GURPS Grand Unified Hit Location Table

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by phayman53

But as I understand it, the latest compiled version of RAW separates the jaw from the cheeks in spite of what LT 112 seems to indicate.

Jaw was separated already before Low-Tech was published - the face sub-locations were introduced in Martial Arts. If you look at the rules closely, Low-Tech doesn't actually have the facial features as locations (See below).

Originally Posted by phayman53

The problem is that the rules in LT do not assign specific locations to the 1d6 roll, at this point in the rules one merely adds the total locations covered and then rolls to see if it beats the chance of coverage. It is later, I believe in Loadouts: LT, that specific locations on the face were given specific assigned values on that 1d6 roll.

We have four different official sources dealing with the face.

• The Basic Set has the original "Face", and "eyes", which are essentially a sub-location of face (particularly in the case of armor).
• Martial Arts introduced the Ear, Jaw, Nose sub-locations and assigned effects to them.
• Low Tech introduced pieces of armor with abstract, "partial coverage of the face", and uses words that align with Martial Arts and Basic Set. The actual locations have no special effects, except to prevent you from making a helmet with cheek guards and broad cheek guards together, or something.
• Loadouts: Low Tech introduced the table to roll on to see what facial feature you hit randomly if you hit the face - this was missing from Martial Arts. It turns out the table from Loadouts LT matches the one I made up, including the "cheek" location that doesn't do anything*, so that's nice. Loadouts LT also introduces a whole lot of specific face armor with specific coverage, but does not retrofit this onto the generic pieces of armor from Low Tech.

My Table A was written before Loadouts LT but I've kept it because it doesn't conflict.

It was aimed to harmonize the hit locations (with game mechanical effects) and the armor types (with cost and weight) and produce a random-sub-table like was available for other locations. At the time, it was effectively a house rule (thus the big disclaimer in the top post) but now the random sub table is matched in Loadouts. It was on the document because of how jarring it was that the face didn't have the sub-table - but SJG have now fixed that, so I don't have any house rules at all again, which is my preference.

The goal of the document is not to "fix" books. I'm not fixing the lack of an individual jaw piece in Low Tech, and I'm not changing the fact that cheek guards cover the jaw, according to Low Tech. The minute that SJG decides to change that, I'll update the document to address that change. However at this point, I just can't justify putting house rules in now that I've got the last one out.

I'm not debating you on whether there should be a jaw piece or not, or whether the cheek guards should actually cover the jaw or not. That's another thread. This document is for the RAW.

Although FWIW, the other 1/6 coverage equivalent of the cheeks seems to be in the spectacles.

*Although on review, I don't have it on my table on page 2. Time to get that crowbar out again.