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From:	Terry Amburgey <xanth@****.UKY.EDU>
Subject:	head shots
Date:	Wed, 19 Jul 1995 13:35:43 -0400

Message no. 1 Sebastian Wrote:

>Naw, the barrier rating is for breaking bones. Since thers no rules for
>breaking bones, I'd just say you have no chance of dismemberment if the power
>of the attack is less than the "barrier" needed to break bones. Not
entirely
>real, as you could still sever a joint. Above that threshold, the body dice
>gained from bone lacing help resist limb loss. By the way, if a bullet did
>penatrate that thick skull, it would probly bounce like the BB in a spraycan.
>Euchh!
>Sebastian
>PS- How many of those dice were from combat? It wouldv'e been a hoot to dodge
>a shot like that. Did the second shot get you too? (god I hate that)

8 body dice and 11 combat pool. After the head shot it was all 'normal'
ranged combat so the ballistic armor from the jacket kicked in. Things
weren't too bad till the troll with the LMG showed up...
Re the bone-breaking barrier rating, that was the slim [munchkinesque]
thread I was hanging my hopes upon; for the bullet to do major damage it has
to penetrate [eg 'break'] the skull. Oh well, I'll settle for the "A for
effort" :) Terry
Terry L. Amburgey Office: 606-257-7726
Associate Professor Home: 606-224-0636
College of Business & Economics Fax: 606-257-3577
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506

From:	S.R.Bailleul@*********.salford.ac.uk
Subject:	Headshots
Date:	19 May 96 16:06

Message no. 2 -From: brett@***.orst.edu (Brett Barksdale)
-
-How the heck do people deal with called shots out there? It
-seems like a real can of worms to open up. I mean, if
-someone wants to go for key parts of a vehicle (weapons,
-windshield etc.), I can see that without a problem. But
-the thought of doing a "called shot" on someone's unarmored
-head just to get around their body armor pretty much
-unbalances the entire concept of personal armor in this
-game, doesn't it?

Not necessarily, consider this:

Let`s assume, that the average t# for a shot is 4. Okay, shooting with a skill
of 6 + 6 Combatpool (as a beginner is wont to do) we get an average of 6
successes. Assuming this is a heavy pistol that gives us 9 (D+1). Now if the
armor of the opponent is 5, he has t#4 as well. Assuming Body, say, 4 and 6
Combat pool dice, he get`s 5 successes on average, enough to stage it down to
S. Fine. Now, if you go for the head, with the same situation, t# 8, 12 dice
gives you, say, 2 successes on average -> 9 S, called shot-> 9 D. Now, the
bleeder is probably not going to get more than one success, two if he`s lucky,
and what does that leave us with? S-D Damage, not much of an improvemrent, eh?
Shadowrun doesn`t use a hit location system, because it assumes that the better
you shoot, the more important the part you hit. BTW, have a look at the rules
for Cyberarmor in the Cybertechnology Sourcebook, you get an average of the
armor values of your bodyparts added to your standard armor, which basically
means a raised probability that an attack is gonna hit an armored area.

Sergej

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