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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
"Why blue whales are bad-ass," or "The attack bonus, combat, and you."
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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 2484028" data-attributes="member: 63"><p>In D&D, hit points are based on hit dice, and attack bonus is also based on hit dice. Therefore big things are good in combat.</p><p></p><p>?</p><p></p><p>I've played other game systems where combat works a bit more like, well, how I think it ought to. The main thing I take issue with is the fact that dragons, being incredible bad-asses, never miss in combat. </p><p></p><p>I mean, I've seen cats attack each other: they leap at each other, batting wildly with both claws and biting if they have an opening, possibly grapping on and raking with their hind legs. My players at first were a little disbelieving when I had a dragon jump on one PC and go claw/claw/bite/wing buffet/wing buffet, but I felt confident it could happen. I'm cool with monsters getting tons of attacks, but I have a slight issue with them never missing.</p><p></p><p>The ever-increasing attack bonus requires an ever-increasing AC, which requires an ever-increasing pile of magic items and spells. Iron Heroes, d20 Modern, and other games give you an automatic AC bonus as you gain levels, but if we applied that to monsters and their hit dice, you'd end up with dragons that are ridiculously good at blocking swords, dodging arrows, and various judo techniques.</p><p></p><p>What sorts of experiences do you have with other combat systems? I'm particularly interested in ones where attack bonuses don't increase so much, big creatures are hard to kill because they have tons of hit points instead of ultra-high AC, and weapons are actually useful in fending off natural attacks. Of course dragons are legendary for having impenetrable scales, but that should probably be some sort of supernatural immunity, or perhaps just high damage reduction.</p><p></p><p>Bah, I'm just rambling.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 2484028, member: 63"] In D&D, hit points are based on hit dice, and attack bonus is also based on hit dice. Therefore big things are good in combat. ? I've played other game systems where combat works a bit more like, well, how I think it ought to. The main thing I take issue with is the fact that dragons, being incredible bad-asses, never miss in combat. I mean, I've seen cats attack each other: they leap at each other, batting wildly with both claws and biting if they have an opening, possibly grapping on and raking with their hind legs. My players at first were a little disbelieving when I had a dragon jump on one PC and go claw/claw/bite/wing buffet/wing buffet, but I felt confident it could happen. I'm cool with monsters getting tons of attacks, but I have a slight issue with them never missing. The ever-increasing attack bonus requires an ever-increasing AC, which requires an ever-increasing pile of magic items and spells. Iron Heroes, d20 Modern, and other games give you an automatic AC bonus as you gain levels, but if we applied that to monsters and their hit dice, you'd end up with dragons that are ridiculously good at blocking swords, dodging arrows, and various judo techniques. What sorts of experiences do you have with other combat systems? I'm particularly interested in ones where attack bonuses don't increase so much, big creatures are hard to kill because they have tons of hit points instead of ultra-high AC, and weapons are actually useful in fending off natural attacks. Of course dragons are legendary for having impenetrable scales, but that should probably be some sort of supernatural immunity, or perhaps just high damage reduction. Bah, I'm just rambling. [/QUOTE]
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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
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"Why blue whales are bad-ass," or "The attack bonus, combat, and you."
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