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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HeapThaumaturgist" data-source="post: 2553104" data-attributes="member: 12332">See, that's what my group most hated about VP/WP.  <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=":)" />  We played a SWRPG game for a while, and it consistently annoyed my players that a halfway-decent crit with a lightsaber or blaster rifle IMMEDIATELY took you out of the game.  There wasn't much player-end that could stop it.It led to some ... not-quite and hastily-constructed cinematic situations.  In one case, the group was fighting along-side their master ... or were SUPPOSED to.  A lucky crit from a 4th level padawan mook took her to -7wp in the first round of engagement.  I sort of had to swing that padawan into an in-story position of power to explain how somebody's 13th level Master just got "totally pwnz0red" in one blow.With the way Jedi powers worked, Final Attack Bonus horribly outstripped Defense scores after the first-round "Jedi Buff" of Enhance Ability and Battlemind.  So that wide lightsaber threat range, with the low Def, led to lots and lots of near-insta-crits and people getting cleft-in-twain all over ... which is great for lightsabers, but less than satisfying for the player when his PC is dead or out of the game on Round 2.SWRPG then adds insult to injury by including a MDT-type system in that if you take WP you have to make a save or go to dying.  So combats were either traditional HP-blow-by-blow slogfests, or instant death.  There wasn't much on the PLAYER end that controlled it.  Luck of the draw, basically.If we WANT that sort of "danger at every turn" combat, where you can go from full "Health" (VP or HP) to "Oh no, I'm dying!" in one lucky shot ... MDT and VP/WP both serve.At least with MDT, the player gets something like control over his ability to survive those hits.  Feats like Increased MDT, to lessen the number of saves, or Great Fortitude to help the saves, etc.  In d20Modern and Grim Tales the players have Action Points they can spend on those saving throws.This is just from having played both GT/Modern based games and SWRPG (VP/WP) for several months apiece.  The whole time we were playing SW, my players were gritting their teeth in frustration at least two or three times a session ... they were basing the life or death of a character on a GOOD roll from the enemy, which is something the player and his choices has no real control over.  In D&D, you have some gauge of how you're doing based on your HP, you know if a crit might take you out, or if a regular hit might take you out.  With VP/WP you might stand toe-to-toe for a dozen rounds, or get pasted by the first blow, and none of it is up to you in the least.--fje</blockquote>

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