Every creature in this system has six limbs: Head, Torso, Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Leg, and Right Leg. Each limb tracks its own 💔 Cripple Threshold (and can be Crippled / Maimed / Severed independently), and armor pieces grant 🛡️ Physical DT / ♨️ Energy DT only on the limbs they actually cover. When an attack lands, the system needs to know which limb was hit. That’s what the Hit Location Table is for.
Hit Location Table
For attacks where the limb is not declared by the attacker, roll a d20 to determine where the hit lands:
| d20 Roll | Limb | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Right Leg | 15% |
| 4–6 | Left Leg | 15% |
| 7–9 | Right Arm | 15% |
| 10–12 | Left Arm | 15% |
| 13–18 | Torso | 30% |
| 19–20 | Head | 10% |
The Torso is the largest target; the Head the smallest. Use this table whenever the rules say “random limb” or “roll on the Hit Location table.”
When to Roll
| Situation | Hit Location |
|---|---|
| Standard ⚔ Attack (single fire) | Roll d20 on table |
| Burst Fire (each shot) | Roll independently for each shot that hits |
| AoE secondary hits (Scatter, AoE Burst secondaries) | Roll d20 per affected creature |
| Spread X secondary limb | Roll d20; reroll if it matches the primary limb |
| Creature Cover — shot stopped by a creature in front | Roll d20 on that creature’s Hit Location |
| 💣 Explosives | Damage is distributed across all 6 limbs via Average DT — no Hit Location roll |
When NOT to Roll
| Situation | Limb Hit |
|---|---|
| Called Shot — single fire | Declared limb (no roll) |
| Called Shot — Burst Fire | All shots hit the declared limb (no rolls) |
| Cone Attack | All creatures hit; each takes the same damage with no Hit Location roll (treated as whole-body Energy exposure) |
Hit Location and Cover
Cover is evaluated per limb, not per creature. A target behind Half Cover has the lower half of their body covered; behind Full Cover, only their head and a sliver of one shoulder are exposed.
- Random Hit Location rolls that land on a Covered Limb route through the Cover Object first (Hardness / Energy Resistance penetration).
- Random rolls that land on an Uncovered Limb bypass Cover entirely.
- Called Shots against an Uncovered Limb skip the Cover Concealment Bonus to Evasion. Called Shots against a Covered Limb pay the full Concealment Bonus.
See Cover for the per-limb cover-coverage diagrams.
Hit Location and the Glancing Rule
The Hit Location only tells you which limb absorbs the damage. The Glancing Rule decides how much of that damage reaches the limb’s 💔 Cripple Threshold:
- Solid Hit: full damage to both Hit Points and Cripple Threshold.
- Glancing Hit: full damage to Hit Points, half damage to Cripple Threshold.
The two systems run in parallel — you always roll Hit Location first (or skip it for a Called Shot), then check Glancing against the appropriate threshold.
Non-Humanoid Creatures
The six-limb model is the default for humanoids and most bipedal mutants. Creatures with different anatomies (centaurs, mirelurks, radroaches, brahmin, deathclaws) use a customized Hit Location table on their stat block — same d20 roll, different limb distribution. If a creature stat block does not provide its own table, default to the standard humanoid table above and treat anomalous “limbs” (a brahmin’s second head, a centaur’s tentacles) as part of the nearest matching slot.
See Also
- Called Shot — declare a limb instead of rolling
- 💔 Cripple Threshold — per-limb damage track
- Glancing Rule — Solid vs Glancing hits
- Cover — per-limb cover coverage
- ⚔ Combat Mechanics — full attack flow