From a realism standpoint, it’s debatable that wound penalties (or, at least, the effects of certain wounds) would significantly penalise the target. But from a game mechanics perspective, the method above is simply designed to give wounds more impact than merely losing hit points. That said, the next incarnation of Chimera (hint, hint) will handle wound penalties in a slightly different way.

The only dubious point taking into account current research is that it is doubtful that wounds that do not incapacitate should inhibit a combatant any more than the mechanical effects they have on his or her body’s operation. The key here is “wounds that do not incapacitate” – as non-lethal wounds may well do this for physical or psychological reasons.

BTW, Chimera treats unarmed combat damage as fatigue, which can eventually be fatal, but it’s largely non-lethal damage unless you get a serious beat down.

PS – Unless I’m mistaken, your email address tells me you read a lot of WWII history, too

I don’t think hitpoints are really all that bad providing that damage scaled along with it. Sadly, in most HP games, you gain more hitpoints per level of advancement than you do damage. Tword higher levels, it really DOES become a grind. As you said, zzzzzzz…

So (ignoring Spiderman’s ability to completely dodge attacks) I’d say that Green Goblin would hit Spidey and Aunt Mae with equal probability. But Spidey can withstand the damage much, much better that Auntie–he’ll get banged up in the process, and maybe even take an actual wound or two, but it’s very unlikely that he’ll actually succumb to being hit. Aunt Mae, unfortunately, probably won’t make it past the first pumpkin bomb.

BTW, this is exactly why Chimera uses a modular trait system. If you think a given trait should be applied universally (i.e., it should be part of the core mechanics), you can simply make it so. If you decide that only those who work for it get it, of you want to restrict its distribution to maintain balance, keep it as a trait. It all depends on how you want to run your game.

In Chimera (which is my favourite example), you can choose a lot of different traits to hone your combat abilities, including resistance to damage or wound effects (see my previous comment to Rich). But they’re not automatic in the way that, for instance, you get hit points every time you gain a level. The deliberate choice part–where you select specific traits for specifically desired characteristics–is what I was aiming for.

You wrote: “I wanted to decouple damage tolerance from character advancement (i.e., experience should have nothing to do with how much damage you can take).”

I understand what you mean, but there is a relation between experience and durability, as evidenced by the brutality that professional fighters can withstand. Fight training does increase muscle mass and bone density, which translates into being better able to withstand damage.

That said, if you want to improve a combatant’s defence, maybe a couple of traits do the job:

Parry
Allows you to use hand-held weapons to block incoming melee blows.
I: Reduce attacker’s Action Roll by 0-2 (1d6-4), plus your Fight SB
II: Reduce attacker’s Action Roll by 0-4 (1d8-4), plus your Fight SB
III: Reduce attacker’s Action Roll by 0-8 (1d12-4), plus your Fight SB

Counterstrike
Allows you to exploit weaknesses in an attacker’s fighting style.
I: Make a free strike when foe’s melee attack results in Critical Failure
II: Make a free strike when foe’s melee attack results in Normal Failure
III: Make a free strike when foe’s melee attack results in Normal Success

I suggest traits because then you’re not touching the core mechanics; only characters with the trait get the ability, so it’s easier to retain game balance. Plus it helps differentiate combat encounters, since not all combatants will have these abilities.

How does a defender’s skill at combat affect the probability of a hit?