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Old 05-20-2016, 01:35 PM   #25
Ulzgoroth
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Default Re: Questions about hitboxes, impaling weapons, rigid armor, and hit chances

At TL2, some people might have helmets that largely enclose the face but no one is likely to have neck armor. If you've got the skill for it (and you can buy a Technique to help) stabbing folks in the neck is a very appropriate approach.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GodBeastX View Post
I read some of the other posts, an here is my 2 cents to add on this topic.

1. Hitboxes

Targeting the torso is almost always the worst place to hit on an individual in melee combat. If any body location can take punishment it's the torso.

It's almost always infinitely better to target non-torso locations. Breaking an arm makes counter attack useless. Breaking a leg leaves an individual laying on the ground. Hitting the head, even if only a single point of damage gets through, forces a HT-10 roll for Knockdown and possible stunning.
I've got to disagree with this in some respects. The torso is never the best place to hit, but it's often not the worst. Especially if you're using the 1-in-6 chance for torso hits to actually be Vitals.

Most importantly, impaling (or big piercing) damage loses its favorable wounding effects on limbs. You might want to stab someone in the arm sometimes, but you're losing a lot of damage potential.

For crushing, and especially for cutting (which has no Vitals effects), the torso has less going for it. But it can still be a good target for very strong attacks where you'll lose a lot of wounding to the cap on limb hits. Of course smashing somebody's arm or leg to uselessness has a considerable benefit of its own, but one-shotting them to negative HP may be more useful than breaking their arm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalzazz View Post
I tend to disagree, I aim for the torso the most, because in order to get good effects you need to hit, and the skill used to aim for hit locations can instead be used to go deceptive or rapid strike increasing chances to hit
If that's your only reason to aim for the torso, you should take a random location instead. It doesn't cost you any skill and gives you a chance of hitting somewhere else. This may often be a good choice for a cutting or crushing attack.
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