Merfolk DR ("Tail" only)?

[Cowrie]

I'm statting up my own version of a merfolk race, plus racial power-ups, for an aquatic Dungeon Fantasy campaign. The merfolk template itself isn't giving me any issues, but for one of the power ups, I want an option to for them to gain partial DR 1-2 on the scaled portion of their tail, probably with the tough skin limitation. However, I'm uncertain as to what the value of the "partial DR" limitation for them should be. Basic set says the part of the body I'm wanting to be protected counts as part of the torso hit location, with only the fin counting as the tail hit location, but I don't want their upper body to have DR. So, how would you price DR for half the torso?

[Gnomasz]

I'd just treat it as legs, for -20%, unless there are some important body parts inside that would make impaling and piercing attacks have their full multiplier, in which case I'd give it -10%.
Note that the ichthyoid hit location table doesn't have arms, so it's better to use the humanoid table either way.

[Cowrie]

Thanks!

I wasn't using the ichthyoid table in the first place, there's notes alongside the humanoid table that say what to do for merfolk-type creatures. It basically says to count leg hits as torso hits and foot hits as tail hits.

As far as organs inside the tail, it includes part of the digestive tract, and part of the swim bladder, but none of the organs mentioned under vitals. So, I'm not sure if that would be enough for impaling and piercing attacks to get the full modifier. Thoughts?

[sir_pudding]

You could call those abdominal vitals if using the abdomen hit location. Note that digestive tract is already considered an abdominal location.

[Cowrie]

That sounds good, but what book is the abdomen hit location from? It isn't in Martial Arts and offhand I can't think of any other books that expand the hit location list.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Cowrie

That sounds good, but what book is the abdomen hit location from? It isn't in Martial Arts and offhand I can't think of any other books that expand the hit location list.

Low-Tech, and the digestive system gut-wounds rule is in Instant Armor. High-Tech and Tactical Shooting also expand locations. Bruno has put together a table with everything, which is what I use, and it is her signature.

[Cowrie]

Thanks, that looks like it will work great. Come to think of it, I know I saw a post a while back based on partial DR point costs using the Low Tech hit locations somewhere on the board. I think I'll go hunt that down.

[Cowrie]

In a quick forum search, I found the following post, I think I'll probably use the Partial DR limitation rules detailed in it for all partial DR in this game. Luckily, the only official race in Dungeon Fantasy with partial DR is the minotaur, and that's probably going to be a disallowed race in my campaign, so no issues with having to recalculate existing races will be caused by this.

Originally Posted by Bruno

The approach we've used is used in tandem with an armor construction system that assigns percentage weights to different hit locations (like those in Pyramid, Low Tech, and various house rules).

Treating "all your body" as 100%, total up percentage coverage that your DR covers. Double this sum. Add this sum to -100%

This system means that if you have more than 50% coverage you should instead start with 100% coverage and add Achilles Heel.

So, EG, we're using Easier Armor Design.
Skull DR is 3%, feet DR is 10% (for both feet), summed is 13%.
Doubled is 26%.
-100% + 26% = -74%

So DR that covered only feet and skull would be -74%.

Again, to all of you, thanks for all the help!