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GalacticAxekick
2018-04-23, 08:22 AM
I was DMing a game last night when a new player attempted to Fire Bolt a giant octopus in the eye. "You can't" I said. " Where an attack lands is only flavour. Until the creature falls to 0 hit points, it's unaffected"

The player understood and we had a good time, but I'm always frustrated when mechanics sit in the way of story. So I'd like to develop a simple set of rules for targeted attacks and injuries.

The spell Regenerate offers a good benchmark, since it heals 10 hit points each minute and regenerates a severed body part in two minutes, implying thst a body part is worth 20 hit points. The rule could be that "for every 20 points of damage a single attack deals, the attack can inflict one injury. Recovering 20 hit points heals an injury of the healer's choice."

This system doesn't threaten low HD creatures; anything strong enough to injure them is strong enough to stop them dead. But it does threaten high HD creatures, who can suffer injuries and remain weakened for the rest of the fight. This mechanic gives underdogs something new to work with, which I think is acceptable but crucial to keep in mind.

What's unacceptable is that it favours strategies with burst damage: sneak attacks, smites and crit builds will inflict more injuries than fighters with their extra attacks or rangers with their whirlwind attacks and volleys.

Does anyone have a fix for this idea or another idea? Maybe something that puts the burden on the attack roll rather than the damage roll?

MoleMage
2018-04-23, 09:43 AM
I made a called shot houserule for a Legend of Zelda game so that bosses could use more Zelda-y mechanics. We haven't reached the first boss yet but here's what I went with:


Characters may attempt called shots on their foes, aiming for specific limbs, eyes, or items. To do so, they accept Disadvantage on their roll; if they still hit, they deal damage as normal, plus additional effects based on the targeted region. Some creatures may have special called-shot rules.


Eyes, face, etc: Target may not use reaction until start of its next turn.
Arms, grasping limbs: Target's next attack before the end of its next turn is made with disadvantage
Weapons, held items: Target drops the item
Legs, wings, moving limbs: Target's move speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn


It does have some problems though, like several of these things being battle master maneuvers so that class is less special.

For your system, I would increase the numbers. My barbarian using GWM could reliably do upwards of 30 damage a hit by level 6 or so.

EDIT: Just saw that your request was specifically for a non-damage based version. Well, you could apply the disadvantage version I outlined above, plus state that critical hits always cause an injury. To keep it from being too spammable, you could allow a Con save to avoid the injury even if they get hit by it. Write up below:

Whenever an effect causes you to risk an injury, you must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC equal to 10 or half the damage dealt by that effect, whichever is higher. On a success, you have no ill effects (but may still receive an injury later). On a failure, you suffer one Injury which you do not already have (your choice unless the effect specifies otherwise). A creature cannot receive an injury if they do not have the necessary body part or an equivalent body part.


Brain: You cannot take Reactions. You have disadvantage on Intelligence and Charisma ability checks and Intelligence and Charisma saving throws.
Face: You have disadvantage on Wisdom ability checks and saving throws, and lose any special senses you possess. Your face can be injured twice. The second face injury causes you to be deafened and reduce your sight radius by half (to a minimum of 5 feet).
Arms: You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Strength and Dexterity ability checks. If you have two or more arms or equivalent body parts, your arms can be injured twice. The second arms injury causes you to deal half damage with weapon attacks and additionally gives disadvantage on Strength saving throws.
Legs: Your movement speed is halved. You have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws. If you have two or more arms or equivalent body parts, your legs can be injured twice. The second injury reduces your armor class by 4 and reduces your movement to 5 feet.
Chest:You have disadvantage on Constitution ability checks and immediately lose half of your maximum hit dice.
Body:You have disadvantage on Constitution saving throws, and healing effects on you are reduced by an amount equal to your total number of Injuries.



Injuries are usually mild, and recover with a small amount of rest or healing magic. Whenever you regain HP from a single effect equal to half your maximum hit points or 20, whichever is smaller, you can also remove one injury from yourself. Whenever you complete a long rest, you can remove a single injury, or two if you or someone providing medical aid succeeds on a Wisdom (Medicine) check with a DC equal to 8 plus twice the number of injuries you have.

Injuries which you do not tend to can lead to permanent effects. If you have the same injury for more than 48 hours without removing it, it becomes permanent. More powerful healing magic might still restore the damaged body part. A regeneration spell or similar effect can recover one permanent injury whenever you could regain a lost limb, and healing effects that restore 40 hit points or half of your maximum hit points, whichever is greater, will still remove the injury as above. You can also recover from one permanent injury after spending 2 months per permanent injury you possess resting and taking light activity, or twice as quickly by making a Wisdom (Medicine) check with a DC equal to 15 plus three times the number of permanent injuries you have.

Injuries can be caused by a variety of effects, including spells such as power word pain and the battlemaster maneuver Severing Attack. However, two additional options are available to all characters: called shots and critical hits.

Called Shots:You can make a special attack called a called shot in place of any attack roll they make. To do so, choose a specific injury chosen from the list of eligible injuries for an eligible target of your attack. Make the attack roll with disadvantage. If this attack roll hits, the target risks the chosen injury. Called shots can still deal sneak attack damage, even though they impose difficulty on the attack roll.

Critical Hits:Whenever an attack roll is a critical hit or a character rolls a natural 1 on a saving throw, they risk an injury using the normal rules for injuries. The character can choose which injury they suffer, but it must be an injury they don't already possess and must make sense with the effect that caused it.

The following are examples of spells and abilities you can implement into your world to expand on the injury system. You do not have to use them if you do not wish.

Rotting Touch appears on the Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard spell lists, and at your DM's option you can replace it as an archetype spell for appropriate domains, circles, conclaves, oaths, or similar.
Power Word Pain appears on the spell list of every class which can learn Power Word Kill.
Severing Attack is a Battlemaster maneuver available to all characters who have maneuvers from the battlemaster list.


Rotting Touch
2nd level necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 5 feet
Components: V, S, M (an etched bone from a humanoid)
Duration: Instantaneous

Your touch causes flesh to scar and decay. Make a melee spell attack against a target within range. On a hit, the target takes 4d8 necrotic damage and risks an injury.

At higher levels:When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, it does an additional 1d8 necrotic damage for each slot level above 2nd.


Power Word Pain
6th level enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V
Duration: Instantaneous

You utter a word of power and cause one creature within range to writhe in pain. If the creature you chose has 120 hit points or fewer, it suffers one injury of your choice.


Severing Attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to cause an injury. Roll the die. The target takes damage as normally for the attack and must risk an injury as if the attack had done additional damage equal to twice the die's result.

Nifft
2018-04-26, 05:57 PM
One major problem with called shot systems is that you can get rules which reward circumventing the story's intended challenges:
- Instead of fighting the giant squid, you just sniped out her eyes from cover.
- Instead of fighting the beholder, you just sniped out her eyes from cover.
- Instead of fighting the dragon, you just sniped out her eyes from cover.
- Instead of fighting the god, you just sniped out her eyes from cover.

That might get a bit dull after... once.


So my suggestion would be: Do not allow combat to be circumvented.

One implementation idea:
When a creature (or PC) has fewer than half its max HP remaining, that creature is bloodied. A bloodied creature (or PC) is vulnerable to wounds.
When you hit a bloodied creature, decide whether you want to wound it or deal regular damage. You can't do both at once: called shots are not strictly better than regular attacks.
If you hit zero HP, you also automatically take a wound. This discourages yo-yo healing.



When the PCs are fighting a particularly nasty enemy, that enemy might start inflicting wounds on a PC. The fact that PCs can predict when they'll become bloodied -- and hopefully have combat healing available to ameliorate that condition -- means you can have a new kind of tense fight, without as much risk of a TPK (but with other consequences instead).