Shattered Kingdoms

There has been something Ive been pondering for a time regarding spells that cause damage.
Would they become more viable if a part of the damage of a spell went onto a body area?

As I understand damage in SK works as a two part system. That is a person has X amount of "core" HP in total and an amount of HP split across each "specific" body part. The HP displayed is the number that is lowest to causing death/stun. There are 3 critical areas that will kill you, these areas are not counted when considering being stunned. This is why its possible to go several rounds with no HP change on stunning because you are bringing down the core HP where the specific hp is being displayed. I could be wrong but a similar issue is in effect when damage spells are taken into account. If you have melee aiming upper and the specific value of someones head is low, a damage spell will subtract from the core value adding nothing to the speed in which someone is killed. As I understand the reasoning for this is spells do a lot more damage than each melee swing and thus could kill a specific area in a single cast.

What if a part of a damage spell could be made specific this might only function in Aggressive stance (a stance that no caster has a reason to be in), not all of the spell damage would count towards the specific area for the reasons above but enough that casting in such a way would actually make it as likely as melee that death would come of body part death. I believe something like this would grant spell casters options to assist melee damage rather than always going for I win spells. It would also alter saving throws against damage spells as in spells aimed at the head are easier to avoid. There are still some other issues regarding warlocks but I get the feeling this would not only improve their standing it would also create different tactics for other spell casters than what they currently have. That being said I understand such a change would likely be a major overhaul of how damage spells work and take time could spend else where.

What do people think, would it be a worth while change, is it a waste of time, or am I just wrong with my understanding of how SK damage works.

It's possible that could become a benefit of single-target damage spells, but it wouldn't make sense for area effect spells.

This would I think require such a significant rebalancing of spell damage that it'd be a huge project. A quick edit: In addition to being a huge undertaking I don't think it is warranted. Splitting ap/mp has gone a long way. Warlocks are reasonably scary to pantheist humans without resistance. I think the fringe case right now is the elf caster with innate spell dmg reduction (all sources) plus protection (all sources) plus shield and mp enchants (non-magma). That character really doesn't give a damn about getting hit by dmg spells.

I think that a more effective way of improving spell damage without a major overhaul would be to Exempt elemental damage (fire Lightning cold) from being impacted by racial resistance. This would leave priests/sorcs still getting ownt by halfling resistance, but they have compensating skills. It would significantly improve warlocks and help shamans and hellions.

Problem is that this would likely contribute to the already observed gulf between casters and melee. Due to the recent decline in readily accessible high-save items, one could argue that casters are already at a power high, and this would contribute even more.
However...
I love this idea. NPCs would be scary dangerous then, but I think I'd like that. No "so-and-so starts to concentrate" and you panic spam bash/trip, giving you time to avoid a possible charm/death from other means. Alpha-strike spells might actually be used more by the caster's themselves instead of depending on devices. Hell, normal attack spells might actually be used more in general.

Would sure make Final Strike suicides more scary.

Your answer seems to be a rather strong fix regarding damage spells but it seems overpowered when you look at I win spells. Which makes me think the solution is too simplistic and rather a slightly more complex but robust solution is required where not all spells are created equal. As in all spells have cast lag cast refocus lag. Where cast lag and refocus lag is based on the spell. This system could then be tweaked by minor amounts if it proved overpowered or underpowered. If tweaked correctly there would be a tactical choice between damage and I win spells. Perhaps I am wrong and they should all start as you have stated and tweaked from there, however I think it would be a good idea to have different spells change able separately. many state spell system would add more choice between spell completion items vs casting.
Also if commands such as info worked in the post casting lag, it would enable mortal people to be able to keep up with healing a dynamic situation.

I dont have data to back up my thoughts in SK however having played D&D back when there was initiative lag between casting and response and when there is not spell casters power has increased significantly. So my gut is telling be that a one size fits all rule is going to end up unbalancing things. The counter proposal I made is more complex but it is also more robust regarding minor fixes and changes. It would probably double or triple the initial investment of creation. However once done it would enable fine tune adjustments rather than sweeping changes across all spells. Also it could be implemented slowly to help reduce the QQ of major change happening instantly.

Unrelated discussion- why shouldn't the target of a fireball / cone of cold / etc be hit more than the people in his group or room? Being at the epicenter of an event should hurt more than being at the periphery. Being hit in the face with a fireball, though it would burn everyone in the room, would probably selectively burn your face.

Also, why aren't people blinded more in combat? Face burning (with fire or acid) is a blindness risk.

Greps' idea of cooldown instead of concentration lag for spells would be great, if it weren't for petrification, finger of death, charm person and final strike. (ZOMG sorc OP).

If anything it puts the sorcerer(necromancer) into MORE danger for making the tactical decision to use that spell. The post-lag for instant initiation is also no different from melee skills. You don't charge up to land a bash, you lag after the bash.

This.

I see no reason why this would make this riskier for the caster. A caster is no less vulnerable during post-cast lag than during concentration, unless his victim is a noob who isn't detecting invis, hasn't initiated combat, or something like that. Otherwise, if his casting is going to succeed, making it succeed near-instantly gives the victim little time to respond, like by running away, trip, ranged weapon attack, or any other way of "you have 3 rounds to win this fight."

Unless total lag time increases between pre and post lag, caster risk will be the same vs suspecting victims if failed, and much less if succeeded, since instantly killed enemies can't threaten the caster.