Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Theagen 01-12-06, 03:42 PM	My perticular group of D&Der's have come to a cross roads. We have the choice of either manipulating the rules (i.e. finding loops holes and so forth.) or start making our own rules. Now we have made some rules just to fit into our campainges but one thing constantly escapes me. I would like to know any extra rules that can be added to a campainge in order to break limbs, and do actual damage to characters and monsters. I find it incredibly hard to believe that if you're in a grapple and pinning a person you don't have the capability to arm bar a person and have the possibility to break their arm making it useless or giving some sort of minus. These rules should also have effects for dislocation and such so that it isn't as narrow to say break their bones.
kallisti23 01-12-06, 03:48 PM	You should check out Player's Option: Combat & Tactics, if you can find it. It's a 2nd edition AD&D book, but it has rules for critical hits that includes a table for the hit location, the damage done, etc. With these rules, your character can actually break his arm.
Theagen 01-12-06, 04:30 PM	I still would like for people to give me ideas or options I can possibly add to my campainges. I will take that advice and look into some books that may have that topic. If i'm correct the 3.0DM's guild does have a small section on that but they don't go indepth enough to make anything usable and they don't touch the topic of breaking bones.
primemover003 01-12-06, 04:37 PM	Would you like this done to your PC? If you don't mind an Ogre's club snapping your femur then by all means use a crit hit table or specific damage to limbs rules... for many these rules are too game breaking. When you break someones arm you basically take them out of combat. This is why there are only very general "called shot" mechanics in 3rd edition D&D (power attack, crippling strike, etc).
Theagen 01-12-06, 04:49 PM	Alright abouth the ogre thing...no I don't.... but I meaning more along the lines of actually trying to break their limbs in a grapple. I've seen a guy get his arm broken (UFC) and still beat the crap out of the other guy and win. So this is more for direct grapple and so forth. But please keep replying.
Seeker95 01-12-06, 05:25 PM	primemover shared the primary reason such moves are not done in D&D. Anything you can do, the opponents can do toy you. And when they succeed, you'll have to live (or die) with it. D&D is not about specific damage. It is a generalist game. Called shots, armor locations, reasons for saves, cumulative hit points... all of these fall into the general approach to combat. But when you come up with a new specific (specialist) approach to damage, it will not fit very well within the fundamental mechanics of the game. Critical hits and sunder are as close as it comes. Any closer, and you create the system whereby every opponent is insane to not try this agaisnt you, and once every opponent is trying it, some opponenets are going to succeed.