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Describing Non-Physical Hitpoint Loss?
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<blockquote data-quote="Calion" data-source="post: 7126428" data-attributes="member: 73976"><p>Here's my problem with this: <em>These descriptions closely mirror how I describe <strong>misses</strong> in combat</em>. The armor class system actually provides a very nice template for this. Your AC consists of: Your natural ability to avoid attacks based on your size (smaller creatures are harder to hit), your armor, a shield if you have one, your Dex bonus, representing your specific ability to dodge attacks (which can be lessened by heavy armor), and finally, any additional bonuses, such as taking a Defend (or Parry) action, class bonuses, magical effects, the fact that you have a sword to parry with, etc. I use these various <em>components</em> of AC to narrate misses. So if a character has, say, a 17 AC, 10 of that is going to be from just being human-sized, 3 of it might be from a chain shirt, 2 from a shield, and the remining 2 from your Dex bonus. So if you are fired on by a goblin archer, and he rolls a 9 on his attack roll, I might say, "The arrow flies by your ear." If he rolls a 12, I may say, "the arrow bounces off your armor." If the roll is a 14, I will tell you that the arrow hits your shield, and if it's a 16, I will say something like, "you see the arrow flying at you, and you barely manage to duck out of its way." Now, I don't (usually) actually calculate all of this; I eyeball it and guess. A low roll means he misses you through lack of skill; a roll near your AC value is a near miss, and a medium roll is probably absorbed by your armor. This not only provides interesting narration in combat, it <em>accurately reflects the game world as revealed by the die roll</em>. </p><p></p><p>But given how the abstract hit point system in D&D has always worked, those descriptions are very similar to what happens when you are <em>hit, </em>unless the blow is sufficient to reduce you to 0 hit points. So what is a DM to do? Really, with the way that hit points work, even "misses" that hit your armor, or that you parry or dodge, should deplete your store of HP; those things should just absorb some of the damage. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that <em>some</em> hits that land on your armor should cause HP depletion, but that others do not. I could (and may, at some point) come up with a damage-absorption rule, but there's a reason it doesn't already exist; it slows down combat, which is damn well slow enough already.</p><p></p><p>Which leaves me in the aforementioned pickle. How should we distinguish between hits and misses in combat descriptions, in a system in which many "hits" are in fact misses?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Calion, post: 7126428, member: 73976"] Here's my problem with this: [I]These descriptions closely mirror how I describe [B]misses[/B] in combat[/I]. The armor class system actually provides a very nice template for this. Your AC consists of: Your natural ability to avoid attacks based on your size (smaller creatures are harder to hit), your armor, a shield if you have one, your Dex bonus, representing your specific ability to dodge attacks (which can be lessened by heavy armor), and finally, any additional bonuses, such as taking a Defend (or Parry) action, class bonuses, magical effects, the fact that you have a sword to parry with, etc. I use these various [I]components[/I] of AC to narrate misses. So if a character has, say, a 17 AC, 10 of that is going to be from just being human-sized, 3 of it might be from a chain shirt, 2 from a shield, and the remining 2 from your Dex bonus. So if you are fired on by a goblin archer, and he rolls a 9 on his attack roll, I might say, "The arrow flies by your ear." If he rolls a 12, I may say, "the arrow bounces off your armor." If the roll is a 14, I will tell you that the arrow hits your shield, and if it's a 16, I will say something like, "you see the arrow flying at you, and you barely manage to duck out of its way." Now, I don't (usually) actually calculate all of this; I eyeball it and guess. A low roll means he misses you through lack of skill; a roll near your AC value is a near miss, and a medium roll is probably absorbed by your armor. This not only provides interesting narration in combat, it [I]accurately reflects the game world as revealed by the die roll[/I]. But given how the abstract hit point system in D&D has always worked, those descriptions are very similar to what happens when you are [I]hit, [/I]unless the blow is sufficient to reduce you to 0 hit points. So what is a DM to do? Really, with the way that hit points work, even "misses" that hit your armor, or that you parry or dodge, should deplete your store of HP; those things should just absorb some of the damage. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that [I]some[/I] hits that land on your armor should cause HP depletion, but that others do not. I could (and may, at some point) come up with a damage-absorption rule, but there's a reason it doesn't already exist; it slows down combat, which is damn well slow enough already. Which leaves me in the aforementioned pickle. How should we distinguish between hits and misses in combat descriptions, in a system in which many "hits" are in fact misses? [/QUOTE]
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