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How much should 5e aim at balance?
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<blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 5985896" data-attributes="member: 8461"><p>I disagree; I think that what you quoted backs up my point very well. Let's read these quotes again, but change where you've placed the emphasis.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>First, the fact that he says "by and large" is clearly indicating that his previous statement is not meant to be understood as an expressly literal definition; "by and large" means that there's a degree of flexibility.</p><p></p><p>What's more striking is that he's saying "as far as characters...are concerned." This is clearly him saying that hit points are a dissociated mechanic, as creatures don't have any conception of it (because, as he talks about more clearly later, the issue of damage scaling is too great for him to ignore).</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>The first part of the emboldened areas shows that he is clearly saying that some degree of physical damage is being taken; he's simply saying it's scaled down to being "a mere nick or scratch."</p><p></p><p>The second part is his definition of why these physical wounds are so slight, despite the numbers; hits are still being landed, they're just not that large (this would later come to be called "rolling with the blows" - which is still incumbent on blows being landed to roll with).</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Notice the emboldened part here; it clearly indicates that damage is being sustained, just not in proportion to the hit points marked off - damage scaling again.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Here Gary out-and-out says that increased hit points reflect the ability to withstand greater damage. He also talks about the "sixth sense," but doesn't say specifically what it relates to beyond increased hit points, which I believe talks about the issue of damage scaling (hence why he'd mentioned it so many times previously, and does again later).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There's no need to change what you emboldened here, since it out and out says it still grazes the fighter - physical damage again.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Again, this highlights my original point - the blow has been landed; the degree of seriousness is a scaling issue, but doesn't negate the fact that hit point loss represents being struck in combat.</p><p></p><p>Simply put, I find there to be no support at all for hit points being anything other than physical wounds, at least in any edition of the game prior to 4E. Virtually all of the cited examples are simply trying to address the issue of why a set amount of damage is lethal to low-level characters yet inconsequential to high-level characters, when levels themselves are a dissociated mechanic. In other words, they were trying to address damage scaling, and in the process ended up creating a lot of confusion.</p><p></p><p>I can see why people would think the text was saying that hit point loss isn't a physical wound, but I don't believe that's what the text is saying or is attempting to say.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alzrius, post: 5985896, member: 8461"] I disagree; I think that what you quoted backs up my point very well. Let's read these quotes again, but change where you've placed the emphasis. First, the fact that he says "by and large" is clearly indicating that his previous statement is not meant to be understood as an expressly literal definition; "by and large" means that there's a degree of flexibility. What's more striking is that he's saying "as far as characters...are concerned." This is clearly him saying that hit points are a dissociated mechanic, as creatures don't have any conception of it (because, as he talks about more clearly later, the issue of damage scaling is too great for him to ignore). The first part of the emboldened areas shows that he is clearly saying that some degree of physical damage is being taken; he's simply saying it's scaled down to being "a mere nick or scratch." The second part is his definition of why these physical wounds are so slight, despite the numbers; hits are still being landed, they're just not that large (this would later come to be called "rolling with the blows" - which is still incumbent on blows being landed to roll with). Notice the emboldened part here; it clearly indicates that damage is being sustained, just not in proportion to the hit points marked off - damage scaling again. Here Gary out-and-out says that increased hit points reflect the ability to withstand greater damage. He also talks about the "sixth sense," but doesn't say specifically what it relates to beyond increased hit points, which I believe talks about the issue of damage scaling (hence why he'd mentioned it so many times previously, and does again later). There's no need to change what you emboldened here, since it out and out says it still grazes the fighter - physical damage again. Again, this highlights my original point - the blow has been landed; the degree of seriousness is a scaling issue, but doesn't negate the fact that hit point loss represents being struck in combat. Simply put, I find there to be no support at all for hit points being anything other than physical wounds, at least in any edition of the game prior to 4E. Virtually all of the cited examples are simply trying to address the issue of why a set amount of damage is lethal to low-level characters yet inconsequential to high-level characters, when levels themselves are a dissociated mechanic. In other words, they were trying to address damage scaling, and in the process ended up creating a lot of confusion. I can see why people would think the text was saying that hit point loss isn't a physical wound, but I don't believe that's what the text is saying or is attempting to say. [/QUOTE]
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