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
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Death From Massive Damage?
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="Celebrim" data-source="post: 713437" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Under the rules, this is true. But why is it true? Don't make the mistake of thinking reality models the rules. The rules try to model reality. In reality, there aren't blows doing 50 points of damage to base the rule on.</p><p></p><p>I think it is only in the cases like 'falling from a great height'/'dropped a safe on you' in which there is clearly no abstraction to the event that as a designer you start to feel the need for such rules. I mean one has to ask, what about 50 damage is so much more tramatic than 49 or 45? In theory aren't all blows traumatic if they take you to -10 h.p.? Why do we need a second definition of traumatic blow? What justifies the existance of the rule in the first place?</p><p></p><p>IMO, the whole point of the rule is to enforce a certain level of realism. There ought to be only so much damage that a body can take. We know this. But, the D&D combat system is very abstract. There really is a no need for worrying about how much actual physical damage someone took when hit by a weapon. Clearly every time a high level fighter is hit by an arrow for 3 points of damage, he doesn't get another clothyard shaft protruding from his torso. The only time you really have to worry about that is when the source of damage isn't abstract, and that is mostly when falling and sometimes when crushed (though often in the case of being crushed you can say a high level character 'almost' jumped clear and just took a glancing, bruising blow rather than a bone smashing body flattening one). But in the case of falling from a great height _we know_ that no matter how high level you are it ought to be something to be feared and could or maybe even should kill you.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 713437, member: 4937"] Under the rules, this is true. But why is it true? Don't make the mistake of thinking reality models the rules. The rules try to model reality. In reality, there aren't blows doing 50 points of damage to base the rule on. I think it is only in the cases like 'falling from a great height'/'dropped a safe on you' in which there is clearly no abstraction to the event that as a designer you start to feel the need for such rules. I mean one has to ask, what about 50 damage is so much more tramatic than 49 or 45? In theory aren't all blows traumatic if they take you to -10 h.p.? Why do we need a second definition of traumatic blow? What justifies the existance of the rule in the first place? IMO, the whole point of the rule is to enforce a certain level of realism. There ought to be only so much damage that a body can take. We know this. But, the D&D combat system is very abstract. There really is a no need for worrying about how much actual physical damage someone took when hit by a weapon. Clearly every time a high level fighter is hit by an arrow for 3 points of damage, he doesn't get another clothyard shaft protruding from his torso. The only time you really have to worry about that is when the source of damage isn't abstract, and that is mostly when falling and sometimes when crushed (though often in the case of being crushed you can say a high level character 'almost' jumped clear and just took a glancing, bruising blow rather than a bone smashing body flattening one). But in the case of falling from a great height _we know_ that no matter how high level you are it ought to be something to be feared and could or maybe even should kill you. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Death From Massive Damage?
Top