Help a noobie understand critical hits

[Farmer]

Originally Posted by Colonel__Klink

I deleted my initial response because I was excessively annoyed and wasn't reading the bottom part...

Ok... please explain to me *WHY* you would list the weapon as 5d6 damage if it's not capable of doing 5d6 damage to the player because of blow through?

How many charts and tables do I need open, how many calculators do I need to to the letter of the rules simulate a gunfight in the game?

It is capable of doing 5d6 damage to some targets. It can punch through body armour, it can punch through walls or car doors, and so on. It's also *realistic* in that it has that much energy. That it may not do all the damage because it's hit a hand or an arm is reasonable and realistic. If you hit centre mass, though, you're taking the damage. As has been pointed out, on average, a single 5.56mm round to an average person won't actually kill them instantly, but it will knock them down. There is a 30% chance of an outright kill, though.

If the target has body armour, their survivability increases, reducing that single shot kill considerably even with just a modern tactical vest.

As to what you need to do? It's not hard, but it can have a few steps. There are some handy "cheat sheets" available at http://gurpsland.no-ip.org/pdf/GURPS...CheatSheet.pdf

Ultimately, though, it's up to you how realistic you want to make it or how simplified you want to make it (like "That Other Game"). But you wanted to understand critical hits and seemed to be asking about more advanced rule options, so we've been providing that to you. But it's all optional. So long as you and your players are happy, it doesn't matter which way you do it (but do ensure your players understand how it works so they are not confused or upset by how it plays out).