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Combat thesaurus (or 101 ways to say "You hit for 3 damage")
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<blockquote data-quote="redrick" data-source="post: 6388060" data-attributes="member: 6777696"><p>Well that doesn't seem like the only approach to take. Maybe I should have just made this post in the D&D forum because it might be more D&D-centric than I initially assumed. Plenty of games use abstract damage systems, don't they?</p><p></p><p>But, regardless, any abstract mechanical system certainly allows me plenty of room to narrate specifics without somehow rejecting that system. I don't have to be playing a game with a complex wound and maiming system to imagine that characters are interacting with more than numbers on a piece of paper. Sure — a hit point is an abstraction. But so is speed. So is a round. So if a character has been wounded in his leg, maybe he is moving a little slower, or favoring one leg a little bit more. Maybe that's why the next hit is a killing blow. You're not stabbing a 50hp monster with a dagger so many times that it bleeds to death from all the pinpricks. You're wearing it down so that it becomes increasingly vulnerable, allowing your strikes to become increasingly effective.</p><p></p><p>Here's a few more, in case anybody else feels like biting.</p><p>Low Damage</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You block his mace with your shield, but the force of the blow reverberates through your body</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">You wrench away as an arrow grazes your side</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The goblin yelps as a bolt of fire singes his calf</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="redrick, post: 6388060, member: 6777696"] Well that doesn't seem like the only approach to take. Maybe I should have just made this post in the D&D forum because it might be more D&D-centric than I initially assumed. Plenty of games use abstract damage systems, don't they? But, regardless, any abstract mechanical system certainly allows me plenty of room to narrate specifics without somehow rejecting that system. I don't have to be playing a game with a complex wound and maiming system to imagine that characters are interacting with more than numbers on a piece of paper. Sure — a hit point is an abstraction. But so is speed. So is a round. So if a character has been wounded in his leg, maybe he is moving a little slower, or favoring one leg a little bit more. Maybe that's why the next hit is a killing blow. You're not stabbing a 50hp monster with a dagger so many times that it bleeds to death from all the pinpricks. You're wearing it down so that it becomes increasingly vulnerable, allowing your strikes to become increasingly effective. Here's a few more, in case anybody else feels like biting. Low Damage [LIST] [*]You block his mace with your shield, but the force of the blow reverberates through your body [*]You wrench away as an arrow grazes your side [*]The goblin yelps as a bolt of fire singes his calf [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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Combat thesaurus (or 101 ways to say "You hit for 3 damage")
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