What is a "grievous" injury & looking for optional hth rules

[Tinker Dragoon]

Going from N&S Revised, the chart on page 14 is used whenever a character loses all his or her hit points. The lower chart on page 15 is used when the character has lost at least 75% of his hit points, but the upper chart is a bit more vague. I would surmise that it is used whenever hit point damage from a single attack is less than 75%, although one could put a minimum cap on it, say around 20-50% of maximum hit points.

As to striking particular targets on an opponent's body, the ranged combat rules in most Palladium games include the option of Called Shots, in which one shoots the opponent in a particular place, making one's strike roll against an arbitrary target number. The melee combat rules, on the other hand, include no such rule, although there are various combat maneuvers and abilities that specifically target certain parts of the anatomy (particularly in N&S), including Chokes, Shin Kicks, Wrist Locks, the Blindness Advanced Atemi power, and so forth. The regular combat maneuvers simply affect the target appropriately if they hit (that is, penetrate the opponent's A.R. and beat his or her dodge roll), while Atemi typically require a special strike roll, just like a Called Shot.

[Tinker Dragoon]

Addendum to the above post:

On the subject of staking a vampire in the heart in melee combat, [Rifts Vampire Kingdoms, p. 33] says "The only condition is that the combatant must state that he is 'trying to pierce the heart' before he strikes." And then it goes on to distinguish that in order to do the same thing with a ranged weapon you need to make a Called Shot as usual, clearly showing that it's not the same thing.

So essentially, in melee combat, all you have to do is designate where you intend to strike and roll as normal; no penalties, no different numbers to hit, no extra attacks needed, just call it and hit it.

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[atkindave]

Use the minor injuries chart whenever there is hit point damage. Major injuries whenever the damage reduces HP below 25% of maximum (could be a hit that does 1 point of damage, but if the total HP is now below 1/4 of the maximum, the hit inflicts a serious injury) and the permanent injuries after each coma (0 hp).