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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 7328136" data-attributes="member: 6696971">To start, I forgot to affix the prefix D&amp;D 4e to this thread, so my post lacked the appropriate context.&nbsp; My apologies, and I've rectified that.&nbsp; 2nd (below)....AA and pemerton answer your (1) in the same way that I would.&nbsp; The goal of combat in any edition of D&amp;D (but especially with 4e with its ethos and related mechanics) is about more than just ablating HPs to 0.&nbsp; And that ablation of HPs to 0 is most certainly about the loss of something precious in the orthodox sense (one's life!).But &quot;one's life&quot; is only one answer to the question of &quot;what thing is precious that you don't want to lose.&quot;&nbsp; I gave several other answers to that question in the lead post (life, territory, a loved one, a charge, honor, the sanctity of a vow, a work, etc).&nbsp; A combat's premise could be about saving a little girl and her father from a sea monster (for its own end and as a nice perk to grant you entrance and trust/social currency in their settlement).&nbsp; It could be a duel for honor (which doesn't have to result in the death of either participant).&nbsp; The limits are only bound by creativity, functional tropes, and the robustness of the mechanics to enable interesting decision-points and outcomes as it relates to those tropes.Regarding your (2), that is an insightful question that should be answered in this thread.&nbsp; It is certainly one possible outcome of things that a Skill Challenge win condition being met supersedes (thereby ending) the combat.&nbsp; The typical avenues for this would be a concurrent social combat with a physical combat or an exorcism of an otherwise unwilling adversary (or something equivalent).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 7328136, member: 6696971"] To start, I forgot to affix the prefix D&D 4e to this thread, so my post lacked the appropriate context. My apologies, and I've rectified that. 2nd (below).... AA and pemerton answer your (1) in the same way that I would. The goal of combat in any edition of D&D (but especially with 4e with its ethos and related mechanics) is about more than just ablating HPs to 0. And that ablation of HPs to 0 is most certainly about the loss of something precious in the orthodox sense (one's life!). But "one's life" is only one answer to the question of "what thing is precious that you don't want to lose." I gave several other answers to that question in the lead post (life, territory, a loved one, a charge, honor, the sanctity of a vow, a work, etc). A combat's premise could be about saving a little girl and her father from a sea monster (for its own end and as a nice perk to grant you entrance and trust/social currency in their settlement). It could be a duel for honor (which doesn't have to result in the death of either participant). The limits are only bound by creativity, functional tropes, and the robustness of the mechanics to enable interesting decision-points and outcomes as it relates to those tropes. Regarding your (2), that is an insightful question that should be answered in this thread. It is certainly one possible outcome of things that a Skill Challenge win condition being met supersedes (thereby ending) the combat. The typical avenues for this would be a concurrent social combat with a physical combat or an exorcism of an otherwise unwilling adversary (or something equivalent). [/QUOTE]

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