explaining D&D combat to newbes

[bolen]

I am running a game (finally) of Conan but it is basically D20 with minor modifications. I have 4 players. All are new to D20 and only 1 has a lot of role playing experience. I am trying to introduce combat. A player asked about the HP mechanic and asked why it was that I person who is very wounded can hit as well as he could at full heath. I told him HP were an abstract system representing wounds and fatigue together. And I pointed out that any game plays a balancing act between fun and playability vs realism. Does any one know a better answer?

 

[Goodsport]

I am running a game (finally) of Conan

 

[Delta]

A player asked about the HP mechanic and asked why it was that I person who is very wounded can hit as well as he could at full heath.

Tell him they're playing heroes who can suck it up. Most games, even computer games (Quake, etc.), abstract health this way. Tell him some systems have tried to simulate that, but the math slows down the game too much.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Yea, generally systems where you become less able to do things as damage increases only serve to perform two functions:

1) Slow down gameplay by introducing two mathematical calculations that need to be performed every time you take damage (tracking that damage and figuring out the new penalty)

2) Create a cyclic pattern of PC death. You get hit, so your combat ability drops, so you get hit again, and your combat ability drops more, so you get hit again ... etc.

PCs are the ones that rules like that hamper, since they see far more combat than anything else in the game does. So, really, it just serves to kill off PCs.

--fje

 

[WayneLigon]

I told him HP were an abstract system representing wounds and fatigue together. And I pointed out that any game plays a balancing act between fun and playability vs realism. Does any one know a better answer?

Not really. Other than maybe to sit down with a movie where scores of mooks die when they get one arrow to the belly or chest from a common soldier and say 'That was your character, roll up another one ... and that one... him, too... now, which would you rather use? A realistic fighting system or an abstract one that lets you be heroic?'.

 

[Geoff Watson]

Penalties from being wounded aren't particularly realistic anyway. Most wounds are overcome by adrenaline (at least for the fight, afterwards is another matter) or incapacitate the victim (through shock, mainly).

Or you could explain that Hit Points are abstract, not meant to represent particular wounds, etc, etc.

Geoff.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Answer: D&D plays like an action movie.

 

[LordEther]

Another thing, one that many GMs/DMs forget, is that the aforementioned abstractness should be incorporated into play. I would humbly suggest not describing every HP loss as a wound, whether that be a flesh wound, shoulder slash, or deep belly penetration (sorry...). While some damaging blows can be actaully damaging in the sense of the narrative, once we hit mid- to high-levels, I tend to think in terms of characters' dodges (barely) or successful, if somewhat painful parries, etc. I find it helps not to start mentioning more serious wounds until HP totals are really low. And then, the "You are an action star!" rationale is more believable, at least for me. "Eh, a flesh wound" works pretty well a couple of times, but there is a point (I'd say at about the 20th lost hit point) at which plausibility drops dramatically.

You might already be doing this; I only mention it because, again, the DMs I've played with generally neglect to do so, presumably in an effort to make combat "feel" more dangerous than it is, and it really makes the "HP = Abstraction" argument seem more like an excuse. I couldn't really enjoy D&D for a long time as a result.

Hope it helps...

 

[GrumpyOldMan]

Yea, generally systems where you become less able to do things as damage increases only serve to perform two functions:

1) Slow down gameplay by introducing two mathematical calculations that need to be performed every time you take damage (tracking that damage and figuring out the new penalty)

2) Create a cyclic pattern of PC death. You get hit, so your combat ability drops, so you get hit again, and your combat ability drops more, so you get hit again ... etc.

PCs are the ones that rules like that hamper, since they see far more combat than anything else in the game does. So, really, it just serves to kill off PCs.

--fje

1) Given the amount of attack, feat and other mods now attached to DnD I'm not entirely sure that this is a valid reason. Especially if the attack system is % based and any wound mods take effect in 5% steps.

2) The alternative is that it gives PCs a sense of their own mortality, so they stop acting like the lead actor in an action movie, and start acting like a normel person caught up in a fight.

In this instance, it only hampers the PCs by making them look for alternatives to combat. Of course, lots of people like 'open the dor, kill the monster, take the treasure' type games.

 

[Delta]

I find it helps not to start mentioning more serious wounds until HP totals are really low.

If players track HP, then the DM might not actually know when that is.