D&D 5E sharpshooter math meaning

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The OP was asking about adding realism, not about balance. As a matter of fact, explicitly called out looking for realism over worrying game balance in his last line. Care to address that facet instead of threadcrapping to retread a tired discussion about balance that the OP didn't ask about?

My post was in response to CapnZapp.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Stop thinking points of damage equal physical wounds, and it makes more sense. Sharpshooter just means you're capable of putting more offensive pressure on your opponent by targeting more difficult-to-hit areas. It's pointless trying to narrate that extra 10 points of damage (and extra 5 points of difficulty hitting) as anything more than a vague contribution towards more effective attacks.

If you try to think of damage as anything other than physical wounds, then it raises a lot more questions than it answers. "Offensive pressure" doesn't describe something that is cured through divine magic or bed rest; it describes something that goes away when combat is over.

It especially doesn't describe how this feat works. If the only arrow that connects is the one which drops them, then there would be no point in going for a weak spot. You might as well aim for the shoulder or the thigh, since it's an easier shot that's equally lethal. An arrow which fails to connect with the jugular doesn't add more "offensive pressure" than an arrow which fails to connect with the leg.

The only way that this feat makes sense is if damage corresponds to physical wounds, and you're fighting something that can withstand multiple wounds of various severity before it drops. If that's the case, then the math just reflects your aiming for a weak spot that's harder to hit and hurts more. If that's not the case, then there is no underlying meaning and it's pointless to try and assign any.

 

[Saeviomagy]

It also doesn't make sense because you'd think that being able to aim accurately would reduce the armor class of a foe, a'la bard.

 

[thethain]

Easiest to assume is you are attempting a head shot. If you miss up, left, or right by 6 inches, you miss the target. Now if you are aiming center mass (chest/gut) if you miss 6 inches up, left or right you still hit. So it makes the attack much more likely to miss. But deal more damage if it does hit.

 

[snickersnax]

In response to your second question about how to interpret it: well, the +10 damage is IMO for hitting a vital target. Throat, eye, heart, etc. The -5 to-hit represents the fact that those vital areas are often smaller and better-protected: shooting for center-of-mass means you'll probably hit SOMETHING, but if you go for a headshot you can easily miss the target entirely, which is why soldiers don't typically train for headshots (AFAIK). Maybe you'll get lucky and still hit the cheek or the neck instead of the eye, but maybe you'll miss eight inches to the right instead of down and it will just go by the target's ear.

If you're aiming for a person's head, most of what's around that target is empty space - it's only if you miss low that you stand a chance of hitting them anywhere else. There's good reason why soldiers are trained to aim for center of mass.

So these ideas that shooting for a head shot represents a smaller target area might make sense if the sharpshooter didn't have this other ability:Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.

So if the person is standing behind a wall with just his head is showing (3/4 cover) the sharpshooter takes no penalty. But if he goes for a shot at an eye he suddenly has a chance to miss the whole head ?

The sharpshooter also has this other ability: Attacking at long range doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.

Lets say the sharpshooter is shooting a longbow at a two same size targets, one max short range (150ft) and one max long range (600ft). The long range target appears 1/16 the size of the area of the short range target. The sharpshooter clearly doesn't have a problem hitting a target of smaller size, or accounting for vertical drop due to gravity, gentle wind speed, or the 3 seconds that the arrow takes to get to the target during which the target may be moving.

If the sharpshooter ability was written the other way around where you only ignore cover and range penalties when you take a sharpshooter shot, it would make more sense (ie: No double penalty)

Perhaps just adding extra damage to all hits over 5 makes more sense as some others have suggested...

 

[MarkB]

So these ideas that shooting for a head shot represents a smaller target area might make sense if the sharpshooter didn't have this other ability:Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.

So if the person is standing behind a wall with just his head is showing (3/4 cover) the sharpshooter takes no penalty. But if he goes for a shot at an eye he suddenly has a chance to miss the whole head ?

The sharpshooter also has this other ability: Attacking at long range doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.

Lets say the sharpshooter is shooting a longbow at a two same size targets, one max short range (150ft) and one max long range (600ft). The long range target appears 1/16 the size of the area of the short range target. The sharpshooter clearly doesn't have a problem hitting a target of smaller size, or accounting for vertical drop due to gravity, gentle wind speed, or the 3 seconds that the arrow takes to get to the target during which the target may be moving.

If the sharpshooter ability was written the other way around where you only ignore cover and range penalties when you take a sharpshooter shot, it would make more sense (ie: No double penalty)

Perhaps just adding extra damage to all hits over 5 makes more sense as some others have suggested...

Rather than illustrating issues with Sharpshooter in particular, you're basically just demonstrating that D&D combat in general is an abstraction that doesn't come even close to simulating reality. Between hit points and armour class and turn-based combat, the mechanics are far removed from what they represent.

Ultimately, D&D works best if, instead of having the mechanics try to follow the narrative, you make the narrative follow the mechanics. The rules determine how well you do at a task, and you narrate what happens in the fiction based upon the results.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Rather than illustrating issues with Sharpshooter in particular, you're basically just demonstrating that D&D combat in general is an abstraction that doesn't come even close to simulating reality. Between hit points and armour class and turn-based combat, the mechanics are far removed from what they represent.

Alternatively, the mechanics do simulate a reality, but they just do a phenomenally poor job of it because the designers are inconsistent.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

So these ideas that shooting for a head shot represents a smaller target area might make sense if the sharpshooter didn't have this other ability:Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover.

*snip*

When it comes to explaining the sharpshooter's ability to ignore cover, you have bigger problems than just headshots. Why does a tiny unarmored mouse have the same AC as an unarmed human, even to a non-sharpshooter? If the non-sharpshooter can hit the mouse, why can't she hit the human in the torso when he's standing behind a desk? Whence comes that +2 AC?

If a Sharpshooter can shoot you when only your face is exposed without penalty, why can't he shot you without penalty when you're prone? Why is shooting at the top of your head and body so much harder than hitting the face?

The fact that headshots are also inverted to be harder is almost incidental.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using EN World mobile app

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Alternatively, the mechanics do simulate a reality, but they just do a phenomenally poor job of it because the designers are inconsistent.

Or D&D is a really wonky reality. Don't forget it has binary gravity, not mass-proportionate gravity.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using EN World mobile app

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Or D&D is a really wonky reality. Don't forget it has binary gravity, not mass-proportionate gravity.

Or it has standard gravitational effects, but modeling it as binary is close enough for practical purposes.

Remember, the rules of the game reflect the reality of the game world; they don't define it.