Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 4723383" data-attributes="member: 82106">Yup, there is no doubt that D&D is not a realistic simulation, nor was it ever intended to be. I would say however that it is always better if an RPG can deliver something akin to realistic results to the degree that is compatible with an interesting and fun game. There are a few reasons for that, but one of the key ones is just narrative. Every element of the game which is abstracted away from reality imposes a cost on the DM's ability to impose a believable narrative on the game. Take the abstraction of hit points itself. Since this abstraction largely removes the chance of a single killing blow it does things like make it hard to explain how the assassin managed to kill the duke by sticking him in the back with a dagger. The DM now has to either simply fudge things or invoke ultra powerful powers or is limited to making the duke a very weak NPC or some other such patch. All of which raise questions in the minds of players and can conflict with other narrative requirements, etc.I'm not saying that a more realistic damage system would be the proper answer, or that there even IS an answer to that specific case, but it does point out the way problems arise whenever the rules depart too much from some baseline level of realism. Often the highly unrealistic rules work well in specific contexts like a standard melee encounter, but they usually work equally poorly in most other situations.This all departed rather far from the original debate about getting 2 attacks in one action when wielding 2 weapons. It really doesn't require much of a consideration of realism to see that it is a bad concept from a game balance perspective. It also happens to be pretty questionable from a realism perspective, so I just don't see the upside. Twin Strike (and its newer ilk) all present significant game balance challenges and personally I'd have not introduced the mechanism into the game as even a possibility if it had been up to me, but obviously the game designers felt it was too strong a trope to get rid of entirely.</blockquote>

Verification