restructuring Hit Points

[Jujitsudave]

Currently, the Hit Point scaling from Highest to least is Torso, Abdomen, Head / Legs, Arms. I feel it would make more sense to scale it from highest to least as Legs, Arms, Abdomen, Torso, Head. The reason for this is due to the maneuverability of those body parts, the amount of vital organs in them, structural stability and the amount of bone and muscle mass. My argument is this:
-Legs. They have the most dense muscle mass of any body part and no vital organs giving it the most HP.
-Arms. Like the legs, they are composed of muscle, bones and tendons. They have less mass, but are more mobile than the legs and are more likely to recoil against damage instead of completely absorbing it.
-Abdomen. Encased in fat and muscle, it also contains many organs that can debilitate and slowly kill a victim. Few blows, however, will result in instant death, however
-Torso. Although encased in a rib cage, the torso has a major concentration of vital organs such as the heart, lungs and spinal column.
-Head. Any weapon strike to the head can mean a quick death. With the neck incorporated as well, only increases the likelihood of a dead enemy.

 

[master of reality]

I see your point, but I think your issue is addressed by how wound levels affect different locations. At worst a serious wound to a limb renders it useless. If it's a leg, the character falls prone. If it's an arm, that arm cannot be used to wield a weapon or shield. In either case the character can still defend and in the case of a serious wound to the arm, can still attack using the other arm. On the other hand, a serious wound to the head, chest or abdomen can result in unconsciousness. In the middle of fight that's as good as dying since the attacker can easily move in to deliver the coup de grace. Even a major wound to a limb will only result in death if the wound is not treated within CON+POW minutes, whereas a major wound to the head, chest or abdomen will, at best, result in unconsciousness, or at worst "instant and gratuitous death." Even if the character only falls unconscious, he still must be treated within 1/2 of character's CON+POW in rounds or die. Either way a major wound to the chest, abdomen or head renders the character powerless against a final blow from the attacker.
In light of these rules for wounds, increasing the number of hit points for limbs will simply make it harder to render a limb useless. So if you feel that it is currently too easy to render a limb useless but too hard to render a character unconscious or kill a character by a blow to the chest, head, or abdomen, then by all means make the change. So far, I'm ok with the RAW, but as one gets used to the rules, I suppose tweaking them to make them more "realistic" is only natural. Just remember to take the effects of wound levels into consideration when making these changes.

 

[Mixster]

Well, technically some of the heart and much of the lungs reside in the abdomen. So having that with more HP than the Torso is kindda silly. Even if you accept the anatomically incorrect notion of the abdomen being from Solar Plexus and down, I'm still pretty sure any severe blow to it would render you completely unable to fight. A knife to the liver for example, would kill anyone in short notice.

I do agree that the amount of damage you need to put someone out of a fight might be a tad high. A good healthy man can have 6-7hp in his torso, meaning a slash from a war sword rarely sets him out of combat in one blow. It could easily take his arm right out of usefulness in one blow though.

Apart from that I think I agree with Master of Reality's notion on wound levels.

A more proper change could be to give more hit locations, which I've fiddled with, although that gives other problems. Why would I worry if my enemy hit my feet if he already causes a major bleeding in my Inferior Arteries? It's not like chopping of the feet will make the blood run (much) faster out of me.

If I were to rate where I'd least like to take a blow I'd do it like this:
Head or Neck - Pretty certain to sustain damage from blows to the Head, the neck contains a wind pipe (which doesn't matter that much if it's severed), but also the blood supply for the brain is very lightly protected. I agree with you here.
Abdomen - Pretty certain death, or at least a heavy bruising. Hitting somebody in the abdomen would put them out of action instantly and kill them in a matter of minutes.
Arms - If anyone gets wounded in the arm, they aren't going to fight anymore, so you'd be completely at the mercy of your opponent. Also there are big arteries to the hands, and losing blood supply here could mean the loss of motor control in that hand. As well as death within about 30 minutes if not treated.
Torso - While there is one very important organ here (the heart), it is well protected by the Rib Cage. Using the function of one lung can be deadly, but not in minutes, and most people can actually survive quite long on one lung if they are in an adrenaline rush. Breaking the ribs with a blunt object, while bad and hard to do much about with medieval surgery, people could still survive it.
Legs - While losing a leg sets you badly out of a fight, it also means you fall and stop being a real threat, opponents might move on. While losing blood from one of the inferior arteries is bad, if you knew basic first aid you'd stand a decent chance of recovering with both of your hands intact. The bones in the leg are also big and can take a beating, and protected by layers of muscle. The artery runs on the inside of the thigh, and is thus less likely to be hit. Without treatment, by just elevating the severed artery and putting something into it, you could probably survive around 20-30 minutes with such a wound.

This is my somewhat informed opinion of wounds and bruises to the RQ hit locations.

 

[Dan True]

I do agree that the amount of damage you need to put someone out of a fight might be a tad high. A good healthy man can have 6-7hp in his torso, meaning a slash from a war sword rarely sets him out of combat in one blow. It could easily take his arm right out of usefulness in one blow though.

But remember that these ordinary hits are not the ones where you deal significant damage. If someone sliced my across the chest while I was moving away from him - so only the tip cut me - I will start to bleed and take some damage - but I wouldn't' drop (at least not if I'm an heroic adventurer. A modern day, non-used-to-pain person might pass out from shock at the sight of their own blood though).
The blows where you drop a person, are the criticals. Most hits in a true fight will be small cuts and bruises - it is rare indeed that you run them through and make a killing blow.

So instead of thinking "an average blow from a sword will drop a man", think "the average damage from a sword does not drop a man, so that must mean it is not that critical of a hit. Had it been one, it had been a critical with the maximise damage CM".

You forgot to mention that your post is informed because you're studying to be a doctor ...

- Dan

 

[Mixster]

So instead of thinking "an average blow from a sword will drop a man", think "the average damage from a sword does not drop a man, so that must mean it is not that critical of a hit. Had it been one, it had been a critical with the maximise damage CM".

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I guess I totally agree? :lol: Just didn't think of it this way.

Oh and the doctor thing, well I'm not done with my first year yet so all I know is some advanced first aid.

 

[Cowboy]

Yeah, the abdomen and head have more HP than the arms but the consequences of losing those HP are significantly worse.

You could view the number of HP in a location as a rough guide to how much raw mass is in that location, and the consequences of running out of HP in a location as an abstract indicator of how much of that mass is vital components integral to your body's continued functioning.
So an arm doesn't have a lot of mass but a human being can survive and function with a significant portion of that arm (or indeed the entire arm) damaged or missing.
The abdomen, on the other hand*, is quite big and contains a lot of mass and much of that mass is stuff that you'll have a hard time surviving for very long without and if the whole thing is destroyed, that will definitely kill you dead.

* No pun intended..