House Rule: Arm Hits

[kenjib]

What do you roll to avoid dropping when cut in the arms?  I see the listing for zone VII cuts (some have penalties too) but I couldn't find what the roll mechanic is.

[Brian Leybourne]

What do you roll to avoid dropping when cut in the arms? I see the listing for zone VII cuts (some have penalties too) but I couldn't find what the roll mechanic is.

Yeah, there'll be something about that in TFOB. Use the knockdown stat at TN 8 (your pool + or - according to the table).

Brian.

[Lance D. Allen]

Gideon,

the bonuses for arms and leg strikes given in the back of the book (just before the hit charts) cover your suggestion, essentially. What is needed is not encouragement to go for the arms and legs, but some way to model how commonly they are hit accidentally.

As for Walking Dead, from what I've seen, dismemberment is about the only way to stop them short of sorcery. I don't consider a decapitation to be worthwhile as they're not actually using the organs in the head anyhow, but chopping off arms and legs is very effective (especially if you start with the arm holding the weapon, if any) Once the arms and legs are detached from the body, you pile the squirming mass somewhere relatively fire-proof (or not, if you don't care about damage) and burn the damned thing.

I'll agree that they don't seem to be common choices in most scenarios.. but then, as a relative amateur, I don't think about striking for arms either when I'm fighting for real.. legs sometimes, if I can see a legal shot under the shield, but I tend to look mostly for body and head shots. As I gain experience, I'll probably use them more often, both in game, and in life.

Actually, caveat.. I like arm and leg hits for when I'm not trying to kill my opponent, but wounding them isn't particularly distasteful. Even if I managed to cleave off an arm, I can probably remove any other weapons before they recover, and administer first-aid to keep them from bleeding to death.

[Ingenious]

Except after you hack off the arms, and they start going after you with their teeth. In which case you have options.. Go for a leg and make it not be able to walk.. or chop off the head. I'm pretty sure I would go for the head as going for the leg invites a simultaenous attack from the damned thing..

-Ingenious

[Poleaxe]

Not sure how to make arm hits more likely, besides maybe rolling on a different die and/or changing the hit location table to make arm hits more likely.  I've toyed with the idea of making any weapon wielding arm (not medium or heavy shields though) a "floating location" could be high middle or low depending on where you're striking or defending.  I'm not sure this is such a good idea though, it seems high maintenance.

To shed some light in another area of arm hits though, I've studied martial arts, and when doing mock knife fights with rubber/foam knives, I was instructed to play by the rule of...

First person to get hit ANYWHERE, loses.  

It tends to make the simulation more realistic.  You fight defensively, and feint a lot.  Your opponent's hand and arm (near the hand) become your primary target.  You also go for the head and knee/upper shin on ducking moves (how do you model the duck n slice in TROS?).  In particular, in response to a thrust, a doge backward or to the side with a simultaneous slash to the hand/arm is a frequent game winner.  Sounds like the evasive strike maneuver to me.  Perhaps evasive strikes should be restricted to arm attacks, or just be much more likely to result in arm attacks?

-Alan

[Lance D. Allen]

Perhaps evasive strikes should be restricted to arm attacks, or just be much more likely to result in arm attacks?

This actually sounds good to me.

Except after you hack off the arms, and they start going after you with their teeth.

Which I would call shorter than Hand Range, so they'd have an additional penalty to strike. Add the fact that they DO get Pain penalties, though much reduced, so by the time it's lost both of it's arms, it's pretty easy to take the head and both legs from there... It's just straight butcher work, which I imagine is highly unpalatable to even trained warriors.

[Salamander]

Perhaps evasive strikes should be restricted to arm attacks, or just be much more likely to result in arm attacks?

This actually sounds good to me.

I have worked with some evasive attacks in the class I attend and have seen head and leg hits as well as arm hits.

Except after you hack off the arms, and they start going after you with their teeth.

Which I would call shorter than Hand Range, so they'd have an additional penalty to strike. Add the fact that they DO get Pain penalties, though much reduced, so by the time it's lost both of it's arms, it's pretty easy to take the head and both legs from there... It's just straight butcher work, which I imagine is highly unpalatable to even trained warriors.

Good point about the shorter than hand range. I'll have to keep that in mind...

[Brian Leybourne]

how do you model the duck n slice in TROS?

Evasive attack.

Brian.

[Poleaxe]

Brian,

I actually wasn't clear on this one (Duck n' Slice).

I was actually thinking of this moving aggresively, not as a dodge.  Meaning, your opponent has big shield that extends very low to the ground (tower shield), or his guard is medium/low, and you wanna get way below it.  How would you model the attack duck n slice in TROS?  Would you ever feasibly need to duck significantly to attack the lower leg as I've described?

-Alan

[Salamander]

Brian,

I actually wasn't clear on this one (Duck n' Slice).

I was actually thinking of this moving aggresively, not as a dodge.  Meaning, your opponent has big shield that extends very low to the ground (tower shield), or his guard is medium/low, and you wanna get way below it.  How would you model the attack duck n slice in TROS?  Would you ever feasibly need to duck significantly to attack the lower leg as I've described?

-Alan

Well, that depends upon what what the weapon is you are using. But generally, if you put your back to the back guy, which is basically what you do when you duck down, you are a dead man. So the best bet is absetzen and mittel hau to the lower leg... err... Um yeah, sorry... I would say that no, you don't have to duck down.

[Jake Norwood]

Brian,

I actually wasn't clear on this one (Duck n' Slice).

I was actually thinking of this moving aggresively, not as a dodge.  Meaning, your opponent has big shield that extends very low to the ground (tower shield), or his guard is medium/low, and you wanna get way below it.  How would you model the attack duck n slice in TROS?  Would you ever feasibly need to duck significantly to attack the lower leg as I've described?

-Alan

The correct maneuver for "duck and slice" is, predicably, "duck and weave."  With a weapon of medium length striking to the leg should not
be a problem at all.  With a dagger or so, yeah, I'd assign a range penalty or something along those lines.

Jake