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Message: <blockquote data-quote="trancejeremy" data-source="post: 2010762" data-attributes="member: 924"><a href="http://www.bastionpress.com/Products/torn.htm" target="_blank">Torn Asunder</a> is an expanded critical hit system for the d20 System from Bastion Press.First off, it's not Rolemaster d20 (or more specifically, Arms Law d20). There really aren't charts, just location tables for differing body types (which are fairly simple to memorize, at least for common ones like humanoids).The system is actually pretty simple, and piggybacks off of the d20 Critical Hit system. Basically, if on a critical hit, the attack roll is high enough, in addition to the critical hit damage, it will also have a "critical effect".The severity of the critical effect depends on the attack role.If the attack roll was 5 more than the Armor Class of an opponent (AC), it's a mild critical effect. If it's 10 more than the AC, then it's medium. If it's 15 or more than the AC, then it's serious.Once you know the severity, you roll the location. There's onemain table with every sort of limb and/or appendage possible, butthere are also location tables for specific body types:, ie,humanoids, abominations, various combinations of legs, wings,tails. Obviously, the location plays a huge role in the effect.For instance, most serious critical effects to the head or torsoare more or less killing blows. Though the effect is the same,just what happens depends on the type of weapon (piercing,slashing, blunt).For instance, the serious slashing wound to the torso is thatthey've been disemboweled; the bludgeoning version is that theirrib cage has been crushed; the piercing version has their heartand/or lungs pierced. In any case, the effect is the same - deathin a number of rounds equal to their constitution modifer.That's the extreme example - most critical effects are far lessdeadly. Most mild effects are generally just small skillpenalties (related to the limb or part in question), while mostmoderate effects are large penalties (and reduced movement rates,if applicable). As mentioned, only the severe effects for thehead or torso are imminently fatal.So how well does the system work? It's certainly quick enough,though you'll probably have to look up the specific effects. (Thelocation for humanoids is pretty simple - Leg, Leg, Arm, Arm,Torso, Tail, Head, Other body part, on a d8. Though in practiceit's much easier to drop the tail and other part, and just use ad6, which is generally what I've always used in games when Ineeded a hit location).It seems to work best for medium level characters. Because theseverity of the critical is entirely dependant on the attack rolland the armor class of the opponent, low level characters willrarely get serious critical effects, and high level characterswill rarely get inflict mild critical effects. Example:Dornil the Half Ogre Cleric has an attackbonus of +9 with a great club. He's fighting a 4th Level KoboldFighter, with an AC of 18. He rolls a 20 on his first attack (fora total attack roll of 29), which is a critical threat (a greatclub is not a great critical hit weapon, they only threaten on a20), then makes the second roll for a critical hit. The Attack roll was 29, to get the severity of the criticaleffect, you subtract the AC of the target (18), and get 11, sothe critical effect is moderate.Now at this point, you can either roll on the master locationtable (with a 20), or use the table tailored to the body type akobold has (humanoid).Just for kicks, I'll roll on the Master Table. It uses a d20. Theroll comes up an 18. Hmmm, that's "Wing". As Koboldsdon't have Wings, time for a re-roll. It's a 7. "Tail".Kobolds don't have tails. So re-roll again. It's a 15 -"Torso", Kobolds have those. Looking at the effects for a Moderate Torso critical effect for aBludgeoning weapon, I find that the blow has cracked the ribs ofthe Kobold. It suffers a -5 penalty to attacks, and the Balance,Climb, Escape Artist, Jump, Move Silently, Ride, Swim, and Tumbleskill checks. And his movement rate is halfed.Deciding that he's screwed, the Kobold drops to his knees,pleading for mercy.That's a pretty good example of how this system can can add depthto combat, including role-playing aspects - rather than fightingto zero hit points, creatures may decide they're too hurt tofight any more. It also illustrates why it was a great move forBastion to include tables tailored for each sort of critter type- just using the main body table can require re-rolling.It also illustrates how useful armor is - in this example, theKobold had an AC of 18, because he was wearing armor. But hewasn't wearing armor (kobolds often don't), his normal AC wouldhave been 14. In that case, the same attack roll (a 29) wouldhave produced a severe critical effect (29-14 = 15, a severecritical effect) , which in the case of the torso, would havecrushed the rib cage and killed the Kobold in a number of roundsequal to the Kobolds Constitution modifier (+2, if you reallymust know)Because I have a somewhat weird d20 campaign, I was able toplaytest it with guns. It seems to work pretty well, too, sincebullets cause piercing damage. So this system should work fine ina d20 Modern or modern campaign. In fact, as mentioned, it makescombat in games where there is no magic armor a lot more deadly,as lower armor classes = more serious critical effects. On theother hand, there's no damage effects for things like lasers orblasters, so you'll have to come up with the descriptive side ofthat on your own if you want to use it for futuristic games.I'm not sure if I'll be using the rules long term, because asthe section on critical hits in the DMG mentions, the playercharacters will be on the receiving end of critical hits moreoften than their specific opponents (as PCs last the entirecampaign, and opponents only a fight or two). It might end upbeing too much of a hassle, but in the short time I've used therule (basically 1 weekend), it hasn't been too hard on the PCs(of course, I also use "troupe" play, where each playerhas more than 1 character, which lets them rest up characters whoare too hurt).There are also very good rules for called shots. They'reperhaps useful enough that you would want to use a called shot ina combat from time to time, but not super-powerful that you'dwant to do it all the time. Just for special occasions, orcombats against really tough foes (and they are somewhat risky,as they provoke an attack of opportunity and require aconcentration check first to perform). There's also a simplesystem for critical fumbles (again, it's not as extreme as inrolemaster where you could accidently kill yourself on a fumble)The new critical hit system takes up about a third of thebook. The next 25 pages deal with the consequences of the firstsection, that is, healing or otherwise coping with damage causedby the system.It starts off with a new take on the Heal skill, which is quitewell done, the follows it up with lots and lots and lots ofhealing herbs (some taken from other books, including AtlasGames' Occult Lore). There are rules for scarring, rules forprosthetics (you can emulate the villain of "Enter theDragon"), rules for cod-pieces. Even rules for acupuncture!Pretty comprehensive, but not excruciatingly detailed.One minor quibble - it gives charisma penalties for scars - I'mnot sure that's always true - small ones tend to add character.(In the words of famed animated daredevil <a href="http://www.snpp.com/episodes/7F06.html" target="_blank">Lance Murdock</a>,"Chicks dig scars")Have you ever wanted to play the Villain from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/Title?0070034" target="_blank">Enter the Dragon</a>?(The Bruce Lee movie?) The guy with who is missing a hand, buthas a variety of attachments? Well, there's quite a selection ofprosthetics here, including things like that. There's some new classes related to healing and critical hits.Most interesting (for me) is the Apothecary core class. It'sbasically an improved expert (so it might be suitable for PCs,maybe not an obvious choice, but I know of at least two series ofhistorical novels that feature an apothecary as protagonist), butonly gets 5 skill points per level (as opposed to an expert'susual 6), though that might be a typo (or changed in 3.5), andlots of special abilities. It's the best version of a non-spellcasting healer I've seen (and er, I've actually seen a lot).The last third of so of the book is filled with misc. stuff,somewhat related to the subject. Some of it is necessary, likenew spells designed to cure critical effects. Some of it justseems a bit like filler, like most of the new weapons (some ofthe new armor is useful to offset particular critical hits orcalled shots, like the armored codpiece. Very useful forprotecting your cod.).I probably wouldn't allow most of the new weapons. One of thethings you have to ask when creating new weapons (or armor), is"Is this so good that no one would ever want to use anythingelse?". Unfortunately, that applies to most of the newweapons, many of which are just like the ones in the PHB, onlymore damaging ("Weighted Greatsword", "TripleThreat Crossbow") and one of the new armors("Warcaster's Armor").One of the new monsters is pretty interesting - the "DungGolem". Kind of like a politician, it's a golem that is fullof dung, or more specifically, bat guano. It's mostly used byunderground and cave dwelling magic using races.The rest are less interesting. There are a couple new races, onea type of reptiles (Bastion seems to love reptile races), and onea type of Hedgehog or porcupine. Perfect if you're a Sega fan, Iguess. Nothing bad, but nothing as notable as the Dung Golem.Physically, it's a very solid book. While it's 96 pages, it seemsalmost bigger, because they used a thick type of paper. Cats alsoapparently find it comfortable to sleep on (though this is thecase for most RPG books, for some reason).I thought the book looked a bit cluttered at times, the top andbottom margin art and the outer margin art sort of blendtogether. The margin art also features spirals, or circles, whichcan be somewhat disorientating. But the layout itself is prettygood. There's also no wasted space, and very little white spacein the book, period. So it's a good value, in terms of the amountof content you're getting.The artwork is generally good, with a few excellent pieces. Forinstance, early on in the book, there is a great full pagepicture of a Kyton (one of those <a href="http://www.imdb.com/Title?0093177" target="_blank">Hellraiser</a>-esquechain fiends) having it's arm being chopped off. Really nicepiece, if a bit gorey. (The outer margin art is also a bit icky)Other than the overpowered nature of some of the new equipment,and the averageness of most of the new critters, this is a greatbook. It offers a quick, easy, system to add detail to injuriesin combat, but without going to extremes that would make itunplayable or unwieldy. A- </blockquote>

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