Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
D&D Combat is fictionless
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8418650" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Right, I like to say that hitpoints are the worst possible system, except for all the rest <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> That is honestly pretty much where its at too. MANY games have attempted to parse this differently, very few have produced a result that is both as workable as the D&D solution, and appreciably more realistic OR appreciably more amenable to narration without any ambiguity. </p><p></p><p>Actually the 2nd best system out there, maybe even first best, IMHO is Traveller's attribute damage mechanism where you actually take hits on STR, END, and DEX until they are all reduced to zero. If one is reduced to zero you are temporarily incapacitated, if 2 are, you are seriously wounded and require medical treatment. If the third one goes to zero, you start growing daisies (maybe high tech medicine applied instantly can still save you, but Traveller doesn't actually give out very many effects for higher tech). </p><p></p><p>That system still doesn't really SOLVE the issue. It is mainly just less significant because nobody has 100 hit points vs normal people with 6 or even 1 and weapons doing 1d8 damage. Traveller PCs are ALL normal people, or pretty close. Its unclear how any D&D-like system could get around its issues. I guess you could NOT add any hit points at each level and just make it harder to get hit, or incorporate in layers of DR and whatever. That might not be a horrible solution. Your fighter always has 9 hit points, but at 18th level his AC might be -5 and he might have a whole bunch of points of DR. It would probably be too swingy though, that one time some damage got through, squish! Plus it wouldn't really clarify what Inspiring Word is doing...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8418650, member: 82106"] Right, I like to say that hitpoints are the worst possible system, except for all the rest ;) That is honestly pretty much where its at too. MANY games have attempted to parse this differently, very few have produced a result that is both as workable as the D&D solution, and appreciably more realistic OR appreciably more amenable to narration without any ambiguity. Actually the 2nd best system out there, maybe even first best, IMHO is Traveller's attribute damage mechanism where you actually take hits on STR, END, and DEX until they are all reduced to zero. If one is reduced to zero you are temporarily incapacitated, if 2 are, you are seriously wounded and require medical treatment. If the third one goes to zero, you start growing daisies (maybe high tech medicine applied instantly can still save you, but Traveller doesn't actually give out very many effects for higher tech). That system still doesn't really SOLVE the issue. It is mainly just less significant because nobody has 100 hit points vs normal people with 6 or even 1 and weapons doing 1d8 damage. Traveller PCs are ALL normal people, or pretty close. Its unclear how any D&D-like system could get around its issues. I guess you could NOT add any hit points at each level and just make it harder to get hit, or incorporate in layers of DR and whatever. That might not be a horrible solution. Your fighter always has 9 hit points, but at 18th level his AC might be -5 and he might have a whole bunch of points of DR. It would probably be too swingy though, that one time some damage got through, squish! Plus it wouldn't really clarify what Inspiring Word is doing... [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
D&D Combat is fictionless
Top