Unicorn RampantClaw / Claw / Bite magazine & Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Dec 14th 4thgore

We have been following the exciting 4thcore developments at Save Versus Death, and thought we’d add to the table joy.  For information on 4thcore, that 4thgore playfully plays off of, read the manifesto at saveversusdeath.com and return to this post.  Here is a supplemental table to add more gore to your games.

In a high-gore 4thcore game, roll 1d20 to establish painful effects of a critical hit (or miss, if you were to apply this chart to effects for damage from friendly fire).  The non-severed effects can be undone in non-combat rounds by spending a healing surge, making the duration of these effects is “for the rest of the encounter”.  For each of the locations where there is more than one potential target (for characters and creatures with 2 arms, 4 legs, 5 heads, etc), roll an appropriate die to determine which is affected.  Severed limbs require rituals to mend.

And in a somewhat more friendly HTML text format:

Roll	Effect location	Full description of effects
1	Hand	Target’s hand is severed from the wrist, and target drops anything in its hand.
2	Wrist	Target’s wrist is crushed, making all actions target attempts with that hand -4.
3	Elbow	Target’s elbow is bent back, affecting all actions with that hand at -2.
4	Shoulder	Target’s shoulder is pulled out of socket, rendering it useless.  2nd hit severs it from the torso.
5	Finger	Target’s finger is severed, rendering fine motor skills with that hand useless.
6	Chest	Target’s ribs are cracked, reducing Athletics and Endurance rolls by -5.
7	Chest	Target loses breath, is winded and is stunned (save ends).
8	Chest	Target’s heart is pierced and is wounded, taking 10 points of damage at the beginning of every turn.
9	Abdomen	Target’s abdomen is knotted, and target is weakened (save ends).
10	Abdomen	Target’s abdomen is bruised, and target is knocked prone.
11	Abdomen	Target’s abdomen is pierced, and target is dazed (save ends) and takes 5 points of damage every turn.
12	Groin	Target’s groin is ripped, negating actions requiring Acrobatics and Stealth.
13	Hip	Target’s hip is pulled out of socket, reducing move by 2 squares (min 1).  2nd hit severs it.
14	Upper Leg	Target’s upper leg is gouged, pushing the target back 1 square.
15	Knee	Target’s knee is crushed and target is knocked prone.  Target must make save to stand.
16	Lower Leg	Target’s lower leg is severely cut, and target is knocked prone.
17	Ankle	Target’s ankle is sprained, a target receives a -5 on Acrobatics, Athletics, Endurance, and Stealth rolls.
18	Foot	Target’s foot is crushed, reducing move by 2 squares (min 1).
19	Head	Target’s head is bruised and target is dazed (save ends).
20	Head	Target’s head is severed cleanly (or rather messily) from the shoulders.

Posted in Variant Rules and tagged critical hits by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.