trying to find out why has the current sistem been chosen over the body parts i do get de rpg feeling mixed in.
even though we fight FPS or 3RD style the game is, in essence, an rpg, and not our own aim (the player) should matter, but the char's abilities.
the sneak bonus, as i try to explain it to myself is the headshot, or vital shot. why?
because if an enemy is unaware of your presence it will go on with is regular business, and thus expose his vital areas to the unknown. that is how you get the sneak bonus in the calculation.
the killing dragon in the tail is the same. because they wanted it to be controlled by skill not by our aim, left it like that.

imagine playing diablo rpg. the first diablo. holding shif and unleashing a storm of arrows at the direction of one enemy, because the skill wasn's sufficient to enable the character to hit the enemy. the isometric view made it posible for the player to understand that it doesn't take into acount my aiming, but the game char's.

in skyrim i try to improve my (personal) aim in fps style shyping enemies at the end of the fov. sometimes i manage to hit a moving target by shooting at it's preticted path, and sometimes the aim is off and i just startle them.

PS: sneak vs on guard enemies

a mage that isn't aware of you will not have active any "flesh" magics and go down even with wooden arrows (even if just the stunning part (u know, when they have only a point of health and beg for their lives.

if they sense you, they instantly activate their wards and this way you shoudn't be able to score a sneak attack

but this will not mean that your possition should be revealed. remember arrows are silenced weapons and there is just a shoosh sound for a miss, and for a hit a veeeery wide area of probable locations. this has been programed correctly.
any rational enemy with an arrow sticking out of him will have to concentrate really hard not be able to fight efectively, and even see clearly. any lower animal would just run.

i'm not a hunter myself but would be interested from big cat hunters (regarding the sabertooth actions) how they react. not with guns but with hunting bows and crossbows.

PPS: arrow vs armor

we have some levels of the ores in the game
fur, leather...iron steel, studed, etc dragon...
this should be translated into DMG vs DR as in fallout. the iron arrow or falmer should do sqat dmg to daedric, elven, orchish armor (there are enough enemies that are using advanced armors) and the daedric arrow, shoud destroy any leather armors, and do bonus dmg against ebony armor

so a steel tip arrow should pierce iron armor
steel vs steel shoud be on par
iron tip vs steel armor sholud bounce

yes it will complicate the calculations, but, hey, we are using top end computers that are able to calculate billions of variations very fast.
this calculation in simple, with a excel macro. at the fallout forum there is a member that cracked the vats, and the calculation of damage done by each weapon and ammo.

sorry for this extra long post, but instead of making several post with all the ideas

No, if anything there should be a critical bonus, maybe multiply the damage by a certain amount depending on how many perks you've invested?



Oh wait...

Theoretically if you are in a good dark corner and remain crouched after you have shot the arrow they wont run to exactly the same spot you were at. Also if your sneak skill is high enough they shouldnt be able to see you. I have had loads of situations where the target wakls near to where i am, i stay crouched and dont move, and I can even pick pocket them (thats how close they are) and they dont detect me.

Alternatively if you have the throw voice shot then use it, shoot the target, use it again and send them to the other side of the room. Its quite fun when you have 3 or 4 and you make them dance around a bit whilst hitting them with arrows

It's better than just guessing, which is frankly what everyone in this thread is doing. We had a stray cat in our neighborhood running around with an arrow through him for a while. Some sick **** thought it would be funny, I guess. My point: arrows are not bullets. The odds of killing something with an arrow are very very low.

Unless you sever a major artery or puncture a lung, a single arrow will not kill. During hunting season, it's not uncommon to find deer running around with a broadhead or two already sticking out of them. A man in armor, (such as the aforementioned Boromir, or basically anybody you'll be shooting arrows at in Skyrim) is going to be that much harder to kill.