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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Maidhc O Casain" data-source="post: 4850380" data-attributes="member: 29558">I actually thought about this, and decided that since you didn't specifically state that he was using his wand to cast the Caltrops cantrip the Pugwampi would feel more threatened by the axe.I have lots of thoughts about the significance of different forms of 'damage' to PCs in RPGs - I actually thought I'd posted many of them a few minutes ago but it appears that my diatribe is lost somewhere in the ether (it never appeared after I submitted it). For those interested, here's the gist of it:[sblock=Mowgli's Rambling Random Thoughts On RPGs (NOT required reading - those uninterested should just skip this)]I generally believe that while taking HP is an integral and vital part of the game it is a very short term type of damage and has little lasting effect or emotional impact. I don't really like killing characters (though I've done it before and will again). Players put too much time and invest too much emotion into them for me to be too blasé about taking them out. But if you're not going to kill them (at least not often) HP damage becomes almost meaningless.Used in moderation, I like longer term 'damage' such as loss of items, physical disabilities, etc. because I believe that such things contribute far more in the way of richness of character development and campaign story as well as emotional impact. They help put the 'RP' back in 'RPG.'Also, I see the 'monsters' as multidimensional.1) They have their own motivations and personalities, and they get just as pissed off by characters mowing them and their friends and families down and stealing their stuff as the PCs get about the monsters doing it to them. The last thing going through the poor little Pugwampi's poor little brain before it was split in two by Keeland's arrow was probably something along the lines of "Turn about's fair play!"2) Many monsters are smart and have a multitude of strategies and tactics available to them. Those tools and tactics go into the challenge rating, and failing to use them lowers that challenge rating. It also makes monsters carbon copies of each other. I'm not always very good at it, but I do try to play smart monsters smart.[/sblock]We now return you to your regularly scheduled gaming . . .</blockquote>

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