Post/Author/DateTime	Post
thinkhard 06-28-06, 01:24 PM	This is a homebrew critical hit chart that i am using. Upon being hit by a critical, a percentile die is rolled to see which part of the body is hit. Each part of the body has it's own hit points, and certain effects happen at 0 per area. Percentile For Body Parts http://daapspace4.daap.uc.edu/~depenndw/criticalchart.jpg When you deal critical damage to a character, you not only deal damage directly to his HP, you deal damage to the body part you hit. Critical multipliers are not factored in when determining damage to a body part, but damage reduction is. All players must declare an off hand. When a body part reaches 0 HP, there are nasty effects. Limbs at 0 are disabled. A head, stomach, or chest at 0 is far worse. If you bring a limb to -10 HP, it is severed. Severed limbs cause a loss of 2 HP a round due to bleeding unless a DC 15 heal check is applied. Area Hit Points Effects at 0 Leg 3/4 HP You have ¼ move speed, can no longer run. You cannot jump. –10 to tumble and balance checks. You use ½ strength for strength checks that use legs. Arm 1/2 HP You can no longer use that arm to make attacks or shield checks. You can no longer grapple, but may resist grapples at half strength. Chest your HP Automatic death. Stomach 1/2 your HP You are immobile and helpless. You lose 3 HP a round due to bleeding, unless a DC 25 heal check is applied. Head 1/3 your HP Automatic death. When 2 legs are disabled, you cannot jump or tumble, may only move 4 ft as a full round action (prone), and make strength checks at ¼ strength. When 2 arms are disabled, you resist grapples with a –10 penalty, and lose half your strength for strength checks. Having 3 disabled limbs of any kind renders you helpless. If a leg is severed, you act as if you have 2 disabled legs. Whenever a character benefits from a healing ability (such as cure spell), all non-severed body parts recover the same HP as the character. Anything bleeding is stopped. Limbs can be reattached within 2d4 days of severing (DC 35 heal check), or re-grown through regeneration abilities. Sound viable?
Nachtwind 06-28-06, 01:51 PM	Well the idea has some problems, first of all its much more work to deal with, like what is disabled and whats the consequens and I think this can get boring pretty soon(though I'm quite sure there are players who will enjoy this). Thats my personal opinion and it is not meant to offend you :). Second thing is a rule problem if you give a secondary effect on each critical then you leave out the multiplier there so you give the weapons with a high treat range an advantage to the weapons with high multiplier, which is imo not fair, since both are balancing issues to weapons. I have no better idea, but I just wanted to Add what I think could be a problem, overall nice idea. Edit: I think you could balance it for my second point by simply saying it only works for crits with a 20 rolled in the initial roll...
tarkin 06-28-06, 01:54 PM	Your chart seems: 1) a radical departure from several standard d20 concepts. 2) Far Far more powerfull than standard criticals in game. 3) Even more powerfull than Role-Master and other game systems critical charts. They are designed so that on a critical, there is a chances of doing major damage, but also a chance of doing minor damage that is still incapacititing (i.e. hit on the head knocks them unconcious, not instant death).
Mentalmegabody 06-28-06, 02:03 PM	Changing the rules of D&D is very time-consuming and must be done with great care and the full consent of all the game partcipants. As I have many times said, do not try to make D&D realistic, it is foolish and utterly futile. The temptation might be high, but try to resist it. The whole D20 system is based on complex unrealistic rule system(at least compared to a few I've played), which allows exploitation and power-gaming. Critical hit locations might be fun for awhile, but it would shake the already sensitive stack of rules, eventually causing a distortion in the game balance. I liked your idea however, though. :)
Nachtwind 06-28-06, 03:27 PM	Hmm good point I didn't really look at the table ... Well the efects are quite powerful ... its like always having a quite strong critical enchantment on weapons, which is a big advantage for weapon fighting characters and a drawback for casters(I realize it would work for ranged touch and touch spells, but they are not that often and often not the best option)...
thinkhard 06-28-06, 10:59 PM	Well yes i've taken in the input about favoring high threat low multiplier weapons, still considering an option for that. About favoring weapon users over casters--i'm not terribly concerned, i've always found casters having more in their pockets than non-casters, but beyond that, this is intended more for a low magic setting where most people are weapon users. I've employed it in a d20 future setting and considering adding it permanently to my table. But yeah the input so far seems worth considering..... And for some reason this thread just isn't linking my image, which i find quite upsetting...
thaylok 06-30-06, 10:28 AM	I personally love the Critical Hit and Fumble charts out of the M.E.R.P. source book. Wonderful effects, depends on weapon/spell type, effect... For some strange reason, my players HATE them!! I keep explaining that the critters can fumble and blow their own heads off as well... But I keep my fumbles simple... D20 1-4, draw AoO and No subesquent attacks (lose spell/slot for the day) 5-9, as above, plus -2 on all actions next 2 rnds (lose spell/slot for the day) 10-14, as above, except -4 for 4 rnds and act last in init. (lose spell/slot for the day) 15-19, attack nearest living creature within reach+5ft, no AoO, but lose subesequent attacks and -4, next 4 rnds AND act last in init. (lose spell/slot for the day) 20, break weapon (saves for magical ones), or limb if spell (lose spell/slot for the day) [edit] as for crits... it always depends on the situtation at hand, I can make something up on the fly, that is more than acceptable. But the consistancy for the fumble is more important to the game!! [end edit]
Nom 07-01-06, 12:31 AM	It's the "PCs are equivalent to monsters" fallacy. A monster typically has a lifespan of one encounter. If it dies because of bad luck, it just means the encounter is over more quickly. A PC typically has a lifespan of many encounters. If it dies because of bad luck, the player's participation in the game comes to an abrupt halt. Spontaneously dying one time in 20 is fine if you only check once. It's a real issue if you check 40 times. And yes, save or die spells have a similar game balance problem.
OgreMonk 07-01-06, 08:17 PM	In my many attempts to create such a system, I came to the conclusion that such systems only hurt the PC. Too bad search isnt up, you could find hundreds and hundreds of simililar topics on how badly you gimp your PCs. Try googling it.
Artector 07-01-06, 09:03 PM	I've always thought critical fumbles were a little cruel. "You miss. Make your save." "2" "The sword flies out of your hand and impales the cleric. Roll your damage" "26" "Tough luck" *Both PC's cry* Critical hits are fine. Great for the "lucky hit", but not really cruel. PS:Gonna haveta start my quote section. As I have many times said, do not try to make D&D realistic, it is foolish and utterly futile. For this, I give you a cookie: :cookie:
thinkhard 07-02-06, 07:53 AM	The vast majority of the time (while this system has seen use) PC's simply have disabled limbs wich require special attention after battle, which adds a little more flavor to the cost of combat. In mid battle, if an NPC loses use of a limb, he is seriously impared so this benefits the PC's as much as an injured PC benefits the NPC's. In my campaigns, a large amount of NPC's flee to try and fight another day. And beyond this, the risk of dying from the critical chart is just as common for NPC's as it is for PC's, which is to say, extremely rare, in practice. Benefits of this chart: It allows for PC's to actively disable an NPC's abilities to fight. They can actively destroy body parts in the right situations. It adds flavor to the concept of taking a strong hit. The majorities of hits go to the chest (45%), and multiplied damage from a critical almost always kills a victim before he dies from damage to his chest (which is not multiplied). Only under rare situations would chest damage end up being the end of a character. Draw Backs: As mentioned, it seems to favor threat over multiplier. I will consider ammending a rule about the chart only being activated by a roll of a 20, and then having to confirm. While adding more flavor to critical hits, it also makes them more punishing (in practice this is only marginally more punishing, at least in a d20 future campaign). You can theorize this punishes the PC's more than the NPC's off the argument that NPC's have access to all resources the DM has to offer. A good DM would use this chart within it's context, though, and carefully manage the tangible wealth of his NPC's to make sure drawbacks have at least comparable effects on the NPC's as they do on the PC's. Special Observation I have noticed that it is possible this system is most usable in a d20 modern setting. This is because the wealth system allows you to purchase many more items than classic gold based systems all, so the money spent on services to regenerate or replace destroyed limbs is less punishing than it may be in a classic DnD session. But then again, the purchase of food and housing is so destructive toward purchase power in a classic gold system that i think it represents a flaw in the lack of narrative focus in using gold pieces instead of wealth scores.