Even when a character's life points are physically represented by a real number, it's sometimes easy to forget the affects that combat can have on the human body, and that as a fight goes on and a character succumbs to more and more injuries, his body becomes more and more susceptible to major damage. As such, if a character ever suffers damage equal to 50% of his current hp in a single blow, he will receive a "Critical Hit". Notice that I said current hp and not max hp, meaning that the closer someone gets to their limits, the more dangerous future damage becomes.
For example, if a character has a max hp of 180, and takes a hit that deals 90 damage, he will suffer a crit. Now that he's at 90 hp, a blow of 45 damage will crit, and so on.
When a character receives a Critical Hit, he could be severely wounded, and at the very least will be left reeling in the pain. This could range from something as small as a dislocated shoulder, to something as severe as an amputated limb or severely destroyed organ. Upon landing a crit, the attacker rolls a d100, and adds the damage dealt to determine the Critical Level, which measures the potential damage that could be dealt to the defending body. The defender then rolls a d100 and adds his Physical Resistance (his Presence plus his CON modifier, as well as any other special bonuses he might have), in order to see how well his body naturally responds to the damage. [Does he stiffen up, causing the muscles to tense, shearing more as the blade passes through, or does he go limp to allow the knife's edge to cleanly pass through him, avoiding severe and irreparable damage?]
The difference between these two numbers determines the Critical Effect, which tells us the actual damage caused to the character's body. After the final number is calculated, the attacker rolls a single d100 to determine WHERE the crit is dealt on his opponent's body.
Algebraically, Critical Effect is written as such:
([ATTACKER D100]+[DAMAGE DEALT])-([DEFENDER D100]+[PRESENCE]+[CON])=Critical Effect
(NOTE: When rolling Critical Level, any amount that is OVER 200 is halved, such that a roll of 260 becomes a Critical Level of 230. You would only halve the 60, since that's the only part that is over 200. This is to help keep the severity of most crits low, so that characters aren't losing limbs left and right. Mortality is a big thing on this site, but so is fun.)
Depending on the Critical Effect and location, the character will receive certain penalties as a reflection of the damage. Below, we've listed brief descriptions as well as the mechanical effects off the varying ranges of Critical Effects.
1-75 Severe Pain: At this level, the damage dealt is not truly significant, but the pain is. A character who receives a crit of this level enters a state of shock, and receives a penalty to any physical action he takes equal to the Critical Effect on his next two turns. Location does not need to be rolled for this level of crit.
76-150 Maimed: The location rolled is damaged to a point of almost being unusable. Arms are broken, kidneys are ruptured, and the mind sways. The character not only suffers a penalty to physical action equal to the Critical Effect on his next five turns, but half of the penalty remains until the body heals through regeneration. A broken arm could take weeks to mend.
150-200 Amputation: Whatever is hit is permanently destroyed or severed from the body. The character can no longer use the limb, and if the location rolled is the head or heart, they will die without immediate medical aid. Typically, only the supernatural can mend a destroyed heart or brain in time. The character suffers the crit penalty for 10 turns, and afterwards, half of it remains until naturally healed over the course of time, while the character adjusts to life with this loss. Physical actions that would normally make use of this limb are either impossible, or suffer serious penalties, even after the character has physically healed, unless the limb itself is somehow replaced.
200+ Mortal Wound: Seldom does a Critical Hit score this high, however when it does, it inflicts a mortal wound upon the character that renders them unconscious after one turn, and claims their life after an amount of time equal to one minute per every point of CON the character has unless they receive medical treatment immediately. This level of crit does not require you to roll location. You can stylize it however you want, however if you wish to permanently destroy or sever a limb, you must roll it.
Subject: Critical Hits 
Thu Mar 08, 2018 6:25 pm
