Hit Location

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inspired by Andrew L. Chang – aka Fu-Man Chu

The Star Frontiers combat system is designed to be simple and general. We don’t normally care exactly where we get hit, only that we got hit. The damage is rolled (independent of the level of success of the attack roll) and subtracted from Stamina (after applying defenses). But simple systems aren’t for everyone. This system gives rules for governing hit locations, which adds both complexity and some realism to the game.

Contents

Determining Hit Location

When you roll your dice to hit your opponent, you must roll less than or equal to your success rate. When you do, you can look at the tens digit to determine hit location using the following chart:

Skill Level

If you possess skill levels in the weapon you’re using, you can “bump” the hit location up or down a number of steps equal to your skill’s level. For example: Firing your blaster pistol at a thug, you roll 58 and are successful. You have hit your opponent in area 8, the leg. Your beam weapons skill is level 2, so you could bump the hit location down to 9 (the other leg) or up to 7 or 6 (his left arm or hand), as you wish.

Effects of Hit Locations

In order to keep much of the combat simple and loose, you don’t have to keep track of each hit separately. If you’re hit in the left arm, right leg, or forehead, you still just subtract your damage from a single Current Stamina score. However, when you’re hit with a lot of damage in a single blow to any given hit location, you may suffer an additional effect. Head shots can leave you dazed or knock you out in one blow. Hits to the torso can wind you... and leg injuries can make your character have trouble getting around. The injury effects are summarized on the hit location diagram located on this page, and these descriptions elaborate:

0 – Head: If the damage caused is greater than the tens digit of the target’s Stamina score, he must make a Stamina (maximum, not current) avoidance roll or be dazed (treat as surprised) for one turn. If damage caused is greater than one half of the target’s maximum Stamina score, he must make a Stamina (maximum, not current) avoidance roll or fall unconscious for d100 turns. The head is a lethal hit location; if a character sustains more damage than he has remaining current Stamina points to endure, he’s dead.

1-2 – Chest: If damage caused is greater than half the target’s maximum Stamina, he must make a Strength avoidance roll or be knocked back 1-2 meters by the blow. The chest is a lethal hit location; a character who takes more damage than he has remaining current Stamina points to endure is dead.

3 – Abdomen: If damage caused is greater than half the target’s maximum Stamina, he must make a Reaction Speed check to roll-with-the-blow or he will be winded for the next turn (treat as surprised). The abdomen is a lethal hit location; a character who takes more damage than he has remaining current Stamina points to endure is dead.

4,6 – Arms: If damage caused is greater than half the target’s maximum Stamina, his limb will be numbed and useless for 1d10 turns. The arm is not an immediately lethal hit location; regardless of the amount of damage sustained, your character will always have at least one current Stamina point remaining.

5,7 – Hands: If the damage caused is greater than the tens digit of the target’s maximum Stamina score, he must make a Dexterity avoidance roll or drop anything he was holding in that hand. If the damage caused is greater than half the target’s maximum Stamina, his hand will be numbed and useless for 1d10 turns. The hand is not an immediately lethal hit location; regardless of the amount of damage sustained, your character will always have at least one current Stamina point remaining.

8-9 – Legs: If the damage caused is greater than the tens digit of the target’s maximum Stamina score, he must make a Dexterity avoidance roll or be tripped, lying prone. If the damage caused is greater than half the target’s maximum Stamina score, his leg is numbed and his movement will be halved for 1d10 turns. The leg is not an immediately lethal hit location; regardless of the amount of damage sustained, your character will always have at least one current Stamina point remaining.

Non-humanoid Shapes

The referee will have to use common sense when determining hit location to races other than those with humanoid shapes. Races with different appendages should have a chance of being hit in those locations (for example, if hit in the arm, the referee might describe the wound as a wing injury to your Yazirian). Dralasite hit locations won’t matter – since they are amorphous and can move damage freely to distribute it through their mostly homogeneous form. Vrusks normally are hit in a leg that faces his foe, unless he is hit from behind, in which case a random leg might take the damage.

Wings: if a Yazirian is hit in the wings for more than half his maximum Stamina score in one hit, his wing membrane will be damaged and he will be unable to glide until he heals. The wing is not an immediately lethal hit location; regardless of the amount of damage sustained, your character will always have at least one current Stamina point remaining.

Hit Location and Cover

When dealing with hard cover, instead of applying the normal penalties to hit, use this rule instead. If the hit location rolled cannot be bumped to a location that is exposed, then the target was protected by the cover. For example, a Dralasite ducks behind a metal dumpster in an alley while being fired upon by Sathar agents. He pokes his head and right arm around the corner to fire. An enemy shoots at him and rolls a hit location of 9, the leg. If that foe cannot bump the hit location up to 0, 4, or 5, the shot will hit the dumpster instead.

Targeting

Aim Location Modifier
Head -15
Chest or Abdomen +0
Arm or Leg -5
Hand -10

If desired, you can specifically target a single hit location. For example, you might want to shoot your target’s hand so he drops his gun. To accomplish this task, you’ll use these rules. The following table summarizes the penalties associated with aiming at a body location.

Note that if you spend an entire turn concentrating and steadying your aim, the rules give you a +15 modifier to hit. This can be used to help offset the aiming penalties derived from this table.

Aiming at Things

If your referee allows, you can aim at items held by your target, or something he is wearing or near. This would have penalties and effects determined by the referee and are beyond the scope of this article.

Permanent Injuries

If the referee wants to be particularly nasty to his players, he can invoke this rule. Any time your character is hit for more than half his maximum Stamina score, he has a chance to sustain permanent injuries.

After a fight is over, and the bandaging begins, any injury you have (derived from the injury effects described above) to a hand, arm, or leg might end up becoming more of a long-term problem for your character. Roll 1d10 for each injured hit location. On a roll of 1, that injury is more severe.

From that point forward, you’ll have a -5 penalty to any action that involves that hand, arm, or leg. This is additive, many injuries over time will make this penalty get worse and worse (the second injury that gets serious will turn into a -10 penalty, etc.) No amount of surgery will correct this (although if your campaign allows, cybernetic replacement or augmentation may be possible). When your penalty to a body area gets greater than half your maximum Stamina, that body part may need amputated!