Mechanics of Ambushing
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By: Lord Kulbaen

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Targeted Ambush Equation = 1/2 * ambush skill + body location difficulty + d100 > 100

Body location difficulty

Location    Difficulty modifier
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Chest 	    -40 
Abdomen     -40 
Back 	    -50 
Arms 	    -60 
Legs 	    -60 
Hands 	    -80 
Neck 	    -100 
Head 	    -100 
Eyes 	    -120

Further Explanation
If the attack is a success, 1/2 of the ambusher's ranking is added to the crit weighting used in the equation to determine the crit rank. Keep in mind that the ambush skill is different from the verb ambush, which simply allows one to aim; attacking from hiding will add on a crit increase commesurate with the attacker's ambush skill whether or not the attack was aimed with the ambush verb. Aiming from the open is said to aid slightly in achieving crits, something which I need to do more research on.

Regardless of skill, one will never successfully ambush a specific body location at a greater rate than 75% or score a hit better than 95% of the time (5% of the time missing altogether, and 20% of the time hitting another body location than the one targeted). There are 4 sizes that all races are classified into:

tiny
small
medium
large

(halflings are considered small, all other races medium while only true giants are large)
One may only aim attacks at creature one size larger from the neck down, or from the abdomen down if it is two sizes larger. These same conditions will make it easier to target the legs of a creature larger than the ambusher. If the target is prone, the attack can be aimed for anywhere.

It is a fact that larger weapons are harder to aim with than smaller. The size of a weapon is taken into consideration when calculating the chance to hit a particular body area.

The maximum crit weighting one recieves from ambush does have a cap, but training beyond this cap will allow you to get results at progressively lower combat rolls. The lowest roll one may achieve a death crit on is a 107, ambushing with a battle axe against a foe in no armor.


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