Rules you ignore/alter.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Dustin

Yes, it is safer to just target Torso this way, which results in faster targeting decisions at the table, while still keeping the drama of the occasional Vitals shot. It also seems truer to the literature -- I'm no marksman or hoplologist, but most references I see to this involve "targeting center-of-mass" and not "aiming for the internal organs".

Aiming for center of mass is likely just because it's the most likely to hit (-0 penalty) although you can also get a -0 penalty in GURPS for choosing "random hit location" which is LIKELY to hit the torso.

What I mean is that "I'm trying to hit vitals" should be more likely to hit vitals than accidentally hitting them when you're just aiming at the torso in general.

There's a couple reasons I want to tweak torso-related stuff. The first is in basic set:

Due to Damage Reduction's pricing for "Limited, Location" being based on the penalty (-10% per -1 to hit) it required a custom note for the torso since it was -1 to hit, they had to tell us it was -10% anyway.

That always rubbed me wrong so I thought maybe a simple approach is "let's increase all the hit locations by -1 to hit so that the torso is -1 to hit to match up with getting a -10% discount".

This would mean -3 to hit limbs, -4 to hit groin/pelvis -5 to hit extremities, -6 to hit face/neck, -7 to hit jaw/nose, -8 to hit skull, -10 to hit eyes, for example.

The only -0 left would be going for random hit locations, representing "I'll hit whatever has the best likelihood" being more adaptible than "I'll only hit the torso even if something else is randomly easier".

- - -

This idea requires a bit of tweaking with the division of torso into chest (-0) and abdomen (-1). You could apply the same -1 idea (-1 to hit chest, -2 to hit abdomen) I guess.

Using chest/abdomen no longer leaves a "I'm targetting the torso in general and it's easier than targeting a particular sublocation" option.

If that was used and remained at my suggested -1 then that creates the problem of needing the sublocations to an extra -1 worse: -2 to hit chest and -3 to hit abdomen and -5 to hit groin/pelvis.

If that's the case then it'd only be fair to increase the others too: -4 to hit limbs, -6 to hit extremities, -7 to hit face/neck, -8 to hit jaw/nose, -9 to hit skull, -11 to hit eyes.

To compensate for that, we could introduce easier options (much like the torso batch) where it's easier if you're aiming at larger areas (but not the entire body randomly).

For example "hit either foot" might be -5 instead of -6, and "hit either leg" might be -3 instead of -4, while "hit any part of the lower body" could be the traditional -2.

"hit either eye" could be merely -10
"hit eye or bridge" (has skull DR but doesn't target brain, mentioned in eye poke) could be -9
"eye or skull" could be -8...
"eye or nose" could be -7

hit either neck or jaw" could be -6
hit either neck or torso" could be -5.

There are a lot of potential combinations here so some kind of way of coming up with lower penalties in exchange for lack of control (randomness) as odds increase of getting higher-value targets compared to RHL.

Originally Posted by Tinman

I use Pee Kitty's house rule that costs FP is -10% instead of -5%

Would especially make sense if using the Last Gasp rules which makes them recover slower and inflict penalties earlier.

Which also pairs nicely with -1%/level for "Costs AP" if allowing that.

Originally Posted by Tinman

as a spell casting perk a caster can specialize in "fast-casting" 1 specific missile spell.
He can create it as a free action, like a fast-draw.
(Obviously only up to what he could have cast as a 1 turn action.)

B43 Compartmentalized Mind -80% is worth 10 points, which can be reduced to 2 points (1/5) if taken as an Alternative Ability, so it's pretty close to possible already.

[zoncxs]

Here are a few of mine:

Dual weapon attack and rapid strike are stackable.

Ambidexterity price is upped to 10 points and the perk "off-hand training" is gone. Likewise, the technique "off-hand training" is an average tech, meaning it cost only 4 points to raise it to max.

Boxing, Karate, and Brawling are now rolled into one skill called Unarmed Striking. It is an average skill.

Wrestling, Sumo Wrestling, and Judo are now rolled into one skill called Unarmed Grappling, it is an average skill.

Damage is based on ST/4, fractions count as +1, +2, +1d-1. A lot of other changes happen due to this, DR cost less for example. Predetermined damage is converted by taken whole dice and a whole number and the adds as a fraction and multiplying it by 2.5.

for example: 2d+2 = 2.5 -> 2.5 x 2.5 = 6.25 -> 6d+1

This lines up damage with Basic lift, ST 20 deals twice the damage as ST 10. It also puts firearms outside of normal human limits. ST 20 deals 5d damage where as a 9mm pistol now does 6d+1 damage which would be ST 25.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Plane

Aiming for center of mass is likely just because it's the most likely to hit (-0 penalty) although you can also get a -0 penalty in GURPS for choosing "random hit location" which is LIKELY to hit the torso.

What I mean is that "I'm trying to hit vitals" should be more likely to hit vitals than accidentally hitting them when you're just aiming at the torso in general.

That's one problem with (hit by three gets the Vitals). Another is that because it uses a margin of success measure, and so does the multiple hit system, how does one resolve that?

There's a couple reasons I want to tweak torso-related stuff. The first is in basic set:

Due to Damage Reduction's pricing for "Limited, Location" being based on the penalty (-10% per -1 to hit) it required a custom note for the torso since it was -1 to hit, they had to tell us it was -10% anyway.

That always rubbed me wrong so I thought maybe a simple approach is "let's increase all the hit locations by -1 to hit so that the torso is -1 to hit to match up with getting a -10% discount".

My thought was that a shot that was aimed at the Torso and just hit would actually roll randomly for location. Another way of saying that would be "-1 to hit the Torso, miss by 1 hits a random location".

This makes it different from a straight -0.

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by Rupert

That's one problem with (hit by three gets the Vitals). Another is that because it uses a margin of success measure, and so does the multiple hit system, how does one resolve that?

I think that's actually pretty straightforward -- use the Recoil stat. If Alice shoots Bob in the Torso with a Rcl 2 weapon, and succeeds by 5:

• first shot hits by 5 - Vitals
• second shot hits by 3 - Vitals
• third shot hits by 1 - Torso
• fourth shot misses

If Bob dodges, his margin of success removes hits. I would start with the Vitals hits because gunfights are already sufficiently lethal, but I can see an argument for doing it the other way too.

[AlexanderHowl]

A pistol is pretty lethal without a hit to the vitals, especially if you use the bleeding rules. A .38 deals an average of 9 HP of damage per shot to the torso, meaning that 3 shots knocks an average HP person to -17 HP, checking for death, unconsciousness, and bleeding. If they do not immediately die, they must succeed against a HT-5 roll every minute to avoid losing an additional HP, which means an average person will bleed out unless they get medical help because they must either get a critical success or three consecutive successes to stop bleeding naturally.

If instant death is desired, go ahead and deliberately target the vitals or use a bigger gun. The example given would then have two hits and one miss, but the two hits are dealing 54 HP of damage, so most people are going to die (or bleed out very rapidly). Conversely, a .50 deals 21 HP of damage on average to the torso or 42 HP of damage to the vitals.

[smurf]

Regeneration is 20pts if the game world can easily replace limbs, eg TL9+

[Anders]

Originally Posted by smurf

Regeneration is 20pts if the game world can easily replace limbs, eg TL9+

Which level of regeneration? Or do you mean Regrowth?

[Aldric]

Originally Posted by Anders

Which level of regeneration? Or do you mean Regrowth?

My guess is regrowth, which seems to be overpriced anyway, according to several posts on this forum

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

A pistol is pretty lethal without a hit to the vitals, especially if you use the bleeding rules. A .38 deals an average of 9 HP of damage per shot to the torso,

Just for the record, How are you getting an average of 9 out of a weapon that's 2D-1 P usually?

[Harald387]

I'd been playing Dungeon Fantasy (and more recently DFRPG for years before I learned that you're supposed to drop everything you're holding when you fail a check for knockdown and stunning after a major wound (B420).

Once I learned about it, I promptly decided to ignore it. Being knocked down and stunned is bad enough without forcing people to pick up weapons as well.