Quote:
Originally Posted by Toptomcat
If you're doing, on average, enough damage to cause a Major Wound, it's not immediately obvious to me that deliberately going for a TA rather than randomly rolling for hit location is a good idea. Skull, face, neck, groin, both legs, the weapon arm, and the weapon hand are all better-than-normal results, likely to end the fight more or less immediately with enough damage for a Major Wound. Torso/nonweapon arm/nonweapon hand's likelihood for stun/knockdown/disability through shock penalties means that you get to attack them again more or less risk-free, which probably ends the fight.
Deliberately targeting hit locations makes most sense when your damage isn't high enough to cause an ordinary Major Wound, but is high enough that it might Cripple something critical.
When your damage is high enough to either cause a fight-ending injury or give you a 'free hit' with stun/knockdown/disability through shock penalties, no matter where you hit, it makes most sense to use your surplus skill for something other than a Targeted Attack- like a Deceptive Attack, a Rapid Strike, or keeping skill at 16 for the critical-hit bennies.
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Maybe.
A normal major wound forces a HT check to avoid stunning/knock down. Even a 10 HT mook will succeed on that roll 50% of the time.
Targeting the leg means that even if the bad guy makes his HT check, you have still crippled his leg, which automatically drops him prone. At that point, life becomes a LOT easier.
If you roll to hit a random location, it's a mixed bag. If you are lucky enough to get roll a face, groin, or skull hit, then that HT check is at a -5/-10, and very likely to drop him. On the other hand, if you roll hands, arms, neck, or torso, then the HT check is at no penalty.
It's a risk, and depending on the opponent, I'd more than likely give up the -1 DA penalty to my opponent's defense and target the leg for the guaranteed knockdown.