blowgun sneak attack

[shilsen]

The hit point system is ridiculous. I haven't seen a combat system that is realistic AND simple in regards to damage.

I heard of a story where a character fell over a 70' cliff with 5 arrows sticking in him. After the fall, he jumped up and ran away.

Another in a modern game. A character took a shot to the back of the head at point blank range with a 50 caliber gun. It knocked him out. A few minutes later, he regained consciousness and saved the party.

Or, how about the character that was snatched by a dragon. The dragon was killed a few minutes later in aerial combat while still holding the character. They plummeted a few hundred feet to the ground. With less than 5 hp left, he ran over to the cleric for healing.

Here we go.
A 20th level rogue scores a critical hit and shoots a 20th level fighter in the eyeball with a blowgun for 62 points of damage. The fight chases him down and slices him up.
A first level rogue shoots a 1st level wizard in the leg with a blowgun for 7 points of damage. The wizard collapses and bleeds to death.

Man, your head would explode if you ever read any mythology

Which, just for the record, is one of the best analogues to what D&D characters are and can do.

 

[GeorgeFields]

Man, your head would explode if you ever read any mythology

I love mythology, but I don't expect any realism in it.

Which, just for the record, is one of the best analogues to what D&D characters are and can do.

Really? I would agree if you had said Exalted. Most characters from mythology had divine ancestry. I've never played in a D&D game that had a character with divine ancestry.

 

[shilsen]

I love mythology, but I don't expect any realism in it.

Funny. I say the same for D&D.

Really? I would agree if you had said Exalted. Most characters from mythology had divine ancestry. I've never played in a D&D game that had a character with divine ancestry.

Depends on which culture's and period's mythology you're reading. Divine ancestry isn't ubiquitous. And that's a very specific and limited element. The commonaliy between mythic characters and D&D characters is that the laws of reality that apply in our world don't apply to them.

Mythic characters can take scores of wounds and keep fighting, kill animals with their bare hands, leap off cliffs and walk away, fire six arrows in six seconds and hit something too far away to see, and so on. Which is precisely what D&D characters do, and are designed to be able to do. D&D isn't designed for realism. It's designed for creating mythic characters.

 

[AbeTheGnome]

D&D isn't designed for realism. It's designed for creating mythic characters.

this i understand. i don't expect realism. what i expect is consistency. maybe i don't have a problem with the blowgun, maybe i have a problem with sneak attack. i don't understand why, under "normal" circumstances, a blowgun needle does 1 point of damage, but when the person is denied their Dex bonus (i.e. "surprised") it can do such a massive amount of damage. if a character can send a needle through a stone wall, so be it, but it shouldn't only be when the wall isn't expecting it.

 

[shilsen]

this i understand. i don't expect realism. what i expect is consistency.

Actually, the rules are completely consistent in that sneak attack damage isn't affected by the base damage of the weapon used. From my perspective, you're arbitrarily picking the blowgun needle to have issues with, when you could just as easily say "How come a 1d4 dagger does so much more damage with sneak attack?"

maybe i don't have a problem with the blowgun, maybe i have a problem with sneak attack.

Possibly.

i don't understand why, under "normal" circumstances, a blowgun needle does 1 point of damage, but when the person is denied their Dex bonus (i.e. "surprised") it can do such a massive amount of damage.

They aren't "normal" circumstances. Your original post is about a 19th or 20th lvl rogue (+10d6 sneak attack damage). This is a person who can stab a creature with the equivalent of a toothpick (consider a shortsword used on a huge or larger dragon; it's like using the blowgun needle on a human) and kill it. This is a person who can drop a bison (average hit pts 37) with one surprise stab with a non-magical dagger (average dmg 37.5 + Str). Normal? Not a chance.

if a character can send a needle through a stone wall, so be it, but it shouldn't only be when the wall isn't expecting it.

Luckily, walls are immune to sneak attack damage, so you need not fear for their safety

 

[RigaMortus2]

i don't understand why, under "normal" circumstances, a blowgun needle does 1 point of damage, but when the person is denied their Dex bonus (i.e. "surprised") it can do such a massive amount of damage.

You don't understand the difference between a person getting hit in the shoulder with a blowgun dart (ie your "normal circumstances") and one getting pierced in the heart/jugular/brain (ie "a person denied their Dex bonus")?

 

[Darklone]

You don't understand the difference between a person getting hit in the shoulder with a blowgun dart (ie your "normal circumstances") and one getting pierced in the heart/jugular/brain (ie "a person denied their Dex bonus")?

First point: Simple. Heavyweight boxers. They have to block/parry every hit... with their muscles and with the way how they "take" the hit. One hit without "eating" it would knock them out.

That's the same difference. One small moment not being on guard to make a diminuitive movement.

Second point: Realism in D&D. Excuse me.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Back on topic. Realism in D&D. Excuse me... okok. Google around a little bit till you find that small girl that fell from an airplane. A few thousand feet. She survived. Realistic or not?

One person with a shortsword smacking up 12 people at night at a castlegate? Realistic or not?

One guy taking 46 knife wounds in the face and neck area and surviving without permanent damage. Realistic or not?

All things that happened. So why do you complain about a mechanism that makes for a great gaming evening?

 

[RigaMortus2]

First point: Simple. Heavyweight boxers. They have to block/parry every hit... with their muscles and with the way how they "take" the hit. One hit without "eating" it would knock them out.

That's the same difference. One small moment not being on guard to make a diminuitive movement.

Second point: Realism in D&D. Excuse me.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Back on topic. Realism in D&D. Excuse me... okok. Google around a little bit till you find that small girl that fell from an airplane. A few thousand feet. She survived. Realistic or not?

One person with a shortsword smacking up 12 people at night at a castlegate? Realistic or not?

One guy taking 46 knife wounds in the face and neck area and surviving without permanent damage. Realistic or not?

All things that happened. So why do you complain about a mechanism that makes for a great gaming evening?

I am not sure why you quoted me. Were you refuting what I said or agreeing with it (because it seems to me that you were agreeing with it)?

I just thought what you wrote would be more in response to the OP than me

 

[Jhulae]

I am not sure why you quoted me. Were you refuting what I said or agreeing with it (because it seems to me that you were agreeing with it)?

I just thought what you wrote would be more in response to the OP than me

Oh, don't mind Darklone.. you know those wacky Germans..

Love ya, DL!

 

[Darklone]

I am not sure why you quoted me. Were you refuting what I said or agreeing with it (because it seems to me that you were agreeing with it)?

I just thought what you wrote would be more in response to the OP than me

Sorry, Riga, the first part about the heavyweight boxers was a respond to you.
The second part was to AbetheGnome...

Jhulae: *SMACKS* Love ya, gal!

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