From: Andrew Bell (acb@romeo.cs.duke.edu)
Date: Sat 18 Aug 1990 - 09:56:33 EEST
In Digest 1.11, Elliot Wilen said:
>One thing I don't like [in GURPS] is the way that crushing blows get special
>treatment for knocking a person out--it doesn't matter whether you're
>being hit by a sword or a cudgel if the force of a blow on your helmet
>is the same.
I'm not sure I agree with you on this one, Elliot. (Gasp!) When a mace tries to break through armor, it doesn't try to cleave it in twain, it tries to dent metal armor and overwhelm leather armor. The sword, on the other hand, tends to try to cut through the armor to administer its blow. For this reason, maces should be somewhat better against plate armor, although I'd remove the idea of ignore armor for criticals, since I can't see it fitting between the cracks. Instead, make crushing weapons better against heavy armor normally (working against 1/2 the AP of rigid armors), but a critical would only let you aim your shot and ignore magical protection.
In the same way, crushing weapons have a different effect on the head. A sword will tend to open up a big cut, but is unlikely to knock you out unless it is a very serious wound. An impact, however, is more likely to do stun (as per Champions), as you may note if you hit your head on a door frame or your hand against a projection on the wall or the like. Stabbing a steak knife through your hand, however, is only likely to do Stun by putting you into shock.
(Kids, do not try this yourself...) Seriously, though, you can try a little experiment, even at your desk. Hit yourself on the hand with your other hand. I get a little tingle in my fingers if I do this; although no real damage is done, I would say the hand I hit is somewhat stunned for a brief moment after the blow.
Thus I think I agree with the GURPS assessment.
A further implication here is that a crushing blow is unlikely to "go through" a parry, but is likely to damage the shield arm without penetrating. Again, there seems to be a need for stun rules, where a certain amount of stun to a given location might break the appropriate limb. Extreme amounts of damage could crush the limb to uselessness, beyond the mere breaking of a bone. Also, a "very" broken bone might do damage as a compound fracture.
Really, we'll have to come up with some stun rules; perhaps GURPS' will do. And perhaps rules on broken bones and various other forms of injury, as opposed to just "you take 4 points to the left arm." "My allied spirit casts Heal 4 on it."...
Incidentally, Elliot, what is the implication of stunning an area? You mention stunning but not its effects. Obviously they will be in GURPS terms, but the general idea is what I'm after.
-Andrew
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