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Saw this in H2H: Gladiator and had to give a slow clap.

Merc Adventures pg 24, emphasis added wrote:Level 12: Killing Blow Power Strike on a roll of Natural 17, 18, 19 or 20, BUT the character must call this attack before he rolls his die to strike. If successful, the Gladiator inflicts triple damage. This attack is +3 to strike against an incapacitated or unconscious opponent. Note: Counts as two melee attacks.

Imagine, if you will.
Your opponent is unconscious before you in the arena.
You walk over.
You look at your Blade of Murphy's Law (-3 to Strike) and figure "what could go wrong?"
Put your blade against their jugular.
Wave to the cheering crowd.
Let out a bellowing roar of triumph <declare Killing Blow Power Strike> and ... <roll 2, +3 bonus, -3 cursed sword> you miss by a wide margin.

Like how is that supposed to happen? What GM is going to have a 12th Level PC roll to strike an unconscious opponent? Even with a cursed sword!

Any other ridiculously unnecessary bonuses we should be on the look out for?

I absolutely do have a character roll to strike an unconscious opponent. It's not just touching the person, but hitting them in such a way as to inflict damage. You may be tired from the preceding battle, have sweaty or bloody hands, be affected by injuries of your own, or hesitate for that split second about murdering a helpless person in their sleep, which sends you off-target. Either way, they is always a margin for error - you can miss when you're just chopping wood. And a 4 is not usually a difficult target to reach for a warrior; at some point, bonuses to strike may mean it does become a certainty. And if you don't roll, you don't have a chance of getting a critical hit!
A level 12 Gladiator will have +3 to strike just from their hand to hand skill, plus the +3 from the killing blow ability, they can't miss (unless other negative effects are present). And they are likely to have further bonuses from a W.P., unless they are using a weapon they are unskilled with, which again, I think is fair.
The cursed weapon example you give is even better - it is only fitting that the curse made you look like an inept fool in front of a crowd of thousands!

In my opinion. when your target is helpless you attack kills them unless your just trying to take the hand off or something.

Thinking about it now, I might have a roll to see if it is a "clean" kill or if the executionar needs another go at the neck with the ax.

Hitting just anywhere on the body is easy.

Hitting a critical spot to make if as fast and painless as possible might require some skill.

There is always a margin of error. Slitting someone's throat is fairly easy but you might not press hard enough, or you may miss the artery. Swinging a blade, the blade could slip ouf of your hands or you could turn wrong and miss the target. The difficulty may not be too high in those instances but I would stil make someone roll for it.

All good points everyone! I guess most folks don't give high level PCs a pass... BEWARE THE NAT 1!!!!

Also, I admit it would be a great storytelling twist while fighting a Crazy in an arena... "His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's entrails on his weapon already, MoM's spaghetti! HP's low points, but on the surface, he looks calm and ready to strike arms, and he keeps on rollin' twenty..."

This would make a lot more sense if Rifts had GURPS-like rules where missed hits had a chance of striking other allies in close range (or even yourself?) but I don't even think natural 1s do that.

Or if we had a slew of penalties for stuff besides blindness, like getting strike penalties for erratic emotional states.

No, Natural 1s and Natural 20s aren't anything in Palladium's rules.

Stone Gargoyle wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 3:08 pm No, Natural 1s and Natural 20s aren't anything in Palladium's rules.

Umm... not sure what game you play, but I play mostly Rifts and...

RUE pg 346 wrote:Miss: A roll of 1-4 to strike (after bonuses) is always a miss.
A roll of one always misses regardless of bonuses.
...
Natural Twenty: This is the result of 20 (before bonuses) when rolling a twenty-sided die (1D20). A strike with a Natural Twenty will always be a Critical Strike.

Also...

Plane wrote:This would make a lot more sense if Rifts had GURPS-like rules where missed hits had a chance of striking other allies in close range (or even yourself?) but I don't even think natural 1s do that.

Or if we had a slew of penalties for stuff besides blindness, like getting strike penalties for erratic emotional states.

Well, RUE pg 361 specifically points out the penalty for ranged combat when terrified, angry/enraged, panicked, off balance, drunk, etc. If you use the spray rules from RMB pg 34, bystanders get hit.

For melee combat, stunned combatants suffer effects on RUE pg 346. There are also additional effects from being knocked down in CB1 pg 15 depending on damage.

There are also the pain and blood loss rules, and penalties can be inferred from psychic powers and spells, like Befuddle (RUE pg 199).

So, not sure where the disconnect is.

Grazzik wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 7:56 pm

Stone Gargoyle wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 3:08 pm No, Natural 1s and Natural 20s aren't anything in Palladium's rules.

Umm... not sure what game you play, but I play mostly Rifts and...

RUE pg 346 wrote:Miss: A roll of 1-4 to strike (after bonuses) is always a miss.
A roll of one always misses regardless of bonuses.
...
Natural Twenty: This is the result of 20 (before bonuses) when rolling a twenty-sided die (1D20). A strike with a Natural Twenty will always be a Critical Strike.

Okay, I stand corrected.

Grazzik wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 7:56 pm

Stone Gargoyle wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 3:08 pm No, Natural 1s and Natural 20s aren't anything in Palladium's rules.

Umm... not sure what game you play, but I play mostly Rifts and...

RUE pg 346 wrote:Miss: A roll of 1-4 to strike (after bonuses) is always a miss.
A roll of one always misses regardless of bonuses.
...
Natural Twenty: This is the result of 20 (before bonuses) when rolling a twenty-sided die (1D20). A strike with a Natural Twenty will always be a Critical Strike.

Also...

Plane wrote:This would make a lot more sense if Rifts had GURPS-like rules where missed hits had a chance of striking other allies in close range (or even yourself?) but I don't even think natural 1s do that.

Or if we had a slew of penalties for stuff besides blindness, like getting strike penalties for erratic emotional states.

Well, RUE pg 361 specifically points out the penalty for ranged combat when terrified, angry/enraged, panicked, off balance, drunk, etc. If you use the spray rules from RMB pg 34, bystanders get hit.

For melee combat, stunned combatants suffer effects on RUE pg 346. There are also additional effects from being knocked down in CB1 pg 15 depending on damage.

There are also the pain and blood loss rules, and penalties can be inferred from psychic powers and spells, like Befuddle (RUE pg 199).

So, not sure where the disconnect is.

better memory than me, the disconnect is I guess just the lack of centralized rule-finding and usage

I totally have them roll, but in this scenario, I'd also grant them the a +4 bonus for an incapacitated victim, as well as the +3 from the H2H, so total of +7, not factoring in the class/racial/P.P./W.P. bonuses yet even...

And then laugh on a natural 1.

Plane wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 9:17 pm better memory than me, the disconnect is I guess just the lack of centralized rule-finding and usage

100% agree, this is major issue. I have forgotten more rules, exceptions, variants, and tweaks than I can remember!

Stone Gargoyle wrote:Okay, I stand corrected.

No worries

knightmare6 wrote:And then laugh on a natural 1.

As a GM, with a roll of natural 1 and so many bonus points all for naught, the fail must be EPIC! More than the stereotypical "expert makes rookie mistake" scenario... more like reputation-shatteringly "never work in this town again" bad.

Grazzik wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2024 9:17 pm As a GM, with a roll of natural 1 and so many bonus points all for naught, the fail must be EPIC! More than the stereotypical "expert makes rookie mistake" scenario... more like reputation-shatteringly "never work in this town again" bad.

The joys of the die, it can give, just as quickly as it can take.