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*TTRPGs General
In Defense of the Theory of Dissociated Mechanics
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5624334" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>I'd explain it from a results point of view, which is where I was going with the football example above.</p><p></p><p>Take a simple daily that lets you do buckets of damage. We'll ignore the rider effects for the moment.</p><p></p><p>Now, compare this to a really brilliant critical hit from 3e. At the end of the day, there's not much of a difference - both attacks do buckets of damage. The difference is, with the daily, the player chooses when it occurs, and with the 3e critical hit, the dice do the deciding.</p><p></p><p>But, let's keep looking at our 3e crit. How likely is it that you get that brilliant critical? For one, you've got to threaten the crit in the first place, then you have to confirm the crit, and then you have to roll well enough on your damage that you have a crit and not just a high damage regular hit. Plus, you have to score that crit on a target that will notice the extra damage as well. Critting a baddie that has 2 hit points doesn't really show off the crit does it? Dead is dead. How would you differentiate between a crit on someone with 2 hit points and a regular hit that does enough damage to outright kill the target (ie, more than 12 points of damage)?</p><p></p><p>After all, if you crit, but do minimum damage, how do you explain, in game, the difference between that crit and a really good regular hit? They did the same (or close enough) damage after all.</p><p></p><p>Let's ballpark the figures and say that there's about a 3% chance on any given attack that you will score a great critical hit. Yes, I know that's a totally arbitrary number, but, stick with me here.</p><p></p><p>Now, let's assume that in a given fight, a fighter gets ten attacks. I personally think that's pretty high, but, again, we're ballparking.</p><p></p><p>That means I'm going to get a spectacular crit a bit more often than once per four fights, but, again, it's in the neighbourhood. </p><p></p><p>So, now, it looks like a crit mechanic looks a lot like a daily mechanic. Most of the time, it gets pretty much the same results. Over the course of 40 attacks, you get one big crit. Which is likely pretty close to how many attacks a fighter will make between rest periods.</p><p></p><p>Since the end result is pretty much the same, does the process actually matter? Does it matter that a "spectacular crit" becomes a player character resource? The end result of the events in the game world play out virtually the same.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 5624334, member: 22779"] I'd explain it from a results point of view, which is where I was going with the football example above. Take a simple daily that lets you do buckets of damage. We'll ignore the rider effects for the moment. Now, compare this to a really brilliant critical hit from 3e. At the end of the day, there's not much of a difference - both attacks do buckets of damage. The difference is, with the daily, the player chooses when it occurs, and with the 3e critical hit, the dice do the deciding. But, let's keep looking at our 3e crit. How likely is it that you get that brilliant critical? For one, you've got to threaten the crit in the first place, then you have to confirm the crit, and then you have to roll well enough on your damage that you have a crit and not just a high damage regular hit. Plus, you have to score that crit on a target that will notice the extra damage as well. Critting a baddie that has 2 hit points doesn't really show off the crit does it? Dead is dead. How would you differentiate between a crit on someone with 2 hit points and a regular hit that does enough damage to outright kill the target (ie, more than 12 points of damage)? After all, if you crit, but do minimum damage, how do you explain, in game, the difference between that crit and a really good regular hit? They did the same (or close enough) damage after all. Let's ballpark the figures and say that there's about a 3% chance on any given attack that you will score a great critical hit. Yes, I know that's a totally arbitrary number, but, stick with me here. Now, let's assume that in a given fight, a fighter gets ten attacks. I personally think that's pretty high, but, again, we're ballparking. That means I'm going to get a spectacular crit a bit more often than once per four fights, but, again, it's in the neighbourhood. So, now, it looks like a crit mechanic looks a lot like a daily mechanic. Most of the time, it gets pretty much the same results. Over the course of 40 attacks, you get one big crit. Which is likely pretty close to how many attacks a fighter will make between rest periods. Since the end result is pretty much the same, does the process actually matter? Does it matter that a "spectacular crit" becomes a player character resource? The end result of the events in the game world play out virtually the same. [/QUOTE]
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