Tell me if I understand this right...

It doesn't matter if you get hit in the head or hit in the leg, it will all come out of your total hitpoint pool. Only critical damage points are kept track of by location. So if I have 20 hit points, I don't have to start tracking hit location until all 20 of those are depleted. Correct?

Also, the only other function I see for hit location is armor rating by location. Is this correct? Critical damage and armor by location are the only two mechanics for hit location?

Thanks in advance.

Short answer is 'yes.' You have it right.

There are always exceptions/different situations to take into consideration. if they are holding something fragile getting shot in that arm sould cause them problems, or other non-ruled cool stuff that could/should be done to keep things interesting in important scenes. not something to bother with unless there's a reason but also not in the rules.

Woops! Except that critical damage is also just pooled. you take effects based on where but the total is the same for all.

Nathiel said:

Thanks! I would have overlooked that. And I agree, I'm a ROLEplayer and not a ROLLplayer. Even if not in the rules some things just make sense and should be houseruled... Like having your legs shot out from underneath you by an Autocannon. Even if by some miracle it DOESN'T penetrate it sure as hell will send you ass over teakettle if it hits your legs mid-stride...

But then again we're dealing with Space Marines. They'll probably come up with a talent that allows you to catch auto cannon bullet with your teeth.

Alex

Ten Tigers said:

space marine armor has survos to deal with that little issue, lesser mortals on the other hand if not dead spin like a top.

Hope this doesn't offend as it deviates slightly but is quite applicable. There is also cover. Which in general provides "more armour". Let's say Battle Brother A is taking cover in the window of a ruined building, so he gets cover. So he has cover for a few areas. So when damage is allocated to a location, the damage gets absorbed by the cover first then armour + unnatural toughness, any further breach of that is then treated as damaged.

You should always check location, since some enemies and all PCs have differing armor or toughness values for certain parts of their bodies.