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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 5779756" data-attributes="member: 63">A discussion with a GM friend about possible 5e mechanics led to the conclusion that in a game it's okay to scale HP & damage during character advancement, or to scale attack stats & defense stats, but there's no reason to do both.For instance, in Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader (which we play a lot), you have like 15 hit points, and that doesn't really increase. A gun always does, like, 10 to 20 damage, but more experienced PCs can dodge better. Also, their aim gets better. So high level PCs fighting mooks just don't get hit, and when they do, we can easily equate the damage amount to actual wound severity.Because PCs can still die in 1 or 2 hits, we call this game style Rocket Tag.In a lot of video games like old school Final Fantasy, your hit points increase by level, but so does damage. You might have only 70 HP at the start of the game, but you're up at 9999 at the end. You can get hit by a planet and only take a couple thousand damage. Since lower-level enemies don't do much damage, you can wade through lots of them without needing healing.This style gives you plenty of time to adjust tactics as you get low in HP, and you're almost never killed before you can react. We call this game style Plot Immunity. Now, old school D&D did sorta half-and-half, by having attack bonuses scale, and HP scale, but damage and defenses didn't. So high-level combats have you hitting a lot more, but you don't actually kill your opponent faster. You have to describe hits as 'near misses,' because there's no clear correlation between 'damage' and actual wounds. Cure light wounds will fully heal a mortally wounded commoner, but you'd have to use it a dozen times to heal a mortally wounded high-level PC. There's a weird breakdown of the mechanic=narrative connection.And then 4e got out of hand, I feel, by having everything scale. Numbers get bigger but it doesn't feel impressive. So, in a hypothetical new game, designed to be fun and fast to play, which would you prefer?Rocket Tag - One or two hits will probably drop anyone, and the arms race is between your aim and their ability to dodge. Hits represent actual hits, and damage is actual wounds. A 20 ft. fall always does the same damage, and is always painful. However, a 1st level man in full plate is AC 20, while a 20th level guy might be AC 40.Plot Immunity - Hits don't correspond to actual wounds, and you either have people surviving great falls, or you have to make falling do more damage against higher level people. But you have more leeway to change tactics based on how well you're doing. Also, a man in full plate is always AC 20.</blockquote>

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