The Multiverse

Good Hits and Bad Misses

In an old issue of Dragon Magazine (#39, July 1980, to be exact) Carl Parlagreco wrote a column entitled "Good hits and Bad Misses" to introduce an optional rule for fumbles and critical hits to AD&D. With this article came a series of critical hit and fumble tables that I have since used for Palladium. The rule here is simple roll D100 on the appropriate critical hit table whenever you score a critical hit to see what happens, and roll D100 on the fumble table whenever you fumble. For those of you who've never played Palladium before (if so, then why are you on this list?), a critical hit typically is a "natural' 20, whereas a fumble is a "natural" 1.

Critical Hit Effects Table - Edged Weapons

D% Result
01-31 Double Damage
32-62 Triple Damage
63 Shield Destroyed (no effect if no shield)
64 Shield Destroyed (roll again if no shield)
65 Helm removed (lose ear; stunned 1D6 melees if not helmed)
66 Hem removed (lose ear; stunned 1D6 melees)
67 Voice box punctured; no talking (no effect if helmed)
68-69 Ear removed (no effect if helmed)
70 Ear removed (helm removed if helmed)
71-72 Eye removed (no effect if helmed)
73 Eye removed
74 Knee split; reduce Spd by half
75 Knee split; no movement
76 Fingers removed; P.P. reduced 1D3 points
77 Leg removed at ankle
78 Leg removed at knee
79 Leg removed at hip
80 shield arm removed at wrist (no effect if shield)
81 Shield arm removed at elbow (no effect if shield)
82 Shield arm removed at elbow (no effect if shield)
83 Shield arm removed at wrist
84 Shield arm removed at elbow
85 Shield arm removed at shoulder
86 Weapon arm removed at wrist
87 Weapon arm removed at elbow
88 Weapon arm removed at shoulder
89 Abdominal injuries; carrying capacity halved
90 Chest injuries; carrying capacity halved
91 Abdominal injuries; death in 1D6 days
92 Chest injuries; death in 1D4 days
93 Abdominal injuries; death in 2D6X10 minutes
94 Chest injuries; death in 2D8X10 minutes
95 Abdominal injuries; immediate death
96 Chest injuries; immediate death
97 Throat cut; immediate death (no effect if helmed)
98 Throat cut; immediate death
99 Decapitated; immediate death (no effect if helmed)
00 Decapitated; immediate death

Critical Hit Effects Table - Blunt Weapons

D% Result
01-31 Double Damage
32-64 Triple Damage
65-66 Shield broken (no effect if no shield)
67-68 Shield broken (roll again if no shield)
69-70 Shield arm struck (no shield defense for 1D6 melees)
71-72 Shield arm broken; lose shield
73-74 Weapon arm struck; -2 penalty to strike
75-76 Weapon arm struck; -4 penalty to strike
77-78 Weapon arm broken; no attacks with that arm
79-80 Hand struck; P.P. down 1D3 points until healed
81-82 Hand struck; P.P. down 1D3 points
83-84 Chest struck; stunned 1d6 melees
85-86 Chest struck; ribs broken, lungs punctured; no movement
87-88 Chest struck; ribs broken, heart punctured; death
89-90 Leg struck; fall to the ground
91-92 Leg struck; Spd halved
93-94 Leg broken; no movement
95 Head struck; lose 1D3 points of I.Q. (no effect if helmed)
96 Head struck; lose 1D3 points of I.Q.
97 Head struck; lose 2D4 points of I.Q. (no effect if helmed)
98 Head struck; lose 2D4 points of I.Q.
99 Skull crushed; death (no effect if helmed)
00 Skull crushed; death

Critical Hits Effects Table - Missile and Thrusting Weapons

D% Result
01-34 Double damage
35-70 Triple damage
71-72 Shield arm struck (no effect if shield)
73-74 Shield arm struck
75-76 Weapon arm struck; -2 penalty to strike for 1D4 melees
77-78 Weapon arm struck; -4 penalty to strike for 1D4 hours
79-80 Weapon arm struck; no attacks until healed
81-82 Struck in abdomen; death in 1D6 days
83-84 Struck in chest; death in 1D4 days
85-86 Struck in abdomen; death in 2D6X10 minutes
87-88 Struck in chest; death in 2D8X10 minutes
89-90 Struck in abdomen; immediate death
91-92 Struck in chest; immediate death
93 Blinded in eye; -4 penalty to strike, parry and dodge (no effect if helmed)
94 Blinded in eye; -4 penalty to strike, parry and dodge
95 Larynx punctured; no talking (no effect if helmed)
96 Larynx punctured; no talking
97 Struck in head; lose 1D3 points of I.Q. (no effect if helmed)
98 Struck in head; lose 1D4 points of 1.Q.
99 Struck in head; immediate death (no effect if helmed)
00 Struck in head; immediate death

Critical Hit Effects Table - Versus Animals

D% Result
01-29 Double damage
30-58 Triple Damage
59-60 Limb removed at body; Spd halved
61-62 Limb removed at midpoint; Spd halved
63-64 Limb removed at midpoint; -2 penalty to strike
65-66 Limb removed at body; -4 penalty to strike
67-68 Limb removed at midpoint; Spd halved, -2 penalty to strike
69-70 Limb removed at body; speed halved, -4 penalty to strike
71-72 Throat cut; immediate death
73-74 Decapitated
75-76 Abdominal injuries; immediate death
77-78 Abdominal injuries; death in 2D6X10 minutes
79-80 Abdominal injuries; death in 1D6 days
81-82 Chest injuries; immediate death
83-84 Chest injuries; death in 2D4X10 minutes
85-86 Chest injuries; death in 1D4 days
87-90 Snout struck; immediate retreat
91-94 Snout struck; -2 penalty to strike for 1D4 melees
95-98 Snout struck; -4 penalty to strike for 1d4 melees
99 Head struck; stunned for 1D6 melees
00 Head struck; immediate death

Fumble Effects Table - All Weapons

D% Results
01-19 Slip; roll P.P. or less on D20 or fall and be stunned for 1D4 melees
20-33 Stumble; roll P.P. or less on D20 or fall and be stunned for 1D6 melees
34-39 Trip and fall; stunned for 1D6 melees
40-44 Off balance; roll P.P. or less on D20 or lose next action
45-49 Lose grip on weapon; roll P.P. or less on D20 or no attack next action
50-54 Lose grip; roll P.P. or less on D20 or drop weapon
55-59 Lose grip; drop weapon
60-61 Shield entangled with opponent (no effect if no shield)
62-63 Shield entangled with opponent; neither character attacks next action
64-65 Weapon entangled with opponent; no attack next action
66-69 Weapon knocked away D10 feet in random direction
70-74 Weapon breaks; 100% for normal weapons, 75% for kobold weapons, 50% for dwarven weapons, and 25% for magical weapons
75-77 Hit self; half damage
78-79 Hit self; normal damage
80 Hit self; double damage (not a critical strike)
81-83 Hit friend; half damage
84-85 Hit friend; half damage
86 Hit friend; double damage (not a critical strike)
87-88 Critical strike, self
89-90 Critical strike, friend
91-92 Twist ankle; Spd down 50% for 10 minutes, roll P.P. or less on D20 or fall
93-95 Helm slips; roll P.P. or less on 20 to fix, -4 penalty to strike until fixed
96-97 Helm slips; roll P.P. or less on D20 to fix, no attacks until fixed
98 Distracted; opponent's next attack at +3 to strike
99 Roll twice, ignoring rolls of 99 or 00
00 Roll three times, ignoring rolls of 99 or 00

Good-Hits-And-Bad-Misses.php -- Revised: January 27, 2021.