Alethia - Non-Human Hit Locations

Hit Location for Non-Humanoids and Vehicles

It is impossible to supply hit location rules for every type of animal or machine. Instead, we provide some guidelines: see Non-Humanoid Hit Location Tables and Vehicle Hit Location Table.

Use the next two tables for the following categories of non-humanoid:

Quadruped: A creature with four legs and no arms.
Winged Quadruped: A creature with four legs and no arms that also has a pair of wings, like a dragon.
Hexapod: A six-legged creature; e.g., an insect.
Winged Hexapod: A six-legged creature that also has wings, like a fly.
Centaur: Any humanoid-quadruped hybrid.
Avian: A creature with two wings, two legs, and no arms; e.g., a bird.
Vermiform: Any slithering creature (snake, worm, etc.) or variant (winged serpent, snake-man with arms but not legs, etc.).
Octopod: An octopus or similar creature with “arms” that double as legs.
Cancroid: A crab, lobster, scorpion, or similar creature with forelimb pincers.
Ichthyoid: A fish, cetacean, or similar creature.
Arachnoid: A spider or similar eight-legged creature.

* If using random hit location, roll 1d: 1-3 is right, 4-6 is left. If it is somehow holding a shield, double the penalty to hit: -4 for a limb, -8 for an extremity.

Arm, Eye, Face, Groin, Leg, Foot, Neck, Skull, Torso, Vitals: Use the rules for humans and humanoids. Foot includes paw, hoof, etc, “Torso” includes fore- and hindquarters, thorax, abdomen, etc.
Brain: As skull, but only DR 1.
For an octopod, arms 1-4 are those it is currently using for manipulation, while arms 5-8 are those it is using for locomotion.
Extremity: For centaurs, roll 1d: 1-2 is a human upper-body hand, 3-4 is a forefoot, and 5-6 is a hind foot; odd numbers are left, even numbers are right.
Foreleg: The right or left front leg.
Hind Leg: The right or left back leg.
Mid Leg: The right or left middle leg of a six-legged creature.
Tail: If a tail counts as an Extra Arm or a Striker, or is a fish tail, treat it as a limb (arm, leg) for crippling purposes; otherwise, treat it as an extremity (hand, foot). A crippled tail affects balance. For a ground creature, this gives -1 DX. For a swimmer or flyer, this gives -2 DX and halves Move. If the creature has no tail, or a very short one (like a rabbit), treat as “torso.”
Wing: Treat a wing as a limb (arm, leg) for crippling purposes. A flyer with a crippled wing cannot fly.
Fin: Treat a fin as an extremity (hand, foot) for crippling purposes. A crippled fin affects balance: -3 DX.

Special Cases:

For centaurs: For a Centaur “Arm” means a human upper-body arm.
Torso: 9-10 means the animal body is hit, while Torso: 11 means the humanoid upper body is hit. Deliberate attacks on either are at no penalty.
For a cancroid: Arm: is a forelimb pincer. Leg: this is any of its true legs; roll randomly.
For ichthyoids: Tail: Most of the tail is considered the torso; this is just the tip.
An ichthyoid often has two or three fins or ray-like wings; roll randomly.
For arachnoids: Legs 1-2: are the front pair, Legs 3-4: are the mid-front pair, Legs 5-6: are the mid-back pair, and Legs 7-8 are the back pair.
For Verminform: Winged serpents, treat 15-18 as Wing (-2). Snake-men, treat 7-8 as Right Arm (-2), 13-14 as Left Arm (-2), and 17-18 as Hand (-4).
For Octopod: For squid, treat 17-18 as Torso (0). All arms other than arms 1-2 are extremities for injury purposes, and targeted at -3.
For scorpions, treat 12 as Tail (-3).

VEHICLE HIT LOCATION TABLE

Every vehicle has a “body” hit location. To find a vehicle’s other hit locations (if any), look up the vehicle on the relevant vehicle table and check the “Locations” column. See Vehicle Statistics (p. 462) for details.

To choose a random hit location, roll 3d on the table below. If deliberately targeting a location, apply the penalty in parentheses plus the vehicle’s SM.

For example, a random hit to a small glass window or exposed weapon mount would occur on a roll of 3-4, while a deliberate attack on either location would be at -7 to hit – or -3 on a vehicle with SM +4. If a random location doesn’t exist, is retracted, or isn’t a logical target given the angle of attack (e.g., a window for a car attacked from below, or a vehicle with no windows), treat it as body hit.

* Usually manned; see Occupants and Vehicle Damage, below.** The modifier to target a draft animal deliberately is the animal’s SM.

If multiple locations or possibilities exist (e.g., a roll of 3-4 for a vehicle with small glass windows and an exposed weapon mount), the attacker picks which was hit.

Body: The vehicle’s hull. If a powered vehicle sustains a major wound, roll against HT. On a failure, the power or propulsion system is damaged, halving Move.
Caterpillar Track [C]: A track is hit. Most tracked vehicles have two tracks. Damage over HP/2 cripples one track, reducing ground Move to 0. Excess damage is lost.
Draft Animal [D]: A harnessed animal is hit instead of the vehicle. The vehicle takes no damage, and its DR doesn’t protect the animal.
Exposed Rider [E] or Open Cabin [O]: A person in an exposed position (e.g., riding a bike, sitting in a jeep, or sticking his head out a hatch) is struck instead of the vehicle. The vehicle takes no damage, and its DR doesn’t protect the occupant. If no one occupies this position, treat as a body hit.
Exposed Weapon Mount [X]: A small external mount for a weapon, sensor, etc. is hit. Damage over HP/5 cripples it; excess damage is lost.
Helicopter Rotor [H] or Wing [Wi]: A main or tail rotor, or major wing or tail section. Damage over HP/2 (wing) or HP/3 (rotor) cripples it, causing an air-borne vehicle to lose control and crash! Excess damage is lost.
Large Glass Window [G] or Small Glass Window [g]: A window or canopy is struck. Check for an occupant hit (see Occupant Hit Table, below). If a hit occurs, the attack strikes an occupant instead of the vehicle. A closed window gives half the vehicle’s DR (round up).
Large Superstructure [S]: A large, raised structure – e.g., conning tower, bridge, or castle – that often houses officers’ cabins or important control rooms. On an airship or a balloon, this is the gondola. If it sustains a major wound, roll against HT. On a failure, an important item of equipment is knocked out (GM’s option).
Main Turret [T]: A turret large enough to be a vital part of the vehicle, such as a tank’s turret. If it sustains a major wound, roll against HT. On a failure, a major item in the turret (e.g., a tank’s main gun) is knocked out, or the turret jams and can’t rotate (GM’s option).
Mast [M]: A mast and associated sails and rigging. Damage over HP/(2 * number of masts on vehicle) cripples one mast, reducing a sailing vessel’s Move by 1/(number of masts), rounded up; e.g., if three masts, loss of one results in 2/3 Move. Excess damage is lost.
Runner or Skids [R]: A skid, sled runner, or ski is hit. Damage over HP/3 cripples one skid, reducing ground Move to 0 and toppling a parked vehicle. Excess damage is lost.
Small Superstructure [s] or Independent Turret [t]: A turret or structure whose loss the vehicle could survive; e.g., the turrets on most naval vessels and infantry fighting vehicles. Damage over HP/3 cripples it, knocking out any weapons or equipment it contains. Excess damage is lost.
Vital Area: A powered vehicle (anything with a ST attribute) has vital areas: engines, fuel tanks, etc. The wounding modifier for a tight-beam burning attack is *2; that for an impaling or any piercing attack is *3!
Unpowered vehicles (e.g., sailing ships and wagons) don’t usually have vital areas – treat as a body hit.
Wheel [W]: A wheel is hit. Damage over HP/(2 ¥ number of wheels on vehicle) cripples the wheel; effects are the same as for a character with an equal number of legs losing one leg. Excess damage is lost. If the wheel of a vehicle with tires sustains any damage, roll vs. HT. Failure means a flat tire that cripples the wheel until changed.

Notes on Vehicle Damage

In addition to hit location effects, note that:

• Most powered vehicles are Unliving; most unpowered vehicles are Homogenous. See Injury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets.

• Many vehicles are Fragile: “c” after HT means Combustible, “f” means Flammable, and “x” means Explosive.

• Large-area injury will affect exposed occupants and the vehicle’s body; see Large-Area Injury.

Occupants and Vehicle Damage

When damage penetrates a vehicle’s DR, the occupants may suffer damage as well as the vehicle – the result of ricocheting projectiles, flying debris, etc.

Whenever five or more points of damage penetrate an occupied location (usually the body, main turret, or a superstructure), roll 3d on the Occupant Hit Table, below. If an occupant is hit, he takes 1d cutting damage per five full points of penetrating damage the vehicle sustained. Roll randomly for hit location. The occupant’s own DR protects him. If occupant damage exceeds 4d, the GM may opt to divide it among multiple occupants in 4d (or smaller) increments; e.g., 7d damage might inflict 4d on one occupant and 3d on another.

Note that occupant damage is separate from damage to the vehicle.

OCCUPANT HIT TABLE

Use this table when an attack penetrates an object containing occupants (e.g., a vehicle body). Cross-index the number of occupants with the vehicle or structure’s Size Modifier, and then roll 3d against the resulting number; the more tightly packed the object, the higher the number. On a roll of this number or less, an occupant is hit. If multiple occupants could be hit, the GM determines who was hit randomly or by fiat.

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