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And DnD pays similar "lip service" by not having concrete serious injuries as a result of HP loss in the first place. The argument is that those movies portray characters overcoming being beat down and, and even out of the fight, by sheer force of will. Not that those movies show people...

While that makes sense, it's not really relevant, as there is no way to break a shin bone, or any bone, short of pure DM fiat, in any edition of DnD. Which points to injuries in DnD being even more superficial than the ones in those movies, since we don't operate at less than optimal...

First off, armor is not always all or nothing. Warhammers were designed to damage through full plate via blunt force trauma, not by poking through a gap. If we wanted "realism", piercing weapons would have a significant miss chance vs Plate, bludgeon would have a high DR, and slashing would be...

Fiction is rife with characters overcoming poisons through sheer force of will, and not medical intervention. Why shouldn't a Warlord be able to bolster that force of will? Ongoing damage could easily logically represent growing fatigue or loss of focus, and Warlord inspiring his ally to take...

One thing that I'd like to see go away is the expectation that, in combat between similar foes, half the attacks should do nothing, because they miss. A miss takes almost as much time to resolve as a hit, and does nothing to progress the combat. It's also not that much fun for the player, who...

The 4E "Encounter" is, I think, a good way to have "Scene"-style mechanics, while having mechanics that are actually defined very concretely: * Encounter powers come back after 5 minutes of rest, not at a "scene change" or anything like that. * Something that lasts "until end of encounter"...

I'd like to see two kinds of crafting, based on the non-combat Background vs. combat Theme distinction I'd like to see: * Background-based crafting. This, like other Backgrounds, would focus on non-combat skills. A traditional Blacksmith would be an example. It would enable creating, during...

Older editions were inconsistent. When damage was being dealt, HP were treated as being primarily intangible, with just a small representing component physical injury. Otherwise, carrying on without penalty (and no bleeding-out rules) would be completely absurd. When healing was being...

They represent more than just physical injury. And they always have, from the start of the game. They do? I think they represent endurance and morale much more effectively than injuries. Frankly, replace HP with a "Morale" score, and the whole game makes a lot more sense. I don't know...

Perhaps the Dwarven word for "Humanoid" translates literally as "Dwarvenoid".

"Humanoid" is used all the time in 4E. It's one of the main categories of creatures (along with Beast, for example). No real distinction is made between "common" and "savage" races. An Orc is a Humanoid, as is an Elf. I don't like Demi-human because "Demi-" caries a connotation of being...

That's because I'm not arguing for making pre-fab stuff more powerful than custom stuff. I'm arguing for making them equally powerful. Which I believe, given the practical realities of pre-fabs, necessitates that pre-fabs not follow the custom rules strictly, and be more than just "example...

Perhaps not. But the fewer straightjackets they place on themselves, the more design freedom they allow themselves, the more likely they'll get things right. And as long as they give small extra bonuses, chances are, they'll get things more right, than if they didn't give those extra bonuses...

Look at any example D&D build ever printed, and honestly tell me it isn't inferior to customized builds. Heck, look at other games too. I'm honestly surprised this is even a contentious point. I thought the lousiness of example builds was widely known. Now, if that's all these preset...

I'm a min/maxing, optimizing powergamer myself. I certainly don't want it removed. I want a game where doing it doesn't break it. I want a game I can really sink my teeth into, without feeling like I'm ruining for other players and getting stymied by DM fiat. I feel that I largely got that...

Did I say that flavorful cool stuff would be held back? I would absolutely expect all the core essences of the themes to be available to customizers. I'm talking about mechanical bonuses to the presets, not giving them exclusive bits of flavor. A preset might have more feats than custom...

Avoiding giving one type of style a reward over the other is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. If preset Backgrounds and Themes are a subset of custom builds, it is virtually guaranteed that they will be inferior to the custom builds. Thus rewarding the custom builders. The bonuses for...

Exactly. I think the big mistake that often gets made is assuming that "I don't want to deal with lots of fiddly character building stuff" is equivalent to "I don't care how effective my character is". They are different sentiments, and I think the former is a lot more common than the latter...

I agree 100%, which is the reason for my proposal. To ensure that pregen Backgrounds and Themes are functional and flavorful. They can be hand-designed to have a lot of stuff (both functional and flavorful) without being overpowered. Give the custom builds the same number of elements, and...

If I stabbed someone IRL, I'd expect them to either be down on the ground, or at least suffering some serious hindrance to their actions. After a single stab wound. I'd also expect them to bleed out, continuously until getting treatment, and not just a single chunk of "HP" all at once. None...