Editing Hit Effect Vs Hit Damage (section)

==Don't roll for damage, roll for effect==

Ok, so there is the classic adventurers party fighting against a bunch of, let's say, orcs, and one of those monsters happen to hit Gorbal the fighter with a mace.

Now, in this situation, you would typically roll for damage. In D&D you would roll how many hit points Gorbal takes from the blow (whatever that means), in other systems you might roll for location, criticals, damage soaking... but the underlying point is "Let's determine how serious this wound is".

However, either the damage roll is too simple and unsatisfying, such as in D&D, or you need to go through lots of steps, rolls, chart consulting, etc. to solve this. It would seem like the combat suddenly stopped and everyone keep staring at poor Gorbal saying things like "Well, at least he was wearing a helmet", "This is going to take a lot of mending" or just "Ughhh".

I like a detailed description of a wound, but I find too much detail unnecessary during the course of action. If Gorbal is heavily hit in the arm what does anyone care whether the arm is only bruised or is broken, or how many days will it take to heal in that very moment when Gorbal is fighting for his life? Or if Gorbal falls into a coma, is it important to know in that precise moment how many days will it take for him to awaken afterwards, or if he will suffer permanent nerve damage? Cannot we wait until the combat is over to examine Gorbal wound in detail?

So, in order to find some balance between wound detail and playability I propose dividing this process in two parts:

#Roll for effect: In the course of action you only determine how Gorbal (the victim) is affected in the short-term by the hit he has just received. It's a quick roll, so action continues without interruption.
#Roll for damage: After combat or action, when characters are able to examine their wounds, you can roll dice again for damage, obtaining precise and long-term information. Maybe complicated charts crossing damage type against armour are consulted, it doesn't need to be a quick roll.