That's a nice neck you've got there, It'd be a pity if it were to...break Options

[Tziluthi]

I was thinking about introducing a combat maneuver that allows a character to break someone's neck. Maybe an attack test, at +3 TN, and it can only be used if the opponent is either subdued or taken by surprise.

Comments or suggestions, anyone?

[Phaeton]

...Solid Snake, anyone? :grinbig:

[Kagetenshi]

Standard called shot. If you do D damage, you broke the neck. If just S, you caused some damage but didn't damage the spinal cord enough.

~J

[Fortune]

[Tziluthi]

Is that damage physical or stun?

For that matter, does Shadowrun have any rules relating to breaking or dislocating joints (more 'how to', rather than 'the effects of')?

[Austere Emancipa...]

If you want to keep up with the very abstract rules, you could just call any unarmed Called Shot against a surprised opponent that deals Deadly with a lot of successes left over a snapped neck. Allow combining Called Shot with Full Offense in special situations? That might work too.

But I'm guessing you won't want to do that, since you started a new thread and all... So I really have nothing. Sorry. :(

Damn I'm slow...

[Kagetenshi]

Shadowrun has no actual rules for limb-breaking, 'cause that goes against the abstract combat system.
As for physical/stun, maybe that is grounds for a new maneuver. So it's a maneuver that can only be used in the conditions previously stated, requires a called shot, and does Physical damage without any penalty. If you want you can say that it only does Physical if the final damage is S or higher.

~J

[Fortune]

[Austere Emancipa...]

[Tziluthi]

I was thinking more along the lines that it doesn't deal damage in the conventional sense, more it just drops the victim to a deadly condition, and that it's an all or nothing effect. I mean, you either have a broken neck or you don't, I'm not aware of a condition that exists inbetween.

[Austere Emancipa...]

I think the abtract system relies on the idea that, if you notice during the first second that you aren't going to get that darn neck snapped, you'll instead try to strangle the target or try to get a hold or just plain whack him around some.

Feel free to play around with those basic ideas, though. Just keep in mind that it might have significant effects on many other melee-related things if you do.

[Fortune]

[Austere Emancipa...]

That happens... I had to check it from the book 7 times as I replied. I'm so tired the lower right corner of my screen seems like it's sinking, and the middle left is sort of bulging, and I keep hearing things speaking to me.

[Fortune]

Tell me about it. I've been up for almost 75 hours straight. That's probably why I'm having trouble expressing my thoughts coherently in other threads. :)

[Austere Emancipa...]

Thank [insert power of choice here] for Coca-Cola. Now if only I could get myself one of those ergonomic chairs that double as a toilet seat... And now it's time for a shower, hope I don't fall asleep in there (that's ouchy sometimes).

Sorry for going offtopic in your thread, Tziluthi.

[Kagetenshi]

[Veracusse]

An easy solution would be to let the player deal damage as stess to attributes instead. If the player subdues the enemy with a subduing combat option, then they will only have a TN of 2 to inflict stress damage. For each sucsess that equals one stress point to an attribute, and if they get 10 or more then the npc is dead or is soon to be dead. If they get less then 10 sucsesses or stress points make a quick stress test for the npc and if he fails he is also out.

Just a suggestion,

Veracusse

[Snake Oil]

A Called Shot that ends up as a Deadly wound (not necessarily staged up to it) works for me, as long as that was the action the character was going for when he attempted it. The inherent +4 target number modifier and +1 Damage Level simulate the desired effect and difficulties in performing it beautifully. Failure to score a Deadly wound simply means you failed to do it correctly and just left the character in a lot of pain. Afterall, it's a lot harder to snap someone's neck than the movies make it out to be.

[Tziluthi]

[Snake Oil]

By doing a Serious wound. What I meant is that the character wouldn't necessarily have to stage it up to Deadly Physical from Moderate Stun. He just has to give the opponent a Deadly wound with the Called Shot.

[Tziluthi]

Fair enough. I guess the only problem is that nobody on these boards can (or has) actually break (or broken) someone's neck with their bare hands, so we can't get an accurate picture of how difficult it really is.

Edit: Change of mind

This post has been edited by Tziluthi: Jan 2 2004, 02:34 AM

[Kagetenshi]

Surprise would probably be more like TN 6.

~J

[Tziluthi]

That seems fair enough. Although, in this system, there isn't as large a difference between TN 6 and TN 8 as one would initially suppose.

[Kagetenshi]

1/6 and 5/36. That's a full thirty-sixth.

~J

[Shev]

Adepts have a power called Nerve Strike, which lets them make an unarmed attack (With a TN modifier, I think. I lent my MITS to a friends, so I don't have it in front of me) against a single opponent. For every two sucesses, the Q of the victim is reduced by one. If Q is reduced to 0, the victim is paralyzed. (Q points are recovered over a short span of time, so this is only temporary).

Perhaps a modified version of this would work?