Injuries
Scratch out any reference to hit points, armor class, or weapon damage on your character sheet.
Instead you have Injuries. Every time you get hit, roll 1d6 to see where the blow lands.
- Dominant arm
- Non-dominant arm
- Right leg
- Left leg
- Torso
- Head
The first time a body part is hit, it is Injured — bone fractures, lacerations, concussions, whatever makes sense. You have Disadvantage on checks using an Injured body part. Injuries take 2d6 weeks to heal.
The second time a body part is hit, it is Maimed. The body part is completely useless and cannot be used again. Being Maimed in the torso or head is instant death. Otherwise, roll 1d6. Add +1 for each Injury and +2 for each Maiming. On a 6+, you are dead instantly. Regardless you are bleeding out, and will die anyway if not given immediate medical treatment.
If you’re wearing armor over a body part, you can choose to shatter it and avoid taking damage.
- Light armor can be shattered to prevent Maiming.
- Heavy armor can be shattered to prevent either Injury or Maiming.
- Armor is shattered only over the body part it covers. If your left greave is shattered, your helmet will still protect you.
- Shields can be shattered to prevent Maiming to any body part.
- Shattered armor can be repaired by a skilled armorer.
When attacking, you can roll with Disadvantage to aim for a specific body part. Particularly dangerous attacks (from monsters, etc.) may instantly Maim a body part, or Injure multiple locations at once.
A way to handle wounds and called shots with (hopefully) as little bookkeeping as possible. This gives room for violent encounters to have consequences other than death. You might survive a fight, but if you have a broken leg that’s going to make your life harder.
I suspect that Injury location being random by default makes armor more effective than it might seem. You can either track armor as a set (I’m wearing Light armor) or in pieces (I’m wearing Heavy greaves, a Light gambeson, and a Heavy helmet).