Hit Locations for d20

[Maglubiyet]

Are there any rules for hit locations in d20 games?

It's so much more fun to chop people's arms off and cave in their chests than to simply do 28HP damage.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Officially, in 3.5 without third party material, no. I'm unsure if there is any official material for it in Pathfinder outside of this party publishing either.

I also tend to recommend against such rules as if the PCs go for a crippling strike, why wouldn't their opponents. Then you get into that mess where blinding the goblin is funny, but giving every goblin the chance to blind your party is a bloody pain.


While I haven't played the d20 version of Deadlands, the classic system at least uses a d20 to determine hit location. I imagine its adaptations do, too.

[General Sajaru]

In most d20 systems, describing the effects of damage is one of the DM's jobs, rather than something that you let dice decide, with the except of a couple of variant rules for called shots. And typically you only use those against things like vampires, where putting the stake in their heart actually matters.

[atemu1234]

Called Shots exist. I'll try to dig up a link, I think it's Pathfinder.

[Crake]

There is a variant in the DMG, page p27 in the massive sidebar called "Damage to specific areas".