Hand-To-Hand: Commando

[Raze_7]

I was reading the eleventh world book, Coalition War Campaign, and I was reading up on the Hand-to-Hand: Commando Skill. In the leveling, it says:
9. Death Blow on natural 18-20

I understand what a death blow is, and I just read on, thinking, "Cool."
Then, at the last level, 15, it says:
15. Critical Strike on a natural 17-20.

I was thinking about this, when I realized that, if a player rolled anything higher than a 17 in hand-to-hand combat, they'd have a Critical Death Blow! What would this do?
I'm thinking of maybe three options, and leaning towards the first:

1.) The Death Blow does triple damage (3x dmg) (plus PS bonuses), as stated in Rifts: Ultimate Edition, because a Critical Critical Strike would do triple damage, and a Death Blow is just an insanely powerful Critical Strike.

2.) The Death Blow does quadruple damage (4x dmg), because it is more powerful than a Critical Strike, it gets PS bonuses, and has different effects, such as the prevention of bio-regeneration on MDC Beings for 1D4 hours, and different restrictions, such as it cannot strike through armor, and is not applicable to ranged weapons.

3.) The Death Blow and the Critical Strike are somehow mutually exclusive, so the player must pick one.

Also, is this skill applicable to 'bot/power armor hand-to-hand combat (one bot fights another bot) (assuming that the Death Blow is used as per instructions to strike the head/power supply with a called shot)?

For example:

A Wormwood Human player character (with the level 15 Commando) is fighting a Glitter Boy Side-Kick in hand-to-hand (lets assume that the human managed to surprise the Side-Kick, and was too close to an arsenal for the Side-Kick to fire his Kicker), and the player rolls an unmodified 19 (called shot to the power supply, as stated in the rules).

Would the Side-Kick take triple the damage of the attack, plus PS bonuses, or would it take quadruple damage, or just either the Critical Strike or the Death Blow?

Thanks for looking at this. Please comment below.

[Shark_Force]

iirc, the death blow doesn't just occur on those numbers, you have to specifically try for it, don't you?

i would say death blow is something different entirely, personally, and the critical strike wouldn't happen while doing a death blow.

that said, that's just an opinion. we will most likely never know how it was intended.

[Mechghost]

IMO - Deathblow if using a called shot to head etc (in HTH) as written. Over-rides the regular Critical hit because its a conscious effort to make the Deathblow. Makes it easier for everyone involved.

[The Beast]

iirc, the death blow doesn't just occur on those numbers, you have to specifically try for it, don't you?

i would say death blow is something different entirely, personally, and the critical strike wouldn't happen while doing a death blow.

that said, that's just an opinion. we will most likely never know how it was intended.

Correct. A death blow must be announced before rolling to strike, whereas the critical strike does not. Mechghost's answer, imo, seems to be how PB would intend the two to work.

[Killer Cyborg]

Option 3. Death Blow would over-ride the Critical Strike, not stack, as has been pointed out.

I don't allow Death Blows on non-living things. I forget if that's canon or not.

[Tor]

Are we thinking Palladium has ever had a consistent stance whether to add PS or other damage bonuses before or after dice-doubling from criticals?

[Kagashi]

they dont stack. Death Blow is just another one of those never use game mechanics because a regular strike is going to be more effective 15/20 rolls as opposed to a Death Blow which is only effective 1/20 rolls.

[Zer0 Kay]

they dont stack. Death Blow is just another one of those never use game mechanics because a regular strike is going to be more effective 15/20 rolls as opposed to a Death Blow which is only effective 1/20 rolls.

Not a long time ago when a death blow (as of Nightspawn 1st printing) was An automatic kill. The defender can try to roll. A successful roll reduces defenders SDC and HP to half.

RUE=NERF and not cool NERF guns but making cool guns NERFish.

[Richardson]

Why zm I remembering that Death Blow and Crots are entirely different thing. Dom't you have to call a Death Blow before rolling and it is just a regular hit if you do not roll high enough?

More interestingly in Commando, doesn't it offer Auto Dodge at level 5? That's pretty awesome in and of itself.

[SolCannibal]

So, anyone there with a thing for goin' commando?

[Kagashi]

So, anyone there with a thing for goin' commando?

Yeah, I wish under starting equipment, the CS Commando specifically mentions that they get no underwear.

[Blue_Lion]

So, anyone there with a thing for goin' commando?

Yeah, I wish under starting equipment, the CS Commando specifically mentions that they get no underwear.

Where does it say they or any one in rifts starts with underwear. All of rifts is going commando judging by starting equipment. After all underwear is a comfort item that might not be made after an apocalypse.

[The Artist Formerly]

This one is worded weird.

Usually, a special attack has to be declared. Then it goes off on a successful strike, plus or minus the defender's rolls/options. When a number appears in front of an attack, then it goes off automatically on those rolls.

I've had two character with HTH commando, both in Heroes Unlimited, and never used the deathblow attacks, because I want beat the villians up to XP farm them (if they go to the hospital, then jail, then break out, then plot my death, followed by me kicking their asses again for more XP). Early in the first character's career, I declared no lethal attacks. Which was a suggestion from Wayne B. for the Heroes game. Since I never went back and changed that statement, deathblow never came up.