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Old 08-04-2015, 07:25 AM   #8
Gudiomen
 
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Join Date: Feb 2005
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Default Re: [3rd edition] Impaling, cutting, crushing

I'm a little rusty on my 3rd Ed., and I'd hate to have to dig up my Basic.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think blunt trauma was already a thing in 3rd ed., although it might have been an optional rule from the Compendiums. So there's that going for crushing.

Like other said, with moderate amounts of ST, impaling weapons have a harder time getting through armor, so in a serious fight against someone in armor you'll often just get a few points of damage through the armor to do actual injury, whereas swinging weapons with higher basic damage will more often get through. There are ways around this, but require skill and point investments. Or inconvenience, like the case for a pick doing sw imp damage, but getting stuck.

Other reasons are the effects of specific body parts, like stunning or knock-down from a blow to the head or groin (I don't recall the specifics). Or specific vulnerabilities in fantasy settings, like skeletons being made of brittle bone and being extra vulnerable to crussing, or birds/bird-folk having hollw bones and ditto.

Now, besides all that, I do feel that crushing is the loosing proposition between the 3 in most life-or-death, kill-maim your opponent scenarios. However, the fact is that crushing damage exists and must be represented by the rules as faithfully as possible, the objective isn't just to balance them, but to represent something that's there, for your punches, your cheap-ass maces and improvised weapons... sure the professional warrior will prefer a sword, as most historically did if they had an option... it's light, versatile and does decent cut sw damage and the ability to do thr imp damage as well. But hey, sword are expensive to arm an army with.

And then there are the non-lethal uses, you might not want to kill-maim your oponents, a staff can be a walking tool as well as a self-defense weapon, with the intention to defend from blows, intimidate unnarmed thugs or fend off animals that are just as likely to run away when hit over the head a few times. Your character might also have a code against killing, and some fantasy settings have priests forbidden to draw blood with a blade...

I've played a spear-wielding warrior for a loong campaign and have sometimes found myself forced to use the shaft for crushing damage or attempting a Tip Slash (it's a 4th edition thing, where you swing with the spear tip doing reduced cutting damage). Sword wielding comrades would sometimes also use the flat of the blade to smack some sense into someone.

All damages have their uses, but yeah, nothing beats impaling damage to the brain to properly kill someone dead.
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