5.87 Hit Location in Combat ============================ By: Christian Otkjaer Date: May, 1993 This rule requires more bookkeeping on the part of each player and the GM, and complicates combat. However, it should add more excitement to combat as well. Characters can be kept alive a bit longer, but at the cost of leaving them severely in need of medical aid. 5.871 Hit Location ------------------- As suggested briefly in Section 3.6, players can aim at a specific body part during battle. There is a penalty for the size of the part, as follows: Eyes, coins, etc.: -3 Hands, feet, heads, pixies, etc.: -2 Legs, arms, leprechauns, etc.: -1 Human torsos, halflings, giants' legs, etc.: +0 Giant's body (if you can reach it), dragons, cars, etc.: +1 or more (Subtract 1 from final damage so this +1 to hit does not become a +1 to damage, also.) If the player doesn't specify a body part, it is assumed to be a torso attack. These are for melee combat. For a ranged attack, simply set the degree task appropriately higher. If the range is too distant, you can't aim at a specific part. Instead, roll to hit the torso as usual. If successful, use a random hit location by rolling 1d6: Rolled Hit 1 Extremity 2 Leg 3 Torso 4 Torso 5 Arm 6 Head On a result of Extremity, roll another d6: 1-3 = Foot; 4-6 = Hand. On a result of Hand, Foot, Arm or Leg, roll another d6: 1-3 = left; 4-6 = right. A game company called The Armory makes a "Hit Location" die with a different circled body part on each face. You could simply use one of these, instead. [Digression: both The Armory and Flying Buffalo, Inc., make some interesting novelty dice that would work very well with FUDGE, and are recommended. You can get dice showing pictures of different fumbles, critical hits, NPC reactions, noises, monster encounters, treasure, weather, corridor options, traps, doors, etc. Ask your local retailer to check his distributor's catalog under "Dice." - S.O'S.] Aiming at a specific body part means a -1 to Initiative if using those rules. 5.872 Damage to an Individual Body Part ---------------------------------------- Each body part has its own Damage Capacity, all based on the the character's general Damage Capacity: Foot: -2 levels to general Damage Capacity Hand: -2 levels Arm: -1 level Leg: -1 level Head: -1 level Torso: -0 level That is, someone of overall Fair Damage Capacity has Poor Damage Capacity in each foot and hand, Mediocre Damage Capacity in his head and in each arm and leg, and Fair Damage Capacity in the torso. His *Constitution* is not affected by this, though: if he has Fair Constitution, all body parts have Fair Constitution. You could represent this on the back of the character sheet as a table. For example, here is a table for someone of Fair Damage Capacity: Scratch Hurt Very hurt Incapacitated Near Death Torso: 2 2 2 2 2 Head: 2 2 1 2 2 Body and head wounds are treated exactly as in the main text. The terms "Incapacitated" and "Near Death" are replaced by the terms "Useless" and "Crippled" for the limbs. Scratch Hurt Very hurt Useless Crippled Left arm: 2 2 1 2 2 Left hand: 2 1 1 2 2 Right arm: 2 2 1 2 2 Right hand: 2 1 1 2 2 Left leg: 2 2 1 2 2 Left foot: 2 1 1 2 2 Right leg: 2 2 1 2 2 Right foot: 2 1 1 2 2 5.873 Useless and Crippled Limbs --------------------------------- A character drops whatever he was holding in a hand or arm that becomes useless. It must be healed before it can be used again. If a leg or foot becomes useless, the character falls down. (A Superb agility roll might prevent this, if the GM is willing.) He can stand and move again (slowly) if he leans on something, even if it's just a makeshift cane. A crippled limb is the same as useless, but takes twice as long to heal. Any limb that takes damage beyond crippled is permanently cut off, crisped, withered, mangled, etc., depending on the attack. Only magic, cyberware or a miracle will help in these cases. 5.874 Modifiers Due to Damage ------------------------------ Only the most severe Wound counts for negative modifier purposes, and only for an appropriate activity. Example: a character is Hurt (-1) in his right arm, Very Hurt (-2) in his left leg, and Hurt (-1) in his right foot. He is at -2 to all actions involving the left leg, which include fighting while standing. The -1 to his right foot is not cumulative with this damage. However, he is only at -1 if trying to pick a lock, since only the arm wound counts in this action. 5.875 Keeping Track of Wounds ------------------------------ You can still use the card method to track wounds, but you should make your own cards indicating what they are for. E.g., a card with a picture of a left hand or "left hand" written on it counts as a wound to (surprise!) the left hand. You might just want to record wounds on paper instead. 5.876 Widespread Damage ------------------------ If a character is hit by a giant fireball, a flame thrower, the blast from a grenade, a cave in, etc., the damage must be distributed to each afflicted part. Figure the final damage as usual. Every part of the body that possibly could be affected takes *half* (round up) of the final damage. If you have different armor on different parts of your body the calculation must be made for each body part. (A Space Crusader in heavy battle armor might not mind a blast from a flame thrower, unless he had just taken off his gloves . . . or helmet!)