One of the many banes of my GMing life is, "I attack where I think the Vitals should be."
Vitals has a lot of upsides for impaling and piercing attacks. A number of PCs in my campaigns - rather a lot of them - have taken Slayer Training for attacks to the vitals. So they have a mere -1 instead of the usual -3 to hit the Vitals.
The problems with "I attack where I think the Vitals should be" are plentiful.
First, it implies that your PC just knows where these things are on beings that they haven't encountered before. Knowing these things is exactly what the rarely-taken, rarely-used Physiology skill is actually for in a Dungeon Fantasy game. DFRPG Adventures, p. 85, says this outright. It's IQ-6 for a default. People don't want to roll that, generally, but just know because their guy is some kind of expert in killing humans in the Vitals. Better aim doesn't imply better knowledge - they're seperately purchased.
You can't easily just tell everyone if you do make the roll, either. If the Wizard has IQ 16 and rolls a 10, hurrah, the Wizard remembers where the Vitals are. Talking is a free action on your turn, but can you explain where to attack in a clear, concise, and easily understood fashion? Maybe. That's a Complimentary Skill roll to give the person you're telling a +1 to their own Physiology roll, in my opinion. Harsh? Maybe. But we are discussing 250 point characters who didn't bother to take a skill that enhances their ability to do the thing they want to do. I don't mind harsh. I'd allow a bonus or even automatic success if there is a clear target - "The horn is its life!" - but that's an exception, not the basic assumption.
"Wouldn't my PC just know?" No, see above. There is a skill that does this.
On top of that, asking - or describing a location and then hoping it just works - is offloading this all onto the GM. I get to decide if you know, if "vitals" on a Distorted Death Brain are in the spot you're describing, and then if it works I need to remember it. All the time there is a skill to do it.
"Can I guess?" Sure. Blind Physiology roll. Go for it.
So that's why I get grumpy when people want to "shoot where I think the vitals should be." There is an in-game, in-rules, easy way to deal with it, and saying that isn't it.
I usually just let them attack with the -1/-3 penalty, and then count it as a hit to the torso.
ReplyDeleteI do the same - they apply their own modifiers, after all - but it's not doing what they hope and not doing me any favors in the process. A -1/-3 to their own roll in return for giving me another thing to ignore (or a hit location auto-selection to turn off) isn't a great payoff for me.
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