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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Frostmarrow" data-source="post: 1656073" data-attributes="member: 1122">That's sort of my point. You see, if you have an attack that will make it easier for you to defeat your opponent than lowering hps to zero then you will use that attack to the exclusion of all else. Now, this isn't such a big deal when monsters do it, but in the hands of a PC it sort of ruins the game. (Not to the extent that you can't play it anymore it just becomes something else.)(By the way, lowering a character's wisdom or charisma will do little to strike fear into a player's heart when faced with a monster. Now, lowering strength might humble a fighter but hit points would affect anyone.)The conditions characters can be affected by is a competetly different animal. The conditions are great and I have no beef with them. For instance, if you are drained you get a negative level instead of losing a level. That's just neat, and good games design. However, it seems to me to be a logical extension of the hps to be the measure of how much you need to punish you enemy to defeat him. Most save or die stuff has gone and been replaced with a fixed amount of hp damage, so we see the game developing in this direction already.As you can see I'm not trying to fix the fear thingy - I'm just trying to see where this development will take us.Consider this for example. If you make a class with the ability to hog-tie just about anything, you have two options. Either you come up with a mechanic that pits your rope use against the opponent's escape artist or you make the hog-tie schtick into an attack that does hp damage. If you go the rope use route you risk affecting the game greatly and balance issues are sure to come up. If you make it an attack that does damage you are home free.I'm not saying that I'm correct, but it seems to me that a grapple attack should do hp damage (perhaps with a condition added to it) instead of being a complicated system of opposed rolls and stages of "grappled-ness". Because, as it is now grappling is a near useless mode of attack, which takes to much effort on part of the players, considering it's chances of being something you defeat opponents with. It's a bad attack form because if it was better than attacking with your greatsword, greatswords would seize to be used. Though, since grappling, at least in my opinion, should be a part of the game it would be better design if grappling did damage just like everything else - and so could be compared with other attack forms on an even playing field.Phew. I realise that this might sound a bit contrived. All I can hope for is for you to at least consider this. The main point is: Hit points is a measure of how much damage you must deal to your opponent to defeat him, whatever means are used.</blockquote>

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