Called Shots

[Hix]

How do you handle called shots (to a body part or to achieve an effect) in BFRPG? A penalty to the roll? require a crit? a bell curve roll? bags of candy delivered to the GM's doorstep?

[Dimirag]

I would use a penalty with an associated effect like more damage, a temporary penalty, etc...

[Metroknight]

I like the combat options "called shot"

Called shots are all those kind of attacks that are not performed with the intent of simply dealing damage but rather to achieve “special effects” like tripping, disarming, or otherwise subduing the target.

The character executing a called shot makes a normal attack roll with a -4 penalty on the roll.

and there is some more but I would recommend looking over the whole pdf supplement.

[Clever_Munkey]

I think the rules given in Combat Options are perfectly acceptable, and are usually my default. If something seems like it should definitely be easier or harder to hit (an eye for instance) then I usually use the same rules as cover and concealment i.e. a percentile miss chance (which I can choose to modify however I like).

Edit: I must have been tired and confused. cover and concealment aren't a percentile miss chance! They are just a penalty to the attack roll, based on the percent of exposed target, which is what I actually meant. But you could definitely use a percentile miss chance.

[orobouros]

For me the bigger question is, "what happens if you succeed?" The -4 penalty makes sense to me. After that, I think it's really up to the GM to use good judgement and make an adequate ruling for that particular case. Shooting somebody in the hand who is holding a taught rope? That'll make them drop it. Stabbing somebody in the foot with a dagger? Now I'm going to have to see what the damage is compared to their level/hit dice. 6 HP of damage to the foot of a 7 HP gnoll probably means he can barely stand anymore, whereas 1 HP of damage would probably just be something that needs to be bandaged up. 6 HP of damage to the foot of a Celestial Hippogriff is probably not going to be anything more than an annoyance.

And if you look deeper into it, this rule can be used to even the odds if the GM is willing to reward creativity. A 22 AC monster probably can't be hit by any regular character at low level with a regular weapon. But a natural 20 will always hit if it's possible. So why not go for the trick shot, at the -4 penalty, and try to blind the Green Dragon?