Breaking body parts? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Breaking body parts? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Solanum
09-02-07, 01:54 AM A thought i've been running through the ol' noggin for a while now but haven't though of anything solid... Pc's Breakings bone/loosing body parts in a battle/tragic accident (i.e falling down a mountain.)

Also the monsters they face, breaking their legs/lopping off limbs and such. anyone got any good ideas on how to dictate broken bones and lost limbs and such/ I think it'd add some great flavor to the campaigns the fact one or two PC's become a hinderance rather than a helper.
Shaggy_Shaggs
09-02-07, 06:56 AM :uh-huh: Wait, you... want to make PCs feel useless and be burdens to those that haven't been crippled?

Go sit facing the wall and think about what you've done.
Orion__
09-02-07, 07:14 AM Hey, it's not a bad idea to make some parts of the story feel bitter to the players, if only to make the end (where they obviously win... don't they?) sweeter. Only it's very difficult not to frustrate them.
A_Wizard_for_Breakfast
09-02-07, 02:33 PM Every once in awhile, when a foe criticals with a natural 20, I'll have a limb broken or something to that effect. Often pretty severe, but never completely crippling.

I also allow the players to do it as well, but it comes into play much more often and the critical threat doesn't have to be on a 20. I've never made them deal with it much out of combat though. A few cure spells, generally to some predetermined limit (10-20 hp) works to make the problem go away.
Thubby
09-02-07, 02:38 PM Every once in awhile, when a foe criticals with a natural 20, I'll have a limb broken or something to that effect. Often pretty severe, but never completely crippling.

I also allow the players to do it as well, but it comes into play much more often and the critical threat doesn't have to be on a 20. I've never made them deal with it much out of combat though. A few cure spells, generally to some predetermined limit (10-20 hp) works to make the problem go away.

that unfairly cripples the already troubled fighting types, making mage even more appealing.
Sol_Aedh_Avoth
09-02-07, 03:00 PM I use the Massive Damage optional rule for this (homebrewed, of course)...

If a creature (even Constructs, Undead and whatever... only those who don't have a specific shape and incorporeal creatures are immune to this) gets the amount of massive damage stated for its size, a d100 is rolled:
1-15: Head/neck
16-30: Right arm/shoulder
31-45: Left arm/shoulder
46-60: Right leg
61-75: Left leg
71-100: Body

Then, by some other few rolls and depending on the weapon type of the Attacker (cutting, piercing or contundent), the relative part of the body can be broken bone/cut away, and so on... if it's the head, it means instant Death (except for Constructs and Undead)...
Kouk
09-02-07, 04:08 PM A thought i've been running through the ol' noggin for a while now but haven't though of anything solid... Pc's Breakings bone/loosing body parts in a battle/tragic accident (i.e falling down a mountain.)

Also the monsters they face, breaking their legs/lopping off limbs and such. anyone got any good ideas on how to dictate broken bones and lost limbs and such/ I think it'd add some great flavor to the campaigns the fact one or two PC's become a hinderance rather than a helper.

Not only the Fighter types, all characters (except maybe Monks) need their arms and hands in order to do anything.

Think how fun it will be to have your arms broken and be able to do nothing but cheer on your friends from the sidelines! And once you've had your fill of that, you can go and break a leg or two and get the rest of the group to carry you on their backs!

Just like critical miss charts, this is strongly stacked against the players. Nobody cares if the monster breaks his collarbone, he is going to die after this fight anyway. If the party starts racking up injuries, then they become useless and the entire party's power drops leaving them more open to TPKs or forcing them back to town (or to sleep a lot).

You want this for flavor, so leave it as flavor. When a target is killed by an attack that does much more damage than was necessary, maybe it explodes into a shower of blood and entrails. Maybe you cut it in half. Maybe its head caves in or is cut clean off. It doesn't matter at that point because it's dead, but it adds some fun.

There is a product, the Critical Hit Deck made by Gamemastery that you can order from Paizo or probably get from other places. When someone scores a crit, you draw a card and something weird happens, like a wound that bleeds for the next couple of rounds, or things like that. I don't like them for more than flavor because it actually impacts the gameplay by making critical hits more dangerous, but you might like it for your campaign, and there is less chance of totally removing a player from the fight.
VulcanStormwrath
09-02-07, 08:37 PM that unfairly cripples the already troubled fighting types, making mage even more appealing.

You ever tried doing somatics with broken arms?
Salla
09-02-07, 08:47 PM These kinds of rules are never a good idea. It may be funny when Gobby Goblin gets his arm broken, but he's only supposed to live four or five rounds. The PCs are expected to be in for the long haul. Until sufficient healing magic like Regeneration (7th level?) is available, a broken or severed arm is as good as being dead. A crippled character has to retire, or hold the party back.

It's unfair. It hoses the PCs. It's bad for gameplay.
Bhaelfur
09-02-07, 08:57 PM I was playing a Cleric in a campaign that had these sort of rules, and I was the main tank (both fighters were both scared of tanking, one was more of ranged fighter with feats for two-weapon fighting, the other plasyer was a total idiot who decided randomly to duel to a Wizard, not realizing that would severely hamper him.) Anyway, in one battle, I was toe-to-toe with a dwarven cleric wielding a keen scimitar. I lost one of my ears and my left hand that fight, but we won and I found a priest to cast regenerate on me. Sure, it sucked at the time, but I rather liked it, and from that day on, I started using a shield.

In another case, a Slaad had polymorphed to be a Drow Elf, and was flying through the air. We just couldn't hit him. Finally, our Druid/Ranger's raven flew up and killed him by slitting his throat with a talon. The Slaad was just about to kill all of us, too.

Overall, I like the system, as long as you have access to means of fixing missing/broken limbs. We had ruled that a Cure Serious Wounds could reattach fingers, for instance, and each major city had a high priest or two that could cast regeneration.
Sol_Aedh_Avoth
09-02-07, 09:15 PM These kinds of rules are never a good idea. It may be funny when Gobby Goblin gets his arm broken, but he's only supposed to live four or five rounds. The PCs are expected to be in for the long haul. Until sufficient healing magic like Regeneration (7th level?) is available, a broken or severed arm is as good as being dead. A crippled character has to retire, or hold the party back.

It's unfair. It hoses the PCs. It's bad for gameplay.
That's why I've done the rule over the Massive Damage rule and not simple critical hits...
If a low level character takes 50 damage by a single Attack, it would mean Death anyway in most cases... :D
But higher level characters can live with that and often it's funny to see what they do, unless players want the straight "we kill or get killed and we don't need to do anything else than Fight" game...
Thubby
09-02-07, 11:48 PM You ever tried doing somatics with broken arms?

how often does a mage get hit?
fighters, its basically their job
mages, not so much
Meep326
09-03-07, 12:04 AM I could see using variants of this in special occasions. I usually use the more 'descriptive' death scene type things on bosses or when the character gets completly obliterated in one round (Mm... Half-Dragon Minotuar).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Solanum 09-02-07, 01:54 AM	A thought i've been running through the ol' noggin for a while now but haven't though of anything solid... Pc's Breakings bone/loosing body parts in a battle/tragic accident (i.e falling down a mountain.) Also the monsters they face, breaking their legs/lopping off limbs and such. anyone got any good ideas on how to dictate broken bones and lost limbs and such/ I think it'd add some great flavor to the campaigns the fact one or two PC's become a hinderance rather than a helper.
Shaggy_Shaggs 09-02-07, 06:56 AM	:uh-huh: Wait, you... want to make PCs feel useless and be burdens to those that haven't been crippled? Go sit facing the wall and think about what you've done.
Orion__ 09-02-07, 07:14 AM	Hey, it's not a bad idea to make some parts of the story feel bitter to the players, if only to make the end (where they obviously win... don't they?) sweeter. Only it's very difficult not to frustrate them.
A_Wizard_for_Breakfast 09-02-07, 02:33 PM	Every once in awhile, when a foe criticals with a natural 20, I'll have a limb broken or something to that effect. Often pretty severe, but never completely crippling. I also allow the players to do it as well, but it comes into play much more often and the critical threat doesn't have to be on a 20. I've never made them deal with it much out of combat though. A few cure spells, generally to some predetermined limit (10-20 hp) works to make the problem go away.
Thubby 09-02-07, 02:38 PM	Every once in awhile, when a foe criticals with a natural 20, I'll have a limb broken or something to that effect. Often pretty severe, but never completely crippling. I also allow the players to do it as well, but it comes into play much more often and the critical threat doesn't have to be on a 20. I've never made them deal with it much out of combat though. A few cure spells, generally to some predetermined limit (10-20 hp) works to make the problem go away. that unfairly cripples the already troubled fighting types, making mage even more appealing.
Sol_Aedh_Avoth 09-02-07, 03:00 PM	I use the Massive Damage optional rule for this (homebrewed, of course)... If a creature (even Constructs, Undead and whatever... only those who don't have a specific shape and incorporeal creatures are immune to this) gets the amount of massive damage stated for its size, a d100 is rolled: 1-15: Head/neck 16-30: Right arm/shoulder 31-45: Left arm/shoulder 46-60: Right leg 61-75: Left leg 71-100: Body Then, by some other few rolls and depending on the weapon type of the Attacker (cutting, piercing or contundent), the relative part of the body can be broken bone/cut away, and so on... if it's the head, it means instant Death (except for Constructs and Undead)...
Kouk 09-02-07, 04:08 PM	A thought i've been running through the ol' noggin for a while now but haven't though of anything solid... Pc's Breakings bone/loosing body parts in a battle/tragic accident (i.e falling down a mountain.) Also the monsters they face, breaking their legs/lopping off limbs and such. anyone got any good ideas on how to dictate broken bones and lost limbs and such/ I think it'd add some great flavor to the campaigns the fact one or two PC's become a hinderance rather than a helper. Not only the Fighter types, all characters (except maybe Monks) need their arms and hands in order to do anything. Think how fun it will be to have your arms broken and be able to do nothing but cheer on your friends from the sidelines! And once you've had your fill of that, you can go and break a leg or two and get the rest of the group to carry you on their backs! Just like critical miss charts, this is strongly stacked against the players. Nobody cares if the monster breaks his collarbone, he is going to die after this fight anyway. If the party starts racking up injuries, then they become useless and the entire party's power drops leaving them more open to TPKs or forcing them back to town (or to sleep a lot). You want this for flavor, so leave it as flavor. When a target is killed by an attack that does much more damage than was necessary, maybe it explodes into a shower of blood and entrails. Maybe you cut it in half. Maybe its head caves in or is cut clean off. It doesn't matter at that point because it's dead, but it adds some fun. There is a product, the Critical Hit Deck made by Gamemastery that you can order from Paizo or probably get from other places. When someone scores a crit, you draw a card and something weird happens, like a wound that bleeds for the next couple of rounds, or things like that. I don't like them for more than flavor because it actually impacts the gameplay by making critical hits more dangerous, but you might like it for your campaign, and there is less chance of totally removing a player from the fight.
VulcanStormwrath 09-02-07, 08:37 PM	that unfairly cripples the already troubled fighting types, making mage even more appealing. You ever tried doing somatics with broken arms?
Salla 09-02-07, 08:47 PM	These kinds of rules are never a good idea. It may be funny when Gobby Goblin gets his arm broken, but he's only supposed to live four or five rounds. The PCs are expected to be in for the long haul. Until sufficient healing magic like Regeneration (7th level?) is available, a broken or severed arm is as good as being dead. A crippled character has to retire, or hold the party back. It's unfair. It hoses the PCs. It's bad for gameplay.
Bhaelfur 09-02-07, 08:57 PM	I was playing a Cleric in a campaign that had these sort of rules, and I was the main tank (both fighters were both scared of tanking, one was more of ranged fighter with feats for two-weapon fighting, the other plasyer was a total idiot who decided randomly to duel to a Wizard, not realizing that would severely hamper him.) Anyway, in one battle, I was toe-to-toe with a dwarven cleric wielding a keen scimitar. I lost one of my ears and my left hand that fight, but we won and I found a priest to cast regenerate on me. Sure, it sucked at the time, but I rather liked it, and from that day on, I started using a shield. In another case, a Slaad had polymorphed to be a Drow Elf, and was flying through the air. We just couldn't hit him. Finally, our Druid/Ranger's raven flew up and killed him by slitting his throat with a talon. The Slaad was just about to kill all of us, too. Overall, I like the system, as long as you have access to means of fixing missing/broken limbs. We had ruled that a Cure Serious Wounds could reattach fingers, for instance, and each major city had a high priest or two that could cast regeneration.
Sol_Aedh_Avoth 09-02-07, 09:15 PM	These kinds of rules are never a good idea. It may be funny when Gobby Goblin gets his arm broken, but he's only supposed to live four or five rounds. The PCs are expected to be in for the long haul. Until sufficient healing magic like Regeneration (7th level?) is available, a broken or severed arm is as good as being dead. A crippled character has to retire, or hold the party back. It's unfair. It hoses the PCs. It's bad for gameplay. That's why I've done the rule over the Massive Damage rule and not simple critical hits... If a low level character takes 50 damage by a single Attack, it would mean Death anyway in most cases... :D But higher level characters can live with that and often it's funny to see what they do, unless players want the straight "we kill or get killed and we don't need to do anything else than Fight" game...
Thubby 09-02-07, 11:48 PM	You ever tried doing somatics with broken arms? how often does a mage get hit? fighters, its basically their job mages, not so much
Meep326 09-03-07, 12:04 AM	I could see using variants of this in special occasions. I usually use the more 'descriptive' death scene type things on bosses or when the character gets completly obliterated in one round (Mm... Half-Dragon Minotuar).