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Falling from Great Heights
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<blockquote data-quote="JamesonCourage" data-source="post: 5890108" data-attributes="member: 6668292"><p>Dude, no offense, but I think you're missing <em>my</em> point. I think many people wouldn't describe that blow if they have a problem with people falling and living. It blows their suspension of disbelief just like falling and walking away does. They'd described a full-damage blow as something like trying to parry with a weapon while dodging, the dragon's tail just <em>glancing</em> with the sword, and the PC falling down briefly before rolling to his feet. That "full HP hit" does <em>not</em> need to be described as physical with the dragon. People object to falls because you don't have much of another option without shifting into a much more extreme dramatist mode (rather than combat abstraction), and that's not what they want out of hit points.</p><p></p><p>Secondly, as I said, it's believable to people <em>because of genre tropes</em>. I've got like three posts on it in this thread recently. I'm not going to go over it again (until the second half of this post, apparently!).</p><p></p><p></p><p>Whoa, we're not even talking about where <em>my</em> dial is set. I guess I never did make that clear. I was elaborating for someone else. I have seen a PC fall 130 feet, get up, and start kicking undead ass once again. It was in my group's most memorable fight. We got a couple "that's ridiculous" but we moved on really quickly. We <em>can</em> do that, even if that moment is a tiny deal-breaker SOD-wise for just a moment.</p><p></p><p>However, when people say "how can you think <em>this</em> about suspension of disbelief when it comes to things like <em>these</em>?" the answer seems very simple, to me: they've read/watched fantasy genre fiction where <em>this</em> makes sense and they expect it (like fighting a dragon), and <em>these</em> don't make sense and they don't expect it (like falling 100' or getting bit full-on by a dragon and being fine).</p><p></p><p>It's basic. Everyone's level of suspension of disbelief is weird. But, honestly, placing it at what you've read/watched seems incredibly reasonable, and less arbitrary than "reasoning" things out (and winding up at a place where your own SOD kicks in unreasonably), and much more satisfying than saying "anything goes, because it's fantasy" (and winding up with a time-traveling Darth Vader PC alongside Bugs Bunny). But, that's my take on it. As always, play what you like <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JamesonCourage, post: 5890108, member: 6668292"] Dude, no offense, but I think you're missing [I]my[/I] point. I think many people wouldn't describe that blow if they have a problem with people falling and living. It blows their suspension of disbelief just like falling and walking away does. They'd described a full-damage blow as something like trying to parry with a weapon while dodging, the dragon's tail just [I]glancing[/I] with the sword, and the PC falling down briefly before rolling to his feet. That "full HP hit" does [I]not[/I] need to be described as physical with the dragon. People object to falls because you don't have much of another option without shifting into a much more extreme dramatist mode (rather than combat abstraction), and that's not what they want out of hit points. Secondly, as I said, it's believable to people [I]because of genre tropes[/I]. I've got like three posts on it in this thread recently. I'm not going to go over it again (until the second half of this post, apparently!). Whoa, we're not even talking about where [I]my[/I] dial is set. I guess I never did make that clear. I was elaborating for someone else. I have seen a PC fall 130 feet, get up, and start kicking undead ass once again. It was in my group's most memorable fight. We got a couple "that's ridiculous" but we moved on really quickly. We [I]can[/I] do that, even if that moment is a tiny deal-breaker SOD-wise for just a moment. However, when people say "how can you think [I]this[/I] about suspension of disbelief when it comes to things like [I]these[/I]?" the answer seems very simple, to me: they've read/watched fantasy genre fiction where [I]this[/I] makes sense and they expect it (like fighting a dragon), and [I]these[/I] don't make sense and they don't expect it (like falling 100' or getting bit full-on by a dragon and being fine). It's basic. Everyone's level of suspension of disbelief is weird. But, honestly, placing it at what you've read/watched seems incredibly reasonable, and less arbitrary than "reasoning" things out (and winding up at a place where your own SOD kicks in unreasonably), and much more satisfying than saying "anything goes, because it's fantasy" (and winding up with a time-traveling Darth Vader PC alongside Bugs Bunny). But, that's my take on it. As always, play what you like :) [/QUOTE]
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