Skyrim's one combat flaw is the inability to aim for specific spots on the body. Bethesda did an excellent job in Fallout 3 with different hit spots and its effect on the enemy. We need something like this, especially for melee users. When approaching an enemy to go into close combat it can get incredibly annoying having them put up a block constantly, requiring you to bash at their defenses over and over and over until they decide they want to hit you, which is the only point in which you can successfully damage them. this hwoever comes at a cost, which you try to hit them they begin slashing at you at the same time.

Instead of requiring melee users to be handicapped in close combat, Bethesda should expand the range of motion for weapons and have their effects act accordingly. Meaning that if I aim for their legs I would swing lower. Should I continue to bash their legs it would become crippled, restricting their movement. Hitting their shield hand has the chance to render their arm useless, causing my enemy to drop their shield. Things liek this would create a whole new way of combat, forcing both us and our enemy to thing more tactfully than bashing at our enemy til they fall down. No one enjoys repetition, especially in combat.

Of course I realize this would be a long term goal, something not easily implemented ingame. It would definitely add a new system of combat and new forms of tactics.

Other suggestions:
-"Cripple Cams" showcasing the crippling effect
-Perks for crippling/limb removal

Suggestions from players:

Hi theer Elrick. Hope you're doing fine.


Well, this is where it gets tricky. Adopting locatonal damage is taking a firm step away from core RPG mechanics. I'm ok with that. The boy must die in order for the man to survive, so to speak. If anyone can come up with a system that reconciles locational damage with strict RPG mechanics please p'ost it here.

I would only be ok with it if you could toggle it, AND you could be crippled as well

Well didn't Fallout 3 manage to retain its RPG mechanics? I mean I'm not saying copy and paste code, but it does pose as a template for Skyrim's locational damage and effects. However, I am just a player so I really know nothing about how all of that works. I would love for someone to take this idea and ellaborate, as it would really work for all combat styles and removing the issue of melee repeition.

Although I don't believe this should be toggled, I do agree that the tactics should be shared between player and NPC.

What???
It would rule if I could be crippled in the middle of a battle!! Just think about it..... your in a fight, tanking any and all in front of you, then out of no where an arrow is lodged into you knee rendering you crippled and unable to move away in order to heal. Forcing you to hold your ground and hope that you survive.

Maybe make the locational damage have some extra effects with their chance to occur based on your perks and the magnitude of the effects based on your skill.

Example: You use a longsword to hit a bandit's leg. The effect that this attack has(if you trigger it) is to temporarily reduce an enemy's speed to walking speed(they can't run, charge, or sprint). The base percentage for this to occur is 3% for a regular attack, 6% for power attacks. If your skill is 75, then you can cripple them for 6 seconds.
With a special perk, the percentages for this cripple to occur rises to 6% for base attacks, 10% for power attacks

opinions? comments? pointing out that this idea is terrible and I should never bring it up again?

Perk systems would be pretty awesome, possibly the higher the perk the "deeper the wound" which would range from restriction of movement all the way to immobility and stagger.

Although I feel I may be taking this too far, "Cripple cams" would be AWESOME! Imagine in the middle of battle you aim for the leg with your greatsword, hit the trigger, and based on your perk stage, watching your character either sweeping their leg out from under them or completely removing the leg!

The whole "removing the leg" addresses one of the fears that I have with locational damage in a TES game. How do you handle limb injuries? would potions work just like stimpacks? would you need medicine bags like New Vegas?

As much as I find Dragons hard on Adept mode (I don't play on anything higher or lower as on Adept Mode, I still get killed by an Elder Dragon in 2 bites; I'm Level 55) I would find the cripple part on both sides nice as long as the player was healed of the cripple after a fight.

Maybe enemies only contain the abilities to cripple the Dragonborn? That or limb removal could be considered another form of "kill cam"

First, perks in light and heavy armour could aid in possibly negating crippling percentages.

Second, this would open up a new occuptation in towns, either by magicians or maybe pre-modern surgeons.

Third, Restoration magic of course could help.

Fourth, Linen, wood, and maybe the addition of rope in the game could be crafted in a medical room to make a splint (maybe having a weight of around 5 or so) could be applied to a limb. However the splint on say a crippled leg would only allow the ability to walk normally and fast travel. Your limb would remain damaged (damaging your total health and stamina by an ample amount of points) until you could seek medical attention.

Fifth, The addition of a medical station, similar to the medical station in Fallout 3, that can be bought for houses.

OR

Sixth, Strong health potions heal limbs.

Sounds complicated. As long as it's on the right side of fun(and not a pain in the everything), then I'd like that system
new use for perks, new use for magic, and a whole boatload of fun

Why does adding location damage reduce your ability to role play effectively?

Agreed, it would be a fun and new experience, so long as your leg didn't get crippled every time you went into combat. The main focus of this topic is to get a bigger range of motion and locational damage to remove the handicap melee users face when coming up to opponents who block 90% of the fight.

I agree with this - stop using ancient combat mechanics in modern games. If they are going to streamline character progression then at least make something else better lol.

Plus I would like being able to dislocate or most likely crush the knee of npc's with a battle hammer.

The idea and concept is great.... However it worked better for fallout 3 being that ur using a gun and aiming for specific areas is easy and makes sense. The rpg style and old fashioned fighting in skyrim works well. Hard to aim and chop at someones leg while they are bashing u in the face with a shield, compared to shooting from a distance. I agree it could work but it would be much more difficult to fathom based on the medieval type landscape they are trying to put in. On top of that it would be far too easy for u as a character to become crippled unless u always use a sword and shield. Imagine the sheer amount of enemies running at u, or a dragon u can't hit flying by and crippling u with fire breath. Just some things that would render the concept difficult. Love the idea though.

I don't see fire crippling any body though, that doesn't make any sense. Unless you are being forcefully smacked with fire of course.

Also, just because you get hit in the leg doesn't insta cripple you. It requires the limb to take a beating before it can be crippled, unless of course you critical hit it. This would be the same for someone attacking you.

Thanks for the support darke

I think this would be best if it was seamless. By that I mean you're never specifically told about it, and there's nothing like VATS where you can aim for specific different body parts, or heal your own individual limbs with health potions. Just have it so that, if you hit someone in the leg with an arrow, they walk slower, if they get shot in the arm they use their weapons slower etc.

...Power attacks break blocks, enabling you to attack them.

Why don't we also make the main character come out of a vault into a far away future that got somehow stuck in the 40's.

I think magic would be a better candidate for an overhaul.

Not always, sometimes they stagger. Even still, when I do power attacks I generally get slashed at 2 or more times before I hit them.

Magic is the least needed for an upgrade in terms of combat. You can give youself defense, weapons, conjure to have things fight for you. In reality magic is extremely useful. Melee not so much. If you have a one handed weapon you can say goodbye to a power attack that will make them put down their defense. I've eventually gotten down the tactic of getting close then backing up so they'll power swing and then rush in. This still isn't a good tactic.

Whatever any and all may think..I wish I could chop off limbs like in FO.

Me too! Except I would like to be able to do it in real time, not VATS.