half dice in Hero System

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Anthony

I haven't played 6e, but in prior editions killing attacks were notorious for being quite good at knocking people out because it wasn't that unlikely to roll 50-60 stun on a 2d6 killing attack, whereas as a 6d6 normal attack (same number of DCs) is grossly unlikely to exceed 30. I assume changing the stun multiplier is intended to make it so killing attacks are actually for killing rather than just being a stun lotto for knocking people out.

However, if you're using hit locations, the same locations with a x5 killing stun multiplier have a x2 normal stun multiplier, so the lotto effect doesn't exist, or at least isn't any more present than it is with normal attacks.

One chance in 36 seems fairly unlikely to me. It's likelier than a critical success with skill 14 or less, and less likely than one with skill 15 or more.

The 2x normal stun multiplier goes with a 2x body multiplier, so the ratio is unchanged. The ratio is 3.5:1 for stun to body for normal attacks, 2:1 for killing attacks without hit locations, but 2.5:1 for killing attacks to the head with hit locations.

On the other hand, maybe the chance of stun ought to be a bit higher for head wounds.