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General Tabletop Discussion
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Critical Hits - why, and why not?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6669430" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>But in D&D it <em>is</em> possible to be struck dead by a single blow - namely, the single blow that reduces a character's hit point total from N to zero (or -10, or whatever the death threshold is in the particular D&D variant that you are playing).</p><p></p><p>If your complaint is that PCs rarely get struck dead by the <em>first</em> blow, at least once they are above 1st or 2nd level, well that is the system working as intended. Even in this case, though, it's not correct to say that it is <em>impossible</em> for a character to be struck dead by the first blow; rather, it's just that the character <em>is not</em> struck dead by that blow. If it was <em>impossible</em>, then hit points wouldn't be modelling luck and grit - they'd be modelling some sort of immunity. The whole thing about luck is that if you are lucky, bad things that <em>might</em> happen to you <em>don't</em> happen to you.</p><p></p><p>It's true that this means there is a lack of congruence between the mechanics and the fiction - something which is <em>mechanically</em> impossible, namely, dying from the first blow, is nevertheless possible <em>in the fiction</em>, although it doesn't actually happen. But this lack of congruence is just what is meant by saying that hit points are a non-simulationist or "fortune-in-the-middle" mechanic.</p><p></p><p>It's a system problem if you don't want the players to be confident in having their PCs charge crossbow-armed goons. Whether that <em>is</em> a problem depends on what sort of genre and feel you're going for. If you don't want gonzo heroics, then why are you playing D&D (or, at least, D&D above 3rd level or so)?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6669430, member: 42582"] But in D&D it [I]is[/I] possible to be struck dead by a single blow - namely, the single blow that reduces a character's hit point total from N to zero (or -10, or whatever the death threshold is in the particular D&D variant that you are playing). If your complaint is that PCs rarely get struck dead by the [I]first[/I] blow, at least once they are above 1st or 2nd level, well that is the system working as intended. Even in this case, though, it's not correct to say that it is [I]impossible[/I] for a character to be struck dead by the first blow; rather, it's just that the character [I]is not[/I] struck dead by that blow. If it was [I]impossible[/I], then hit points wouldn't be modelling luck and grit - they'd be modelling some sort of immunity. The whole thing about luck is that if you are lucky, bad things that [I]might[/I] happen to you [I]don't[/I] happen to you. It's true that this means there is a lack of congruence between the mechanics and the fiction - something which is [I]mechanically[/I] impossible, namely, dying from the first blow, is nevertheless possible [I]in the fiction[/I], although it doesn't actually happen. But this lack of congruence is just what is meant by saying that hit points are a non-simulationist or "fortune-in-the-middle" mechanic. It's a system problem if you don't want the players to be confident in having their PCs charge crossbow-armed goons. Whether that [I]is[/I] a problem depends on what sort of genre and feel you're going for. If you don't want gonzo heroics, then why are you playing D&D (or, at least, D&D above 3rd level or so)? [/QUOTE]
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