Unless, of course, you have the proper perk and hit the target in the neck with a 2 handed weapon. But that's really a sub-set of critical damage / kill shot animations, and not indicative of location based trauma rules.

Which doesn't change the fact that its funny as hell to watch some bandits severed head go rolling down a mountain path...

Have a look at this. My guess is this kid had some HP left.

Warning, it's a little graphic. http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/news/90754-schoolboy-archer-survives-after-friend-shoots-arrow-through-his-eye-graphic-pic.html

I'm actually interested in that Year of Conquest. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out when I get around to it.

Headshot damage multiplier. We get multipliers for silent kills, so why not accuracy?

Add a static (no skill tree upgrades) multiplier of like x1.5 damage so that there is a reason to aim for the head. A small multiplier like that probably wont make much of a difference on higher level enemies, but it would increase the chances of a one hit kill on certain lower level targets, and that is when you want instant kills (immersion).

I have, actually. But two or three gunshot wounds, you;re dead, is much more realistic than a guy walking around with an arrow coming out of both sides of his head.

People would be crying foul if magic headshots were lethal; :laugh:

since its equally realistic to have a large icicle poking out of your skull.

I cringe every time i see people asking for this game to be more like an FPS.

Head shots would pretty much render a Characters level and skills pointless if all we had to do was grab a bow and head shot every enemy we come across.

It's mostly to satisfy the hardcoe RPG elitists who would rather have outcomes decided by a spreadsheet than their own skill (or lack thereof).

It's not a big problem if what is expected about a RPG encompass a bit more than just the acronym.
What's a big problem is when some people start to use "RPG" in a way that doesn't even include the acronym and use the term for completely different and unrelated definitions.

This!!!!!!

However, this would mean that a low Archery skill would result in your character being inaccurate with a bow, regardless of whether your aim is on target or not. A lot of people wouldn't like that, as they would feel that aiming would be completely worthless seeing as the game makes it's own decision on where your shot will go based off your Archery skill.

There was a boy 11 years old in real life who was shot through the eye and lived.

And others.

So now imagine a real Nordic bandit who attacks his foe even though headshotted..... much tougher than an 11 year old NPC.

I removed the link b/c I don't want to upset anyone.

Edit: thanks for fixing the link.

Mebe putting it in spoiler tags or something with a heads up on what it's about.

lol I noticed this to, I fought an NPC with a lot of hp, once he died he had an arrow through the forehead, neck and knee. how did he still walk after the knee shot, think after the forehead and live after the neck!?

Ok, so I think the concept that we all need to grasp is that TES Games are using a traditional RPG-style "roll of the die" damage system. It basically is similar to an old Final Fantasy "attack" that does damage, but doesn't really have anything to do with where you hit your opponent.

Cloud Strife never got a "headshot" with his blade, and that's the principle Bethesda is still using. This game is not built like "Call of Duty" where player skill is supposed to determine where the damage is done and how. If it were to become a shooter game like that, they would have to make archery a whole lot more difficult and a whole lot less precise.

It's basically a no-win scenario; on the one hand, we have the people who are pissed when they miss a shot they should have clearly made because their character's skill is so low, and on the other, we have the people (of whom I am one) who are pissed because they don't miss when their character's skill is low. No matter what you do, you're going to piss off at least one of the two groups.

Morrowind attempted a hybrid of the two; unfortunately the model svcked, because the to-hit equation was garbage and applied too large a penalty to low-skill attacks. It would be interesting to see how Skyrim played with a 'proper' to-hit equation, but they'd have to rewrite practically the entire combat engine to add it in and I don't see that happening.

Obviously not, since Fallout has locational damage.

I disagree. You could easily envision a system where higher skill levels in archery reduce the "target cone" of your shots to the crosshair. I think it's by far the lesser evil to have a margin of error at low skill levels and thus "miss" a shot where your crosshair was on target because of sway or a misfire.

And I mention sway and misfire because those are actually two ways you could do this without messing up the "i are 1 shot 1 killz" guys that aim perfectly every time. Your character's handling of the bow is enormously harder than your handling of the mouse, so just because you can line up your crosshairs with 2000DPI precision, doesn't mean any real novice with a bow could ever do that with their aim.

Basically what Varus said. Deus Ex, for example, used the shrinking/expanding reticle and it worked rather well---from a gameplay perspective, some would argue it doesn't make sense from a character/narative perspective. The Elder Scrolls dodges this by allowing you to make true novice characters, rather than a supposedly highly trained character who is inexplicably untrained in certain skills.

It's not so much that the game decides where your shot will go as it's you decide how much you want to risk a shot going astray. Attacking while closer to an enemy is far more likely to net you a hit whereas attempting a long range shot will usually result in a miss for the unskilled. This also results in a much more visible sense of progression. Instead of the damage numbers simply getting bigger, you actually see your character start firing with more accuracy and having greater success at longer range.

I'm going to disagree with this. Morrowind is obviously less forgiving than newer combat systems (mostly because you can't actually miss in newer systems), but the hit-rolls in and of themselves weren't really problematic. The issue was the game failed to convey just how important fatigue really is. At higher levels, you're generally skilled enough that you can be running ragged and still land successful shots. At lower levels, however, fatigue is instrumental in that success. If you've been running all over the place and find yourself under attack, good luck trying to deal some blows while your wheezing and exhausted. Approach an enemy while your fatigue is full, you'll find yourself in a much better position.

Sway and misfire are the sorts of things I had in mind, but I don't know if the mechanics are there and untapped or simply absent, and am assuming the latter in my assessment to be on the safe side. I'm also not sure how it would handle to-hit rolls vs. dodging; in accuracy-based systems a projectile that is determined to hit will track the target until it impacts, but projectiles in Skyrim only hit if the target doesn't move out of the way.

My game would be pretty empty if One Shot Kills were in the game, as jsut about everyone I've killed has died with an arrow or three in there head, I even had a screenshot of the arrow appearing to have gotten stuck inthe Mohawk of the bandit yet it killed him in one hit.

I also have problems were there will be 4 arrows sticking oout a bandit/bad guy/ bounty hunter/Thalmore/Imperial( yes i have been rescueing Stormcloack prisioners that i find walking with groups of guards, I untie his hands after woulds.) I go to loot him and I can only retrieve 2 arrows and the 3rd and 4th are still sticking out of him.

They should at least make it like Fallout. Hitting the head won't necessarily kill people, but it should do more damage than normal.

Honestly, if headshots were instant death, you'd STILL be [censored]ing about it
The difference is, you'd be part of a massive horde of people complaining about NPCs insta-killing you on a regular basis. Think about that before you ask for "realistic" damage

Talos' beard, I laughed so hard at that description. XD

To be honest, for all the talk of realism, your character's skill (not yours, its why you start at level one as said before) wouldn't be that great until close to the end of game or other progressive event. So... maybe they should just remove bows until your character is of appropriate strength to exploit a headshot... but then that wouldn't be realistic either.

Locational based damage is implemented in a fashion, under the sneak modifier.

As it stands bows are one of the most overpowered weapons imho.

1. Paralyze perk plus poisons
2. Slow Time
3. Zoom
4. Long range weapon which means chances are you won't even get hit before your foe is dead anyway.
5. Sneak modifier
6. You can enchant and smith them.

For a headshot to be even remotely feasible in TES mechanics as they stand now (which imho FPS terms are taboo in RPG discussions) you would absolutely have to remove Slow Time and... well sway wouldn't really matter given the fact you can fire while sneaking and then to make up for indirect combat it would probably be an issue they can be enchanted or smithy improved at all. Range damage would also then have to be a factor to make up for bow-sniping and by the time you have completely nerfed all the cool bow skills for the sake of a headshot you are left going, "Just give me back porcupines."

In the interest of balance vs. some imagined sense of realism in a fantasy setting... I much rather prefer the current setup. Its easy to get a headshot... easy for anyone that has any coordination. The issue is NOT realism or skill it is balance plain and simple... in any system, hitpoints aside.

Give me a balanced game that takes strategy outside of "shoot for the head" any day, because lets be honest here... headshot mechanics are old news and need to "evolve" just as much as fantasy RPG's do. That being said I am a fan of damage modifiers, as well as crippling shots on limbs, but I just don't see how it can be done when juxtaposed to the other weapons in this game under these mechanics... and not to mention boss fights that are supposed to take longer than the time it takes to shoot an arrow. Maybe next game the combat system will get a tweak again, but changes in crucial game mechanics for the sole sake of realism are more often a step backwards than they are a leap forward... most especially in traditional fantasy RPG's.

TL;DR

Many targets have died after being shot through the hand or shoulder or yes, the knee, so I supposed it makes sense those shot through the skull fight on.