Ghostwind
First Post
Time to show my age again. Way back in the day, when Mayfair was still doing Role Aids books, a line of unofficial D&D supplements, they had one called Blood & Steel. It provided Wound Points, based on size and while hit points were important, it was your wound points that meant the good stuff. Criticals were rolled on a chart, similar to the Rolemaster game system, but only with three variants, Piercing, Slashing, and Bludgeoning. There was a simplified chart as well. The chart roll was a % and it was modified for the size of the attack versus the size of the defender, making sure that in most cases, a halfling was only going to hit the legs or foot of a giant with minor wounds. There were a couple of ways to score a critical hit.
I've used it off and on again for third edition. The reason is that in my experience, any critical hit system is going to favor the GM as eventually, the players are going to suffer from a stroke of bad luck. Sure, it's cool that the character hit the enemy with a mace and caused, “Lower jaw knocked off, leaving tongue wagging free. APL (CHR) -6”. but sooner or latter, the characters are going to suffer that fate like “Skull impaled through eye, damaging brain. APL (CHR) -2, INT reduced to ½.”
I have been surprised though, that no 3rd party publisher has done a critical hit book though. GMs love that stuff. We also love fumbles. Regrettably, Blood and Steel did not come with such a chart, so I yanked the one from Runequest. Good stuff. Bastion Press however, has decided that it's time to reintroduce critical hits to the game system with Torn Asunder.
The bulk of the book deals with it's critical hit system. It's pretty simple in that it requires you to confirm a critical hit and then based on how much you criticaled by, with a minimum of 5 higher than the target AC, goes into three levels of severity, mild, moderate and serious with a d20 roll to see where you hit the target with major areas, arm, tail, leg, torso, wing and head covered. Each location has a listing for the three levels of effect so Arm has a mild-moderate and serious listing. Simple stuff.
A listing of body profiles helps the GM insure that the criticals make a little more sense with several different profile tables provided for abominations, eight, four and six legged beasts, bipedals, dibrachiums, draconi, humanoid and serpentine enemies.
Because the critical effects often include things like removal of limbs, the author suggests that even creatures immune to criticals take the effects but not the damage. Makes sense in certain cases as a skeleton with an arm removed is going to be less dangerous. The effects vary from minor skill check penalties and reduction in movement to possible death if first aid is not administered.
Now with specific wounds, there is a need for specific healing. Critical Hits take time to heal and can be speed up with the Healing Skill and specific Herbs, drawn from Alchemy and Herbalists and Occult Lore. This allows a low magic campaign or a party with no clerics, to have some recovery. In other areas, acupuncture is covered with equipment and special rules not only to handle poison and fatigue, but also a 'balance treatment' where you can move slightly move stats around. One thing that I probably won't follow though, are the ideas for scarring, as there is a scarring modifier table that relies on the % of hit points lost in a single attack. I'm not punishing rogues, mages and bards.
With rules for critical hits in place, there is a need for new equipment which comes in the form of healing, armor, and arms. The new weapons are expertly illustrated, but most of them suffer the 'head shot' syndrome of the Counters by Fiery Dragon where you only see the weapon part. When looking at a something like Bracerblades or a Great Pole Axe, I want more than just the tip of the weapon.
The good news though is that some of the weapons will be perfect for adding that special feel that settings like Talislanta have in their uniqueness. While anyone whose seen Brotherhood of the Wolf will recognize the Chainblade, it's still cool to have and the Weighted Greatsword and Ogre Maul, will surely find new fans among the heavy hitters, especially with 3.5's greater use of Power Attack.
In terms of armor, the one thing I thought well done was bracing armor to prevent the user from being crushed. It costs extra and may not always work, but anytime you can avoid being crushed by the bears, giants and ogres of the campaign, is a good time.
The focus on players isn't minimum, but this certainly isn't a book chocked full with PrCs, Core Classes and Spells. We've got two PrCs, the Marksman, a master of hitting hard and fast whose special abilities make him someone to not get into combat with as they gain numerous special abilities that can increase their chances of getting a critical strike, as well as increase the damage done by the critical. One thing done well is that this PrC can be used even if the critical hit system isn't. The Spiritual Healer looks more like a specialty NPC PrC as it doesn't continue to gain spells at every level and while the skill bonus and bonus feats are nice, many people have problems with clerics being walking band aids now so that isn't going to change. The same is true of the Apothecary, a non-spellcasting class that focuses on healing. Sure, it's good for the GM to have so add depth and richness to the background, to highlight the herbs and natural healing available to players, but my group has seen similar classes in the past and all the ones in my game have been NPCs.
Feats can help make or break a character and the ones here can easily be used in any combat intensive campaign. While some of them have seen print before in other supplements like Fervent, a feat that lets you die when your hit points equal negative your constitution score, others look new like Critically Lucky, where you got to make a Reflext Save to avoid the critical hit effects.
The spells here are a minor part of the book, focusing on damaging the target. Power ranges as Headsman's Carsess is 5th level for clerics and wizards and is only a one shot use where a Keen Vorpal +3 Battleaxe is summoned. Sure, it's a potential kill shot but it's a one use device and it's utility, especially against undead, constructs and other creatures without a head is limited. There are also those who are just going to disallow the spell as it's potentially too powerful. Several of the spells do focus on healing the specific criticals of the book so if that system isn't used, those spells aren't going to replace the standards in the game.
The book closes of with some new monsters. We've got the strong Bonecracker whose overlarge hands are perfect for crushing it's enemies to the large Ramzadi, a race of lizardman like warriors who could easily dispatch such annoyances as the quill rat and the scantlings. The good news is that they have racial traits, the bad news that they have uneven stat bonuses like +3 to Strength and -1 to Wisdom (in addition to other bonuses/penalties.) While it's not an 'official' rule that all stats are even, it sure seems to be an unofficial one that makes everything fit together better.
The monster stats look pretty good but aren't taking full advantage of the 3.5 standard. For example, while it breaks AC down so we see where the bonuses or penalties come from, I still don't see a flat footed or touch. While it has the standard attacks listed, I don't see base attack or grapple bonuses.
The book closes off with an Appendix for body profiles that lets you track the critical effects during combat. Hopefully we'll see some web support for these sheets as the two pages of charts will make a nice addition to any table using these rules.
Overall I found the rules simple to use but still adding time to combat, just as any critical hit system I've even seen or used does. The effects aren't specific and don't try to add al ot of realism as the GM is still going to have to make some calls like when a halfling gets a head shot on a giant or what body profile to use from certain creatures.
The book has some weak points. While it covers trap criticals and spell criticals, it's not a detailed system and people interested in spell criticals are probably looking for the old Player Option book from 2nd Edition or Rolemaster anyway. The fumble system was also pretty simple but hey, it's something at long last that goes beyond swing and a miss.
The book uses standard two column layout and makes good use of white space. Text is well laid out and not crunched up. The art is another strong point of the book with some artist apparently having a love affair with the demonic Kyton, illustrating both the magic item Cloak of the Kyton with it's animated chains and a full page illustration of a Kyton in combat against a master of the two handed sword. The book makes good use of numerous OGC from several publishers, integrating it almost seamlessly into the whole so that you're never jarred from the reading by different writing styles.
The rules should be carefully considered before adding. Because most of the other parts of the book don't rely on the criticals, the overall utility of the book isn't destroyed if you decide to only use the magic items, feats, monsters or PrCs found within it. Torn Asunder is a good resource for those not satisfied with the vagueness of hit points but isn't doesn't go into the detail that Warhammer critical hits or the Rolemsater System does and provides a good compromise for almost any d20 game or genre.
I've used it off and on again for third edition. The reason is that in my experience, any critical hit system is going to favor the GM as eventually, the players are going to suffer from a stroke of bad luck. Sure, it's cool that the character hit the enemy with a mace and caused, “Lower jaw knocked off, leaving tongue wagging free. APL (CHR) -6”. but sooner or latter, the characters are going to suffer that fate like “Skull impaled through eye, damaging brain. APL (CHR) -2, INT reduced to ½.”
I have been surprised though, that no 3rd party publisher has done a critical hit book though. GMs love that stuff. We also love fumbles. Regrettably, Blood and Steel did not come with such a chart, so I yanked the one from Runequest. Good stuff. Bastion Press however, has decided that it's time to reintroduce critical hits to the game system with Torn Asunder.
The bulk of the book deals with it's critical hit system. It's pretty simple in that it requires you to confirm a critical hit and then based on how much you criticaled by, with a minimum of 5 higher than the target AC, goes into three levels of severity, mild, moderate and serious with a d20 roll to see where you hit the target with major areas, arm, tail, leg, torso, wing and head covered. Each location has a listing for the three levels of effect so Arm has a mild-moderate and serious listing. Simple stuff.
A listing of body profiles helps the GM insure that the criticals make a little more sense with several different profile tables provided for abominations, eight, four and six legged beasts, bipedals, dibrachiums, draconi, humanoid and serpentine enemies.
Because the critical effects often include things like removal of limbs, the author suggests that even creatures immune to criticals take the effects but not the damage. Makes sense in certain cases as a skeleton with an arm removed is going to be less dangerous. The effects vary from minor skill check penalties and reduction in movement to possible death if first aid is not administered.
Now with specific wounds, there is a need for specific healing. Critical Hits take time to heal and can be speed up with the Healing Skill and specific Herbs, drawn from Alchemy and Herbalists and Occult Lore. This allows a low magic campaign or a party with no clerics, to have some recovery. In other areas, acupuncture is covered with equipment and special rules not only to handle poison and fatigue, but also a 'balance treatment' where you can move slightly move stats around. One thing that I probably won't follow though, are the ideas for scarring, as there is a scarring modifier table that relies on the % of hit points lost in a single attack. I'm not punishing rogues, mages and bards.
With rules for critical hits in place, there is a need for new equipment which comes in the form of healing, armor, and arms. The new weapons are expertly illustrated, but most of them suffer the 'head shot' syndrome of the Counters by Fiery Dragon where you only see the weapon part. When looking at a something like Bracerblades or a Great Pole Axe, I want more than just the tip of the weapon.
The good news though is that some of the weapons will be perfect for adding that special feel that settings like Talislanta have in their uniqueness. While anyone whose seen Brotherhood of the Wolf will recognize the Chainblade, it's still cool to have and the Weighted Greatsword and Ogre Maul, will surely find new fans among the heavy hitters, especially with 3.5's greater use of Power Attack.
In terms of armor, the one thing I thought well done was bracing armor to prevent the user from being crushed. It costs extra and may not always work, but anytime you can avoid being crushed by the bears, giants and ogres of the campaign, is a good time.
The focus on players isn't minimum, but this certainly isn't a book chocked full with PrCs, Core Classes and Spells. We've got two PrCs, the Marksman, a master of hitting hard and fast whose special abilities make him someone to not get into combat with as they gain numerous special abilities that can increase their chances of getting a critical strike, as well as increase the damage done by the critical. One thing done well is that this PrC can be used even if the critical hit system isn't. The Spiritual Healer looks more like a specialty NPC PrC as it doesn't continue to gain spells at every level and while the skill bonus and bonus feats are nice, many people have problems with clerics being walking band aids now so that isn't going to change. The same is true of the Apothecary, a non-spellcasting class that focuses on healing. Sure, it's good for the GM to have so add depth and richness to the background, to highlight the herbs and natural healing available to players, but my group has seen similar classes in the past and all the ones in my game have been NPCs.
Feats can help make or break a character and the ones here can easily be used in any combat intensive campaign. While some of them have seen print before in other supplements like Fervent, a feat that lets you die when your hit points equal negative your constitution score, others look new like Critically Lucky, where you got to make a Reflext Save to avoid the critical hit effects.
The spells here are a minor part of the book, focusing on damaging the target. Power ranges as Headsman's Carsess is 5th level for clerics and wizards and is only a one shot use where a Keen Vorpal +3 Battleaxe is summoned. Sure, it's a potential kill shot but it's a one use device and it's utility, especially against undead, constructs and other creatures without a head is limited. There are also those who are just going to disallow the spell as it's potentially too powerful. Several of the spells do focus on healing the specific criticals of the book so if that system isn't used, those spells aren't going to replace the standards in the game.
The book closes of with some new monsters. We've got the strong Bonecracker whose overlarge hands are perfect for crushing it's enemies to the large Ramzadi, a race of lizardman like warriors who could easily dispatch such annoyances as the quill rat and the scantlings. The good news is that they have racial traits, the bad news that they have uneven stat bonuses like +3 to Strength and -1 to Wisdom (in addition to other bonuses/penalties.) While it's not an 'official' rule that all stats are even, it sure seems to be an unofficial one that makes everything fit together better.
The monster stats look pretty good but aren't taking full advantage of the 3.5 standard. For example, while it breaks AC down so we see where the bonuses or penalties come from, I still don't see a flat footed or touch. While it has the standard attacks listed, I don't see base attack or grapple bonuses.
The book closes off with an Appendix for body profiles that lets you track the critical effects during combat. Hopefully we'll see some web support for these sheets as the two pages of charts will make a nice addition to any table using these rules.
Overall I found the rules simple to use but still adding time to combat, just as any critical hit system I've even seen or used does. The effects aren't specific and don't try to add al ot of realism as the GM is still going to have to make some calls like when a halfling gets a head shot on a giant or what body profile to use from certain creatures.
The book has some weak points. While it covers trap criticals and spell criticals, it's not a detailed system and people interested in spell criticals are probably looking for the old Player Option book from 2nd Edition or Rolemaster anyway. The fumble system was also pretty simple but hey, it's something at long last that goes beyond swing and a miss.
The book uses standard two column layout and makes good use of white space. Text is well laid out and not crunched up. The art is another strong point of the book with some artist apparently having a love affair with the demonic Kyton, illustrating both the magic item Cloak of the Kyton with it's animated chains and a full page illustration of a Kyton in combat against a master of the two handed sword. The book makes good use of numerous OGC from several publishers, integrating it almost seamlessly into the whole so that you're never jarred from the reading by different writing styles.
The rules should be carefully considered before adding. Because most of the other parts of the book don't rely on the criticals, the overall utility of the book isn't destroyed if you decide to only use the magic items, feats, monsters or PrCs found within it. Torn Asunder is a good resource for those not satisfied with the vagueness of hit points but isn't doesn't go into the detail that Warhammer critical hits or the Rolemsater System does and provides a good compromise for almost any d20 game or genre.
