How specific is aiming?

[Saabre]

So in the book it says you must specify your weapon and your target. However if someone is going to want to shoot someone in the face, do they need to say they are aiming at Brigand X's face or just that they are aiming at Brigand X? This is probably a bit of a preference left to the GM, but at the very least (if it's not specifically stated somewhere) I was how others felt.

[evileeyore]

Weapon and target, that's it. Any further refinements (ie "targeting the face") are made just before you roll.

Otherwise it makes aiming for multiple rounds difficult if the target turns around even once.

[Gollum]

GURPS is a game in which you precise exactly what you do and how you do it before rolling the dice.

I brace my gun and aim the head of Brigand X for three turns before pulling the trigger ... I attack him all-out (strong) with a thrusting/impaling blow of my sword, right in his heart ...

It allows th GM to assess all the modifier that apply to the roll.

In other game system (Runequest for instance), this is the contrary: you roll and, when you get a special result, you can precise what exactly happens.

[Maz]

Originally Posted by Gollum

I brace my gun and aim the head of Brigand X for three turns before pulling the trigger ... I attack him all-out (strong) with a thrusting/impaling blow of my sword, right in his heart ...

You are answering something different from what the OP is asking. He asks specifically about aiming, if you have to state the specific hit location when aiming.
You do not.

But you are right that you have to add up all modifiers before you roll.


That being said I often have players declare their intend ahead of time. Like in your example. But that's mostly to keep things going quickly.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by Maz

You are answering something different from what the OP is asking.

Yes. I'm broadening the debate.

In GURPS, players decide what they want to do and describe how they want to do it, with as much precision as possible, because it will influence their odds of success. There is not only a modifier for the task difficulty; there is also one for the material being used (Equipment Modifiers, Basic Set, page 345), for the exact time spent on the task (Time Spent, Basic Set, page 346), and so on.

So, to come back to the precise question ...

Why not telling the GM which part of the body you are aiming at? It will have an influence on the final odds.

Furthermore, "target" doesn't only mean who you are aiming at. It means what you are aiming at: someone's hand is a different "target" than his skull for instance.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Gollum

Why not telling the GM which part of the body you are aiming at? It will have an influence on the final odds.

Because maybe the situation changed while you were aiming. The target might have moved in such a was that hitting the part of the body stated originally is impossible. Maybe the target produced a device that's a threat and you want to shoot the hand holding that device rather than whatever part of him you were aiming for.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Because maybe the situation changed while you were aiming. The target might have moved in such a was that hitting the part of the body stated originally is impossible. Maybe the target produced a device that's a threat and you want to shoot the hand holding that device rather than whatever part of him you were aiming for.

I think that's just a risk you take tied to the way turns work. Suppose the target cast his spell of Invulnerability to Bullets on his turn? You recognize it and know it's going to make your shot pointless, but keep aiming anyway? I think if you are going to account for this sort of thing at all, the fix you need isn't changing your aim point, but converting any Aim maneuver into Wait (fire when the target does something different) whenever you want, with the understanding you lose any Aiming bonuses if you do. That seems fair enough, Aim is after all basically Wait (until the target is in exactly the right spot).

[Kromm]

Aim requires you to line up a specific weapon with a particular enemy or object; you do not have to be more exact than that. Attack, All-Out Attack, or Move and Attack requires you to shoot at a particular part of your target or to declare that you're leaving that to chance; then, and not before, is when hit location comes into play.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Aim requires you to line up a specific weapon with a particular enemy or object; you do not have to be more exact than that. Attack, All-Out Attack, or Move and Attack requires you to shoot at a particular part of your target or to declare that you're leaving that to chance; then, and not before, is when hit location comes into play.

Though that does leave you open to debates about edge cases. If I aim at a battleship and then decide to shoot through a particular porthole to hit a person who happens to be looking out of it that moment, can I claim the Aim bonus?

[Anders]

Well, that's why there's a GM. The rules can't possibly cover all cases.