can a bug kill a man?

[BOZ]

the rule isn't that every attack deals at least one point of damage. the rule is that every attack that deals damage deals at least one point of damage on a hit. some attacks are not designed to deal straight hp damage, but those that are (i.e., most kinds of attacks) deal minimum 1 hp.

 

[AIM-54]

Heh, aaaah Shadowrun.


Sure, they can kill you. Oh, how they can kill you.


But really, it would a such terrible shame to have to kill you. Waste not, want not after all...

Heh heh, but I did gain a new appreciation for Raid...

and resigned myself to the fact that even in fiction, roaches will likely outlive us all...

 

[redhawk]

Eberronian Bug City

ew. Giant wasp spirits... *shudder*

I'm still working on fitting Bug City into Eberron. The only problem is how do I enforce a quarantine on Sharn?

Forbiddance spells? A ring of warforged (immune to poison, no?) to keep the bugs in and the ugly bags of mostly water out?

There are ways. Especially if you allow ritual sorcery into Eberron. Hey, it worked for Shadowrun!

Redhawk

 

[Stalker0]

If people are actually bothering to simulate a wasp sting in a game filled with monsters, then there's a bigger problem than this minor flaw in the system

 

[TheFan]

[QUOTE='o Skoteinos]There is a rule somewhere that says that every attack that hits deals at least 1 point of damage. So even if something deals 1d4-10 damage, it is always at least one. Because, if a wasp were statted, it would have an attack (sting) it would deal at least one point of damage if it hit.

But if you think that is silly: a commoner with a maul cannot kill a wasp in 1 hit: even if he rolls maximum damage, the wasp is still at -9. =][/QUOTE]
Have you ever smashed a wasp? They keep twitching for several minutes! They'll keep trying to crawl away too.

Anyway, there are no published wasp stats, but there are stats for a wasp swarm in the Fiend Folio. Updating it should be easy.

 

[ecliptic]

the rule isn't that every attack deals at least one point of damage. the rule is that every attack that deals damage deals at least one point of damage on a hit. some attacks are not designed to deal straight hp damage, but those that are (i.e., most kinds of attacks) deal minimum 1 hp.

I always like seeing d20-haters getting bitch slapped back down.

 

[Kaleon Moonshae]

I always like seeing d20-haters getting bitch slapped back down.

That may be, but here it doesn't count. There are numerous small animals that would deal 0 damage if that were always the case. He's right that there are a lot of special cases where no damage is dealt, but those say specifically 0 damage + N where N is the effect. The rule does state that when anything deals damage, ie ndn-/+n, it does the minimum 1 damage, period. In this case yes we are taking it to extreme just like some people have when they have put a 1st level fighter up against a house cat. If the first level fighter isn't wearing armor and is wielding a club the battle is actually pretty intense. I am not hating d20 because I know that as a DM I can rule 0 that away. One wasp might deal 1 damage but that's *it* consecutive attacks by that wasp isn't going to do more damage until it's been at it for a couple minutes or if it crits and you are one of the (not so rare) people who are allergic to wasp stings.

The point here is that d20 starts breaking down at the extremes, much like any game. If you start talking bout pixies and wasps it breaks down and if you start talking bout epics skill checks it begins breaking down. It is not a flaw of d20 specifically as it is a flaw of games in general. Now, having said that, it does pose a great problem to new players and new dms. I've heard the stories of friends who suffered tpk because they ran into a pack of rats, not dire rats, just rats (and by pack I think there were 7 of them and 4 players). The players rolled bad and the rats rolling very well. My friends were playing a rogue, a wizard, a cleric (who had used his spells in an earlier encounter) and a fighter. The wizard was actually the last one standing. They hit exactly 2 rats, and killed only one, total. It can happen, and since the DM was new to the stuff he let it happen. The lesson here is that rules should never govern the game, the game should govern the rules.

just my 2 cents

 

[BOZ]

that's it! if a wasp sting can do 1 point of damage to a grown man then D&D is broken and i'm not playing anymore!!

 

[Gilwen]

All I know is that in real life, if a bug crawls through your ear and tries to burrow into your brain (as it did with me in real life) you should seek goddamn medical attention right the goddamn right away.

I do believe I have just found a new email tagline

Gil

 

[Quasqueton]

In general, D&D has a hard time dealing with less-than-one damage. It's a minor, but noticable flaw in the system, that mostly has to do with the size of the numbers. If all common damage and HP were inflated by x100, for instance, you could much more easily simulate minor damage.

You should try Sinnabar. I understand it can deal with very small amounts of damage. Its designer used the fact that it can model a paper cut as a benefit of the system.

Quasqueton