideas in there.
This book has seen use in my group and not everybody was happy about that. Any critical hit system is going to be used more on the players since they are going to be in every fight. The combat characters could be taken out of a fight with one bad critical where in the normal game they would have just taken a bunch of damage but been otherwise okay. The book does require a slightly different mental approach and not every one was ready for that. The system though did its job of adding detail and deadliness to the game. It is just not going to be something that everyone wants added.
When critical just are not enough. The critical hit system in d20 is very simple and very abstract. That does not work for a lot people and there has been a few alternative systems out there but they rarely address odd creature body types and the healing of those wounds. A good critical hit to the torso that damages bones and internal organs just is not the same if a few simple cure light wounds can heal the person back up. That is one of the strengths of Torn Asunder. It does not just present a critical hit system and stop; it takes the system and applies it to other areas like called shots, prestige classes that really take advantage of the rules, and monsters that do as well. When I first read it last year I was expecting a typical critical hit system, and while the system is good; it was the healing that really showed me this was a good book.
Torn Asunder is by Bastion Press. They have been responsible for some great books like Alchemy and Herbalist, Fairies, and their setting Oathbound. Torn Asunder is a ninety six page softbound book. The art and layout are both okay. Nothing in it really stands out as particularly bad or particularly good. The book is black and white unlike some of Bastions earlier works that were in color.
The book starts right into the critical hit system. It works with the current system just adding a few levels of complexity. Not all critical hits will have one of these critical effects. It has different types of critical effects for different creatures depending on the body type. For instance a humanoid creature and six legged beast will have a different potential for critical effects. The system works pretty well and it is smooth once one gets used to it. There are three different types of critical effects: Mild, Moderate, and Serious. The type of weapon used (piercing, slashing, bludgeoning) also determines the damage inflicted. It makes for a good add on system that does not actually change anything in combat. People still roll to attack like normal, they confirm criticals like normal. If the confirmed critical beats the armor class by so much that is when one gets a critical effect.
The healing though is what sold me on this book. It limits what the cure spells can cure. They still cure hit points but might not be able to cure broken bones. It also expands on the heal skill making it useful. It also has how long these critical effects take to heal so that one does have to rest up for a few weeks if magical healing is not available. It adds a great deal of realism to games that want that and should enhance a good grim and gritty campaign. Even high magic game though will have the healing rules effected as a it will take a more powerful healing spell to heal many of the critical effects. This can give a character an injury that actually lasts and force them to seek out higher level clerics. There are new pieces of healing equipment as well as new healing spells to help aid in the curing of the critical effects.
The book has some new weapons and armor in it as well as magical version of them. There are of course new classes, monsters, feats and spells that take advantage of the new critical effects and the how they interact with the characters. There are some really good ideas in there.
This book has seen use in my group and not everybody was happy about that. Any critical hit system is going to be used more on the players since they are going to be in every fight. The combat characters could be taken out of a fight with one bad critical where in the normal game they would have just taken a bunch of damage but been otherwise okay. The book does require a slightly different mental approach and not every one was ready for that. The system though did its job of adding detail and deadliness to the game. It is just not going to be something that everyone wants added.
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