From: rorice@nickel.ucs.indiana.edu (rosalyn rice) Yet more rules... This section elaborates on the broken weapon and hit location rules. Part 4 - Melee Combat VERIFYING CRITICAL MISSES Some weapons might be so reliable that a critical miss is virtually impossible. In this case, roll again against basic weapon skill. On a failure the Critical Miss actually happens, on a success, the possible Critical was just a normal miss. AVOIDING CRITICAL MISSES WITH HIGH SKILL Characters with skill over 15 can attempt to "control" Critical Misses. If they can roll under basic weapons skill - 13 they somehow turn a Critical Miss into a normal miss. DEFENSES A character has four sorts of defenses - passive defense, and three active defenses: dodge, block and parry. A character is allowed to make one sort of defense of each sort per attack (i.e. one dodge, one block, one parry). All active defenses to be used must be announced at the beginning of the contest of skills; they can't be commited as previous defenses fail. The advantage Combat Reflexes adds +1 to all active defenses. PASSIVE DEFENSE Every character has a passive defense to attacks, even if they are unconcious or immobile. This is the measure of the ability of the character's clothing, skin and armor to "turn" a blow. Unless otherwise noted, it works against all sorts of attacks - from rocks to nuclear weapons. Only the armor with the highest PD plus the PD of any shield is counted, irregardless of how many types of armor are worn. The PD of the shield only applies to the front and one side of the character. Attacks from the weapon-arm side or rear negate the PD of the shield, though the shieldman can still attempt to block these shots using his active defenses. PD of armor can never exceed 8 and is usually exponentially related to DR. PD of shields depends on their size. PD of armor and shield together can never exceed 10. PD is subtracted from the attacker's chance to hit, just like modifications for hit location or cover. ACTIVE DEFENSES Active defenses can be used by concious, more or less mobile characters against attacks that they know are coming. An active defense, plus PD (but not including various temporary modifiers) can never exceed 16. DODGE Every character who is capable of some movement is able to dodge any attack that he knows is coming, irregardless of the direction it is coming from. Dodge is equal to MOVE, DX/2 or 1/2 Dodge skill (whichever is better), minus any levels of encumbrance. All animals have a dodge score equal to MOVE/2 or DX/2, whichever is better, up to a maximum of 16. ACROBATIC DODGE If you have the Acrobatics skill, you may try a "fancy" dodge maneuver once per turn. You may define this as jumping over a sword-blow, cartwheeling away, or whatever else you like. Roll vs. Acrobatics skill (no defaults). If you succeed you get +2 to your dodge roll. If you fail you get -4. This may be combined with a retreat. This modifier still won't allow dodge skill to exceed 16. BLOCK A character who has a ready cloak, force shield, shield or buckler can block blows from hand weapons, thrown weapons, or low tech missile weapons that come from ahead, above or to his shield side. You can't normally block bullets or beam weapons. Blows to the weapon-arm side are blocked at -2. Blows from the side or below can be blocked at -4. Blows from the rear are blocked at -6 and the shield gives no PD. Block score is equal to the 2/3 of the appropriate skill. Heavy shields might have to be readied between uses or they will block at a penalty. Multiple uses of the block defense also are at a penalty to succeed. In addition to the normal penalty for multiple defenses, a shield or cloak can only block attacks in one turn equal to its PD x 2 (so a shield with PD 2 can only block 4 attacks per turn). Block score can't exceed 16. PARRY A character who has a rigid weapon or object of some sort can parry with it against attacks from hand weapons coming from ahead, above and his weapon arm side. When using a one-handed weapon attacks to the shield-arm side or below are parried at -2. Attacks from the side are parried at -4. Attacks from the rear are parried at -6. You may parry a given attack once with each weapon you have, but each attack parried that turn is at a cumulative penalty. Parry score can't exceed 16. Various weapons are more or less easy to parry with, depending on length, weight and balance. FULL SKILL: Weapons that are designed to attack and defend with equal facility give the user a parry score equal to his skill with that weapon. These include fists, fencing weapons, parry daggers and quarterstaves. These weapons don't become unready after they have been used to attack or parry. 2/3 SKILL: Weapons that are relatively light and balanced give their users a parry score equal to 2/3 weapon skill. These include swords, great swords, knives, short pole arms, short spears and light clubs. These weapons don't become unready after they have been used to attack or parry. 1/2 SKILL: Weapons that are heavier, longer and more unbalanced give their users a parry score equal to weapon skill/2. These would include axes, maces, most pole-arms and the most unwieldy of greatswords. They become unready after they have been used to attack or parry. (Exception: Pole-arms) 1/3 SKILL: Weapons that are very long, heavy and unbalanced give their users a parry score equal to weapon skill/3. These would include long pikes and huge ungainly clubs, flails and pole-arms. They become unready after they have been used to attack or parry. Any weapon, with the exception of pole-arms and weapons that use full skill for the parry score, must be ready to be parried with and becomes unready after it has parried (or after a parry and attack combination). IMPROVISED WEAPONS You can also parry with a non-weapon of the proper size and shape, using the closest weapon skill. A pole or rifle could parry like a spear, a bow like a light club. However, the improvised weapon might be damaged or ruined by using it to parry. MISSILE AND THROWN WEAPONS A parry can be used at -1 to parry thrown weapons, or at -2 to parry small thrown weapons. Fast missiles like arrows or bullets can't be parried. Arrows, shuriken, and sling bullets can be deflected using hand weapons if you have the Missile Parrying skill. Normal humans can't parry bullets. BREAKING WEAPONS A weapon has a 1/3 chance of breaking if it parries anything more than three times its own weight, after it successfully parries the attack. In general, only rapiers and knives are likely to break this way. UNARMED PARRIES You are at -2 to parry a weapon bare-handed. Furthermore, the opponent can target the parrying limb at +2 if he wishes. PARRIES VS. UNARMED ATTACKERS If you successfully parry an unarmed attack with a weapon, you may injure your attacker. Immediately roll vs. your weapon skill at +2. If you hit, your parry struck your foe squarely and you do normal damage to the attacking limb. PARRYING SWINGS Swinging attacks are easier to Parry than Thrusts. You get +1 to Parry and Block skill to parry a swing. FENCING PARRIES Fencing is a unique fighting form. A fencer uses a light weapon and very light "shields" (or none at all). The fencer's "ready" position keeps his weapon pointed towards the foe. Thus, he can parry more effectively than other fighters. If you have the Fencing skill, and are appropriately armed (rapier or saber, no shield larger than small, and no greater than light encumbrance), your parrying ability is equal to your Fencing skill. Furthermore, you may parry twice per turn with no penalty. An all-out defense will allow you to parry 4 times per turn with no penalty. Many fencers carry a dagger (called a "main-gauche") as a secondary weapon. The parry with the main-gauche is equal to Knife (Main-Gauche) skill. It can be used to parry in exactly the same way as the main weapon. CUMULATIVE DEFENSES Each defense after the first is at a -2 penalty. So, if you attempt to parry, then block, then dodge a blow, your parry is normal, your block is at -2 and your dodge is at -4. If you made a second dodge against another attack then it would be at -6, since it is your fourth defense roll. You may make only one defense of each type against any given attack. Roll separately for each defense. The attack number stays the same. Each attack with a weapon that is used to defend prior to the attack during the turn (or defense with a weapon that is used to attack) is at -4 cumulative. So two defenses with a weapon that was used to attack are at -4 and -8 respectively. So if you attempted to attack, then block, then dodge, then parry, your parry roll would be at (-2)+(-2)+(-4) = -8, and a second parry roll would be at -12, while a second block or dodge would only be at -8. DEFENDING A SPECIFIC BODY AREA A specific area of the body can be protected with the Block or Parry defense. The defender must specify the area of the body he is defending that turn. He may only protect one hit location per turn this way and may not change the area he is defending in the middle of the turn. He gets a +2 to his block or parry score to defend that area, but a -1 to his Block or Parry scores to defend other hit locations. Legitimate places to defend are: the head (including the face, neck, brain, nose, ears, jaw, and eyes), the left arm or right arm (including the elbow and the hand), the left leg or right leg (including knees, and the feet - but at a penalty), the abdomen (including the groin, but not including the kidneys) and the chest (including shoulders and the vitals). If you lose a contest of Weapons skill vs. Body Language skill, your opponent can determine where you are concentrating your defenses. CRITICAL HITS ON DEFENSE ROLLS If you roll a 3 or 4 on any defense roll, you automatically win the contest of skills and you don't suffer a skill penalty to subsequent defenses in the same turn for that defense. CRITICAL MISSES ON DEFENSE ROLLS A defense roll of 17 or 18 fails disasterously. DODGE If you tried to dodge, roll vs. DX. If you fail the roll you lose your footing and fall prone or supine (whichever is worse). Otherwise you fall on your butt (sitting position) or are off-balance, whichever is better for you. If you are off-balance, you may not attack or and all the penalties to active defense rolls are doubled this turn. BLOCK If you tried to block, you lose your grip on your shield and must take turn to re-ready it before you can block again (its PD still counts). Bucklers and small hand-held shields are dropped instead. PARRY If you tried to parry go to the critical miss table. ATTACKS AIMING FOR A SPECIFIC TARGET You may attempt to hit a specific part of the body at a minus to the contest of skills to hit. If you would have won the contest and hit your foe with a hand weapon if you hadn't aimed for the specific target area, and your opponent rolled higher than their defense score, you hit the general area you were trying to hit. If you are using a missile weapon, you may roll randomly to see which location you hit. If your opponent was riding on a horse, or was obscured by another character (friendly or otherwise) and you miss (and your opponent didn't parry or block the blow) on a 9 or less, you hit the horse or the other character instead. STRIKING AT WEAPONS You may strike at a weapon because you want to take its user alive, or because the weapon is the only thing you can reach. It is always possible to strike at a weapon that has just been used to attack, defend or feint against you this turn. Other weapons must have at least one hex in range of your weapon to attack. The penalty to strike at a weapon is -5 for a very small weapon, like a knife or a pistol, -3 for a pole-arm, and -4 for any other weapon. A hit on a wooden weapon might chop through the shaft or knock down or break a metal weapon. CUTTING THROUGH A WEAPON To chop through a wooden shaft (possibly destroying the weapon) you must hit it with a cutting weapon. Only basic damage counts - there is no 50% bonus when you cut an inanimate object. Typically a spear, staff or axe would have a haft 2" in diameter, which would have a 3 DR and 8 HP. A well-made pole-arm would have the shaft protected by metal facings. It would have a 4 DR and 12 HP. Keep track of the damage your weapon takes. If the weapon takes triple the amount of damage required to break it in one blow it is weakened and will break on solid hit or parry you make with it. BREAKING A BLADE - To break a foe's sword, rapier or knife, of other blade weapon, you must strike it with a cutting or crushing blow. It takes 3 hits of damage in a single blow to break a thin knife or foil, 4 for a rapier, dagger, or smallsword, 6 to break a shortsword, knife, or saber, 8 to break a broadsword and 10 to break a larger sword. If your weapon is of better quality, then it takes only half as much damage to break the enemy's weapon. If the enemy's weapon is of better quality than yours it takes twice as much damage to break it. Any weapon can be broken by parrying a heavier weapon. If you parry a weapon of at least 3 times the weight of your own weapon there is a 1/2 chance that your weapon will break. This becomes a 1/6 chance if you have a fine weapon, or a 2/3 chance for a cheap weapon. A very fine weapon will only break on a critical failure. DISARMING AN OPPONENT - To knock a weapon from an opponent's hand, you use the attack maneuver, but state that you are attacking to disarm. Instead of the normal contest of skills, roll a quick contest of Weapons skills. If you are striking at a hand-held missile weapon, your foe uses his DX instead of skill. You attack at a penalty appropriate to the weapon's size. Weapons other than fencing weapons are at a further -2 for a disarm attempt. The defender rolls at +1 if his weapon is heavier than yours, +2 for twice as heavy and so on. He also gets +1 if he is stronger than you, and +2 if he is using a two-handed weapon. If you win, your foe drops his weapon in that hex; if you roll a critical failure, you are disarmed. Otherwise there is no effect. DEFENSE AGAINST WEAPON ATTACKS - You may use your dodge, or parry defenses to foil an attack on your weapon. Dodge means that you pull your weapon out of the way. Parry means that you turn your weapon so that your opponent's weapon misses or slides off harmlessly. You may not block attacks on your weapon and PD doesn't help in any way against these attacks. DROPPED WEAPONS - Weapons that are dropped deliberately fall in a hex that the character passed through or an adjacent hex. Weapons that were knocked away, go in a random direction 0 to 2 (1d3-1) hexes away for small weapons, or fall at the users feet or in an adjacent hex for large weapons. BROKEN WEAPONS - Knives, bows, crossbows, slings, and similar weapons are always useless after breaking. For other weapons there is a 50% chance that it is still partially usable, unless otherwise specified. SWORDS - A broken sword does 1/2 its normal cutting damage, but is almost useless as an impaling weapon since the tip is gone. It does basic Thrust, Crushing damage. A broken 2-hex sword only has a 1-hex range. FOILS AND RAPIERS - A broken rapier or foil is treated as a dagger. In both cases basic damage is reduced by 1 to reflect the blunter tip. SPEARS AND PIKES - There is a 50% chance that the head will break off near where it joins the shaft, in which case you have a quarterstaff and a thrusting dagger (the spear head and shaft). Otherwise you have a 1-hex club and a there is a 1-hex or 2-hex spear, doing normal damage, lying on the ground at your feet. BATTLE-AXES - There is a 50% chance that you now have a club, and a 50% chance that the shaft breaks near your hand - in which case, there is a clumsy (-4 to hit) 1-yard axe lying at your feet. POLEARMS - It depends on where it breaks. There is a 33% chance that you are left with a 8' long pole (parries normally, attacks as a blunt pike); a 33% chance that you are left with a quarterstaff, and there is a very clumsy (-4 to hit) axe on the ground; and a 33% chance that you are left with a short club and there is a clumsy (-2) to hit 2-hex battle-axe on the ground. Figure skill and damage according to the new weapon type. AXES AND MACES - The head has broken off, leaving you with a short club. FLAILS - There is a 2/3 chance that the weapon broke at the chain or rope holding the two sections of the flail together. In this case, you now have a pair of batons or clubs, depending on how heavy the flail was. The piece of the flail that broke off flies 2d6 hexes away in a random direction. If someone is in the way it might hit them for 1/2 damage and drop in their hex. On any other result, one of the sections of the flail broke. You now have either a broken stump of a flail in your hand (with the rest of the flail 1d6 hexes away) or a shorter flail in your hand that does 1/2 Damage. (The tip is 2d6 hexes away). There is a 50% chance of either result. CHAINS - There is a 1/3 chance that a chain weapon breaks at the handle, a 1/3 chance that it breaks in the middle of the chain, and a 1/3 chance that it breaks at the head. If the weapon breaks at the handle, the rest of the weapon flies 2d6 hexes in a random direction, as if it were a flail. If the weapon can be retrieved, it will do normal damage, since you just use the end of the chain as a handle. If the weapon breaks in the middle of the chain, the head flies off as above. If the weapon is retrieved, it does only 1/2 damage and reach is reduced by 1/2 (minimum of 1 hex) since the chain is shorter. If you want to just fight with the short section of chain left in your hand, it has 1 hex and does 1/2 normal Crushing damage for that weapon. If the weapon breaks near the head, the head flies off, as above, and you can fight with the headless chain. Reach is normal. Damage is halved. This assumes that the chain weapon has a handle and a head. If you've just got a chain, then damage is reduced by -1 if the chain breaks near the "handle" or "head" (-2 maximum) and reach is reduced by 1 if the chain has a reach of more than 1 hex. GUNS AND MISSILE WEAPONS - If a gun or other missile weapon is broken by a melee weapon attack it is useless both as a missile weapon and as a melee weapon. OTHER WEAPONS - Use the closets type of weapon listed above, or let the GM make a logical decision about the possibilities (and roll if there is more than one way for a weapon to break). ADVERSE COMBAT CONDITIONS - A number of possible factors can make it harder to hit your foe. Each one has a "hit penalty" which is subtracted from your skill before you roll. Some common adverse conditions, and their penalties: ATTACKER'S SITUATION Bad Light -1 (twilight) to -9 (nearly dark) Total Darkness -10 Bad Footing -1 or more Exception: If you are firing a Missile weapon, taking time to aim will also eliminate this penalty. In water -1 (ankle-deep) to -6 (chest-deep) Swimming -6, or Underwater penalty (See Swimming) Strange Position -1 or more Blind -6 Blinded Suddenly -10 One Eye -1 for hand weapon attacks, -3 for ranged attacks Clothes on fire -2 (1 hit location) to -10 (whole body) On hands and knees -4 Crawling on Belly -8 Defensive Crouch -0 Deep Crouch -2 Sitting on Ground -3 Sitting in Chair -2 Off-Hand Attack -4 (lowered by Off-Hand Weapons Training skill, No penalty if ambidextrous). Large Shield -2 to swinging attacks under minimum ST for a weapon -1 for each point of difference. On Horseback -4 (lowered by Mounted Weapons Training) In Vehicle -1 to -4 (depending on smoothness of ride) Using 2 weapons at once -4 (Reduced by 2-Weapon fighting; Full Coordination negates penalty) DEFENDER'S SITUATION Erratic Movement -1 to -7 (depending on size and speed). Inanimate Target +4 (and the target gets no active defenses) Unaware, Moving +0 (but the target gets no active defenses) Stationary +4 (and the target gets no active defenses) Defensive Crouch -1 melee weapons, -1 ranged weapons Deep Crouch -1 melee weapons, -2 ranged weapons Kneeling -2 ranged weapons Sitting in Chair -2 ranged weapons Sitting on Ground -2 ranged weapons Hands and Knees -3 ranged weapons Lying Prone -4 ranged weapons if head up with no cover -5 ranged weapons if head up with cover -7 ranged weapons if head down with cover HIT LOCATIONS When you strike at an enemy, you may choose what part of his body you will attack or you may swing randomly, some attacks will always target a random location. RANDOM HIT LOCATION - This is used when a part of the body must be randomly chosen as the target. Roll 3d6 to see what part was hit. Roll further if the hit location requires it. If the part of the body hit was under cover and a random hit hits that part roll again. Some parts of the body will never be hit randomly. If a random attack comes from above (rocks, halberd strokes) subtract 3 from the first die roll. If it comes from below, add 3 to the die roll. Wild swings, missile weapons fired from beyond 1/2 D range, shrapnel, attacks made at random by traps, accidental damage, wounds taken in mass combat and the like always use random damage. Attacks on characters who are only briefly visible (like shooters executing pop-up attacks, running men, or men several hexes away in melee) may also be random shots, at the GMs whim. If it makes a difference, roll vs. basic weapon skill to see if a character can hit a specific target during the turn and then double the penalty to hit the specific hit location. MAJOR DAMAGE - This shows the effect a serious wound has on the body. There are other wound effects that can be rolled if it is important to know what they are. HIT PENALTY - This shows the subtraction an attacker must make when attacking that part of an UNARMORED foe. Note that PD of armor or shield will give a further minus to hit, as well as DR. MISSING A SPECIFIC HIT LOCATION - If you lost the contest of skills only because you targeted a specific hit location with a hand weapon, and your foe rolled more than his defense score, you hit in roughly the same location: head, arm, leg or shoulder. If you missed and your opponent is riding a horse, or is obscured by another character, and didn't make his parry or block roll, on a roll of 9 or less (or your modified roll to hit, whichever is worse), you hit the mount or an adjacent character. RANDOM BODY HIT RESULT OF LOCATION PART PENALTY MAJOR DAMAGE 3 Neck* -5 See note 6 and 16. Damage over HP/2 lost. 4 Brain -7 See notes 1, 2 and 16. 5 (1-3) Head* -5 See notes 1 & 2. 5 (4-6,1-2)Face* -5 See notes 1, 2 and 3. 5 (4-6,3) Jaw* -6 See notes 1, 3 and 4. 5 (4-6,4) Eyes* -9 See notes 2, 3 and 5. - Eyes (through helm eyeslits) -10 As above. Armor doesn't protect. 5 (4-6,5) Nose* -7 See notes 1 and 7. 5 (4-6,6) Ear* -7 See notes 1, 6 and 8. 6 (1-5) Shield (far) Arm -4(-2) See notes 9, 10, 12 & 22. Damage over HP/2 cripples arm. Excess damage lost. 6 (6) Shield (far) Elbow -6(-5) See notes 9, 10, 12 & 22. Damage over HP/3 cripples arm. Excess damage lost. 7 (1-4) Weapon (near) Hand -4(-4) See notes 9, 11 & 22. Damage over HP/3 cripples hand. Excess damage lost. 7 (5-6) Shield (far) Hand -5(-4) See notes 9, 11 & 22. Damage over HP/3 cripples hand. Excess damage lost. - Shield Hand -8(-4) See notes 9, 11, 12 & 22. As above. 8 (1-5) Weapon (near) Arm -2 See notes 9, 10 & 22. Damage over HP/2 cripples arm. Excess damage lost. 8 (6) Weapon (near) Elbow -5 See notes 9, 11 & 22. Damage over HP/3 cripples arm. Excess damage lost. 9 (1-5) Chest -1 See notes 12 and 13. 9 (6) Vitals -3 See notes 2, 12, 14, 15 and 16. 10 Shoulder -1 See note 10 & 22. Damage over HP/2 cripples arm. Armpit -5 See note 10. Damage over HP/2 cripples arm, -1 DR Armpit to vitals -10 See note 10. Damage to both armpit and vitals, impaling thrust only. 11 (1-3) Abdomen -1 See notes 12, 16 and 17. 11 (4-5) Pelvis -1 See notes 16 and 18. 11 (6) Groin -5(-10) See notes 12 and 19. 11 (6) Kidneys -5(-10) See notes 16, 17 and 20. 12 (1-3) Far leg thigh -3(-2) See note 9, 21 & 22. Damage over HP/2 cripples leg. Excess damage lost. 12 (4-5) Far leg shin -3(-2) See note 9, 21, 22 & 23. Damage over HP/2 cripples leg. Excess damage lost. 12 (6) Far leg Knee -5 (-4) See notes 9, 21 & 22. Damage over HP/3 cripples leg. Excess damage lost. 13-14 (1-3)Near leg thigh -2 See notes 9, 21 & 22. Damage over HP/2 cripples leg. Excess damage lost. 13-14 (4-5)Far leg shin -3(-2) See note 9, 21, 22 & 23. Damage over HP/2 cripples leg. Excess damage lost. 13-14 (6) Near leg knee -4(-4) See notes 9, 21 & 22. Damage over HP/3 cripples leg. Excess damage lost. 15+ (1-4) Near Foot -4(-4) See notes 9, 21 & 22. Damage over HP/3 cripples foot. Excess damage lost. 15+ (5-6) Near Foot -5(-4) See notes 9, 21 & 22. Damage over HP/3 cripples foot. Excess damage lost. - Instep -6 See notes 21, 22 & 24. - Weapon -3 to -5 Weapon may fall or break - Armor variable See note 25. * On a hit from the back, the following hit breakdown is substituted. 1-3 head 4-5 neck 6 ear 1. If the brain is hit, the skull provides a natural 2 DR. This is in addition to any armor, toughness, etc. the victim possesses. However, shooting for the eyes avoids this DR, and shooting for the eyeslits of a helm avoids both the helm's DR and the skull's DR. After the sull's DR of 2 is subtracted, any hit does 4 times basic damage (regardless of weapon type) and bullets do 6 times basic damage. Victim is stunned on hits over HP/3 and must roll vs. HT+5 - Damage or be knocked out. If damage is over HP/2 the victim is automatically knocked out. 2. Any blow to the head or brain, or any crushing blow to the vitals requires the victim to make a roll vs. HT+5 - Damage to avoid knockout. If the brain or the head is the target of a swung hand weapon, or the vitals are the target of a bullet or impaling attack, a roll that misses by only 1 hits the shoulders. Any wound to the head will bleed to some degree. The GM may require a character with a head wound to make Vision or Attack rolls at a penalty, to simulate the effect of blood in the character's eyes. 3. Any hit to the face, nose, jaw or eye that does at least 1 point of damage will cause temporary or permanent loss of Good Appearance, depending on they type of blow. The DR of the skull does not protect against this effect. 4. Any crushing or slashing damage to the jaw requires a roll vs. HT+5 - Damage to avoid knockout. Any damage over HT/2 results in knockout. Any damage over HT/3 stuns the victim. This effect is negated if the victim is wearing a helmet or headgear that covers and pads the chin. Any damage to this area might result in damage to the teeth. 5. More than 2 hits of damage blinds the eye. An impaling or missile hit (if the missile is under 1" across) that does more than 2 points of damage is an automatic brain hit, as above; the skull's DR does not protect. If the target is wearing a medieval closed-face helm, only a missile or thrusting attack can hit they eye and the attack is at -10. Modern riot helmets, which have a clear plastic visor, can't be targeted in this way. 6. Any crushing or cutting damage that does HP/3 or more points of damage requires a roll vs. HT+5 - Damage or suffocation starts. Any cutting, bullet or impaling damage does double damage and requires a roll vs. HT+5 - Damage or severe bleeding starts. A hit that does HP or more points of damage in one blow requires a roll vs. HT+5 - Damage to avoid decapitation. The DR of a closed-faced helm protects this area, as does the DR of any chest or neck armor. 7. All damage to this area does x2 Stun. 8. Any crushing, cutting or bullet damage that does at least 2 points of damage, requires a roll vs. HT+5 - Damage or the ear is deafened, either permanently or temporarily. The skull only provides 1 DR protection around the ears. 9. The table was designed to distinguish between the arms and legs of a shield-carrying man. If no shield is present; and neither arm is nearer both arms, hands, elbows, legs, knees and feet are equally easy to hit. Roll randomly to determine left or right. 10. Any thrust to the armpit should reduce the DR of most pre-modern armor by 1. Fortunately, the armpit is a hard target to hit. Roll vs. HP+5 - Damage for Severe Bleeding and nerve damage to arm. Damage is to torso, but damage over HT/2 cripples arm. An impaling thrust can be directed though the armpit into the vitals, -10 to hit. Damage affects both armpit and vitals. 11. Roll vs. HT+5 - Damage or the hand is crippled as below. 12. Roll vs. DX or drop any item in the hand, if it is crippled. If the item isn't dropped, it may still be carried if it weighs than ST/5, but the hand can't be used to pick up or manipulate the item. If the item is a weapon, the character can still attack with it at -6 to skill for hand weapons and long guns (-3 if the weapon is "locked" or taped into place) or -3 to skill for handguns. If the weapon has a Recoil penalty roll vs. DX-Rcl after each shot or group or the weapon drops from the character's hand. Cutting, explosive or bullet attacks might amputate fingers. 13. The PD modifier of any shield is doubled for swung weapon attacks vs. this target area. It is normal for any other missile or hand weapon attacks, except for attacks on the shield hand, elbow and arm, which are always protected by double PD. 14. Damage in excess of HP/3 goes to the vitals. 15. The rib-cage provides a natural DR of 1 to the vitals and kidneys. 16. All impaling and bullet damage that penetrates to the vitals does x3 damage. Other weapons do x2 damage. Stun penalties are doubled. Roll for Severe Bleeding. Multiple bad things can happen when you get hit in the vitals. Roll vs. HT+5 - Damage to avoid the following: AREA RESULT GAME EFFECT Lung Collapse Roll vs. HT each minute or lose 1 fatigue until unconcious. Heart Death Die in HT x 2d6 seconds. Roll vs. HT each turn to stay concious. Liver Damage On a critical failure the liver is shattered and you will die unless you get new liver within HT x 5 hours. Ignore this for impaling blows. Spleen Damage On a failure the spleen has been damaged and you will suffer from internal bleeding until it has been surgically removed, repaired, or replaced. 17. Spine hits are only possible on wounds from the back that do 2 points of damage or wounds from the front that blow through the victim. (i.e. do HP or more damage in the torso, HT/2 in the neck or head) or come within 3 points of doing so. A hit to the Spine requires a roll vs. HT+5 - Damage. Failure means that there is complete Paralysis of the body at and below the site of the wound. On a critical failure, the victim dies. The vertabrae give 2 DR vs. all attacks to the spine. If the spine was hit, but the weapon had only 1 or 2 points of damage left before it blew though (or only did 1 or 2 points of damage from the back), the missile lodges in the spine. The victim isn't paralyzed in this case, but might be paralyzed if the wound is aggravated. 18. Damage to the abdomen over HP/3 penetrates to the body cavity. Roll vs. HT+5 - Damage to avoid severe bleeding. Roll vs. HT+5 - Damage to avoid perforation of the stomach, gall bladder, intestines, or bladder. If perforation occurs roll vs. HT-5 to avoid infection. Double all stun penalties. 19. Crushing, bullet or cutting damage to the Pelvis over HP/2 cripples the leg, as below. Damage over HP/3 penetrates to the abdomen as above, but roll at HT+4 - Damage to avoid severe bleeding. 20. Any damage to the groin on males requires a roll vs. HT+5 - Damage to avoid being Knocked Out. Any damage over HT/3 results in automatic knockout. All Stun penalties are tripled. Females increase Stun penalties by x 1.5. In all cases if the damage was bullet, cutting or impaling, roll for severe bleeding. Pre-modern armor is at -1 DR to protect the groin against impaling thrusts. The kidneys are substituted for the groin on attacks from the side or back. The groin can be targeted with melee attacks from the side or rear at double the normal penalty to attack. 21. Damage that penetrates the rib cage to the kidneys does x2 damage, x3 for bullets or impaling attacks. Roll vs. HT+5 - Damage to avoid severe bleeding. 22. If the leg or foot is crippled roll vs. DX each turn to stand. Roll at DX-2 if you attempt to attack or move, or if you were hit while moving. Hits to the thigh have no special damage effect, but recover more slowly than hits to the lower leg. 23. Impaling, slashing and bullet attacks do no extra damage to any part of the limbs. 24. All Stun penalties are doubled for attacks to the shins. 25. All Stun penalties are doubled for attacks to the instep. 26. Armor on a specific hit location is targeted as that hit location -3. A hit with a cutting weapon to the armor on a specific hit location will cut the straps of medieval-style armor if the base damage was at least 2 points. This will reduce the PD or DR of the armor and might reduce the opponent's Move, at the GM's option. HIGH AND LOW PAIN THRESHOLD - High Pain Threshold halves all Stun and Pain penalties. Low Pain Threshold doubles all Stun and Pain penalties. REFUSED VS. OPEN STANCES - Certain fighting stances are Refused, meaning that the body is turned more or less sideways to the opponent. Skills that use the refused stance are: Rifle (or any long-weapon gun skill), Bow, Crossbow, any weapon and shield combination, Fencing (with 1 weapon), and Sword (without shield). Weapons styles that use the Open fighting stance (both sides of the body are more or less equidistant from the opponent) are: Fencing (with buckler or 2 weapons), Two-Weapon, Axe/Mace, Knife, Wrestling and Pistol (or any short weapon that is braced or held in both hands). All other weapons and martial arts skills use the open and refused stances more or less interchangably. Treat them as if the combatant was in the open stance. A running or walking character is always in open stance. NEAR MISSES HEAD SHOTS - If the head or brain is a target of a swung hand weapon attack and the attacker fails his roll by 1 and the defender misses his defense roll, the shoulder is hit instead. VITALS SHOTS - If the vitals are the target of a bullet or impaling attack, a roll that misses by only 1 hits the shoulder if the defender misses his defense roll. HITTING HANDS IN MELEE - Assess an additional -2 penalty to hit hands in melee, since they are moving in addition to being a small target. IMPROVISED WEAPONS - Occasionally you will want to hit someone with something besides a "real" weapon. In that case the GM should rule what weapon it is most similar to, and treat it that way. Most improvised weapons will be the equivalent to clubs, brass knuckes, or quarterstaves. Flexible weapons will be like chains or flails. If an improvised weapon is particularly clumsy, reduce the user's effective skill. It it would do less damage than a "real" weapon of the same type due to weight or lack of an edge, reduce the damage, or change the type of damage the weapon does.