If you have to hurt someone in a fight, you will need to target a vital area of his body, someplace that can be damaged relatively easily. Punching someone in the stomach, for example, may only piss him off while striking him in the temple may render him unconscious. When executed correctly, vital area attacks are extremely dangerous stuff. Do not abuse this knowledge. Such areas should only be forcefully struck or manipulated in true life-or-death, self-defense situations from which you can only escape through violence.
Not every vital area blow will have consequences such as we list here. It depends on how hard and accurately you strike as well as what you hit with. Most people can deliver a pretty strong blow using their fists or unshod feet, while a severe blow requires help from some sort of solid object such as a baseball bat or steel-toed boot to increase the effectiveness of their strike. Highly skilled martial artists can often do extraordinary damage unaided. It is important to note, however, that individuals who are stimulated by adrenaline, fear, drugs, alcohol, or even sheer willpower may not be incapacitated from any blow that is not immediately physiologically disabling, even if mortally wounded.
While you read this chart, it helps to have a good anatomy book on hand.
The vital areas listed above describe targets that are vulnerable to blunt force trauma, the type of damage typically meted out by the fist or foot, though occasionally by instruments such as baseball bats, batons, bricks, boots, and other solid objects. When it comes to bullets, ballistic performance (for example, penetration, expansion, energy transfer) and wound trauma (for example, level of physiological disruption) both affect stopping power, though shot placement is paramount. The only truly incapacitating targets are the brain and upper spinal cord, though the wounds to the heart, major arteries, and lungs may prove severely disabling if not fatal in rather short order. Damage to the head or neck that does not disrupt the central nervous system, as well as hits to the arms, legs, stomach, and groin, may prove sufficiently painful to stop an attacker, though they are generally not immediately disabling and can be shrugged off by a committed adversary.
Common targets that have proven lethal or severely disabling with blade weapons include the heart, subclavian artery (behind the collarbone), stomach, brachial artery, radial artery, carotid artery, femoral artery, axiliary artery, groin, and kidneys. Knife thrusts are generally more damaging than slashes yet they also require you to move deeper into your opponent’s target zone where he can easily reach you with his weapon if he is similarly armed. Consequently, other frequent targets include the hands, wrists, and elbows, which may be cut at somewhat less risk of riposte. Such damage, while not immediately disabling, may convince an attacker to break off and retreat though you certainly cannot count on that happening in every situation.