Now, I know there are some rpg's out there that do this. I have vague memories of playing in one or two. But I've always been of the opinion that before you look to other rpgs for inspiration, do the work yourself first. Then, if someone comes along and says "Oh, that's very similar to <Insert RPG here>", I don't feel like I've been plagiarising too much.
My question for you guys, who've obviously been homebrewing a bit, or you wouldn't be on this forum, what in your mind are the strengths and weaknesses of hit locations?
A brief intro. to the current mechanic I'm working on -
Concept
Melee combat is a flurry of blows. You tend to look for an opening, and so you're not necessarily guaranteed the chance to hit any one particular location with regularity, unless you truly are skilled (or your opponent is not).
Mechanic
Working on a d10 for the moment if you attack succesfully, and your opponent fails in their defense (Slightly different mechanic, working on attack skills & defending skills, some of which are only available with certain weapons - i.e, some weapons you can parry with, others you can't, same for block - kind of hard to block with a rapier, a lot easier with a great big axe) you strike a location, randomly determined by a d10. Say -
- Head 1,2 [-4]
- Left Arm 3,4 [-1]
- Torso 5,6 [-3]
- Right Arm 7,8 [-1]
- Left Leg 9 [-1]
- Right Leg 10 [-1]
The numbers in the square brackets indicate the modifier to your dice rolls if you have the skill or ability to target the location you want specifically. i.e, you wait for an opening, or try to force one. Some areas are obviously a lot harder to hit then others, since people tend to be defensive of their head and torso regions.
Now, how would damage work in such a situation? I can't post the pretty little stick figure I have drawn up, but every location has a certain numbers of hit points (boxes) and your overall health (boxes at the bottom of your character) is 20, which is equal to the sum of all the boxes. So - Head possibly has 3, left arm 3, torso 5, right arm 3, left leg 3, right leg 3.
After you have taken full damage on a location, you start rolling on a critical table, for effects. These might include extra health loss off your main health, scarring, damage, loss of limb or being stunned for a time. It's an interesing list. How exactly would this work? Well:
You take an incredibly heavy blow to the head. You don't manage to defend against it, and even after armour reduction, you still take enough to take 4 points of damage. This fills all three boxes with one point spare. Your total health takes 4, and since you've taken full damage to the head already, you roll once on the critical table for head damage for the extra point. If you get hit on the head again, for another 4 points, you are suddenly taking 4 critical rolls.
Each location has armour available, which acts as total damage reduction. If you are wearing a full plate helm, with DR of 3, and you get hit with a damage of 3, you take nothing. (I am tossing up the idea of fixed damage on weapons. Rather than extra damage being given by strength, weapons may have a required strength to use).
There's a lot more in my head and on paper, but that's how I envisage damage in combat working. I can see the weakness in that you might go down to an unlucky blow. But that's kind of the whole point. As much as I like playing fantasy, the level of hitpoints at higher levels is crazy. In this system, your max hit points is always twenty. Your armour might improve, as might your skills & stats, but you don't suddenly end up invincible either.
Final point with the hit location thing, I'm striving to make it generic. By this I mean, I could apply this system to a fantasy campaign or a mecha campaign with equal ease. The weapon damage & armour values might change, but not too much else has to.
Final final point - The hit locations should work fine for ranged combat too - If you're unaware of your opponent, possible the modifiers to hit a location drop or are non-existent, but if you know someone is shooting at you, you'll be wary.
I hope this hasn't been too confusing - what makes sense in my head doesn't necessarily come through to others quite as well. But I'd welcome a critique of the hit location system I'm working on, and of your thoughts on hit locations in general.
Blain