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Old 05-20-2016, 08:41 AM   #15
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: Questions about hitboxes, impaling weapons, rigid armor, and hit chances

Quote:
Originally Posted by electrum View Post
We won't need it since we're TL2 (and I don't think we're going to encounter lorica segmentata-type armor, either, but what are the recommended rules for making combat against soldiers wearing this armor doable? I suppose integrate the "chinks in the armor" rules, right? What else could be done?
As others have noted, go for where the armor isn't. There's also the fact that, with GURPS have such high ST-based damage, even pretty decent armor means damage typically gets reduced rather than outright prevented. Lorica segmentata, for example, is around DR 3 (LT115), gives 1/6 protection to the Arms and Face (the latter is actually DR 4), 4/6 protection to the legs, and no protection to the Neck, Hands, or Feet (sandals actually give DR 1 to the feet from below, but that doesn't matter to your characters). If your merchant spearman is ST 10, he's doing either 1d imp or 1d+1 imp, depending on if he's using that spear one-handed or two-handed. Stabbing at the torso, he has a 50% or 67% chance of penetrating the armor (if going more in-depth, he can actually aim at the DR 2 abdomen at only -1 to hit, for 67% or 83% chance of penetration). He has the same probability of penetrating if he hits the armor of any of the partially-protected hit locations, but also has a chance of outright ignoring the DR - roll 1d6; anything but a 1 against the Arms (-2 to hit) or Face (-5 to hit) hits the unarmored part, and a 5 or 6 against the Legs (-2 to hit) does the same. Going for the Hands (-4), Feet (-4), or Neck (-5) are also viable, although those drop the character's hit probability to 50% or lower (before defenses). You can also attempt to grapple the foe to bring him down, or can trip him to make it less risky to follow up with a Telegraphic All Out (Strong or Determined, depending on if you're trying to penetrate or avoid armor) Attack.

Quote:
Originally Posted by electrum View Post
I'll take the advice that he has to explicitly leave his spear there. But I think he'll be tempted to continue to leave the spear in, because it's our common-sense style of play that the guy is probably stunned from the hit (usually he's dealing 4-8 damage per strike) or at least at a massive disadvantage, and the PCs gang up on this guy and get him. Do you think an impaled enemy would be more capable of retaliating, even with the spear still lodged in his gut?
First, unless the spear is barbed (which is a no-cost feature, so the player can just say "yeah, my dude's spear is totally barbed" and have it function as such from here on out), the spear doesn't get lodged, even if the character tries to have it do so (the foe can just stumble back a bit to get it out). Once it's stuck, you may wish to consider the foe as being grappled, with all that entails. If you want a more advanced treatment of how such grappling would work, Technical Grappling is useful - but you should be fine with just the default (IIRC) -4 to DX and unable to move without first breaking the grapple (which in this case requires the foe to either disarm you or pull the spear out himself, which deals half the injury it did going in).

Quote:
Originally Posted by electrum View Post
How do you think it should be taken then, if a PC just says "oh yeah well my guy's no idiot, of course he's going to take a fencing stance"? AFAIK there's no specific skill I can require. I don't like to just say "narratively, your guy is a pirate, not a fencer. He's not trained as a fencer and has no reason to know this. You can't do it"
"Fencing" refers to skills with Parry 0F - Rapier, Saber, Smallsword, Karate, etc. If the character isn't using such a skill, he doesn't get the Parry benefits for using a fencing stance.


A final note on why spears are awesome, if I may - a spear has a base cost of $40, while a Thrusting Broadsword has a base cost of $600. You can get a Fine, Balanced Spear for $560, for +1 to damage and to hit. At ST 10, your spear has a higher chance to hit and its thrust damage exceeds that of the sword and equals the sword's swing damage, and it still costs a bit less than the sword does. And you have the option of grabbing it in two hands for a further +1 damage and better Reach. As ST goes up, this isn't quite as good (swing damage increases faster than thrust), but it's still able to compete with the sword.
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