Hit location dice

[Trifletraxor]

Anyone thought of using anything like this instead of the old d20?


Or just a normal d6 (maybe a d6 with dots and not numbers to differentiate it from the others)?


A d6 as location dice would cover

[table=head]d6|humanoid|four-legged
6|head|head
5|left arm|left front leg
4|right arm|right front leg
3|body|body
2|left leg|left hind leg
1|right leg|right hind leg

Humonoid and four-legged opponents cover at least 95% of all opponents in my games. If humnoid or four-legged with wings or two extra limbs, roll d8 and use 7 & 8 for extra appendage.

Haven't tried this myself, but though about it when seeing the dice.

SGL.

[Jason Durall]

The only issues I see are:

1. You'd have to conflate the abdomen and chest hit locations to just "body"

2. The current spread of locations takes into account some factors like size of hit location and likelihood of hitting during hand-to-hand combat, with the missile hit location spread handling ranged combat. Having every hit location be the same chance (just over 16%) negates that.

I've always liked the Warhammer FRP system, where the hit roll result is flipped and the same value used for the hit location. For example, if you hit someone with a roll of 37, you have a hit location roll of 73. Makes for one fewer dice rolls.

[Dredj]

All the hit location dice I've ever seen or bought were 12-sided. And they have "torso" printed more than the other parts of the body on each die.

[Dredj]

RPG Shop: Role Playing Games, Miniatures, Dice, War Games, Board Games, Paints, and more!

The ones I bought say "torso" instead of "stomach".

[Kloster]

I remember Top Secret SI (TSR), where, for HtH combat, a roll of 68 on the to hit roll means, if under the skill, 6 points done on location 8, modified by strength for damage.


Runequestement votre,

Kloster

[Dredj]

I'm thinking about using the HP for each location of the body. I was thinking that rolling twice on the hit point location die when the hit points of a location are exceded. That way you can find out where the extra damage goes when the arm a pc or non-pc is using to block a sword slice is lopped off. The six siders might be best used for that (finding out where the extra damage goes).

[Triff]

Originally Posted by Dredj

RPG Shop: Role Playing Games, Miniatures, Dice, War Games, Board Games, Paints, and more!

The ones I bought say "torso" instead of "stomach".

It looks like 8 sides go to the extremities, that is 2/3, the same as with a d6, so it's probably not that big a difference.

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

The only issues I see are:

1. You'd have to conflate the abdomen and chest hit locations to just "body"

Yes, that's an issue, I agree. I'm not sure it's that big an issue though.

2. The current spread of locations takes into account some factors like size of hit location and likelihood of hitting during hand-to-hand combat, with the missile hit location spread handling ranged combat. Having every hit location be the same chance (just over 16%) negates that.

d20 melee: legs 40%, abdom+chest 20%, arms 30%, head 10%
d6 loc dice: legs 33%, body 16,7, arms 33%, head 16,7%.
I can't really say one spread is more likely than the other. I think the d20 spread might have a bit high percentages for the legs compared to the rest of the body, and maybe a bit little for the head. I can't say the d20 is "better" in melee though.

For missile, yes realism would drop a bit, as most missiles are aimed for the body. However, having two d20 missile locations tables to slow things down a bit. For hightened realism using the d6, you could say that any hit with a missile weapon that was an odd number went for the body, and even numbers rolled the dice. This would lead to higher casualties though.

I've always liked the Warhammer FRP system, where the hit roll result is flipped and the same value used for the hit location. For example, if you hit someone with a roll of 37, you have a hit location roll of 73. Makes for one fewer dice rolls.

A d100 hit location table?

SGL.

[RosenMcStern]

Trif, I think that in this thread you are doing exactly the same thing that Mongoose did with the removal of general hit points.

You are fixing what is not broken.

[Trifletraxor]

Originally Posted by RosenMcStern

Trif, I think that in this thread you are doing exactly the same thing that Mongoose did with the removal of general hit points.

You are fixing what is not broken.

Maybe, maybe. A d6 would be simpler and might lead to faster more streamlined combat. At the same time you do lose some of usefull complexity a d20 can provide. Haven't tried it though, I'm just discussing it.

SGL.

[frogspawner]

Originally Posted by Trifletraxor

A d6 would be simpler and might lead to faster more streamlined combat. At the same time you do lose some of usefull complexity a d20 can provide.

The Location D6 (or D12) is a cute gimmick. (What more 'useful complexity' do you think a D20 provides, though?)

But if you want simpler, faster, streamlined combat - why not just use BRP? The default, that is: no hit locations...