Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Mearls: The core of D&D
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Teataine" data-source="post: 5602038" data-attributes="member: 6678036"><p><em>"More 'realistic' combat systems could certainly have been included here, but they have no real part in a game for a group of players having an exciting adventure."</em></p><p>p.9</p><p><em>"As has been detailed, hit points are not actually a measure of physical damage."</em></p><p>p.61</p><p><em>"It is quite unreasonable to assume that as a character gains levels of ability in his or her class that a corresponding gain in actual ability to sustain physical damage takes place. It is preposterous to state such an assumption, for if we are to assume that a man is killed by a sword thrust which does 4 hit points of damage, we must similarly assume that a hero could, on the average, withstand five such thrusts before being slain!"</em></p><p>p.82</p><p>-Gary Gygax, AD&D DMG</p><p></p><p>PC hit points never were the same as physical damage, but luck, morale, arcane and divine protection, combat skill, sixth sense etc. D&D is an extremely abstract game when it comes to combat. It doesn't simulate actual melee any better than it simulates naval warfare. Hit points are a game mechanic, an abstraction, a pacing mechanism. </p><p></p><p>So I don't see where the "wounds closing due to oratory" bit is coming from, since those lost HP don't represent wounds in the first place.</p><p></p><p>I don't even play 4E by the way, it's just that I find this argument rather moot. If you want swords that deal wounds instead of meta point loss there's still Runequest for example. </p><p></p><p>In fact I'd posit the opposite than you: that "such nonsense" was always inherent in the D&D combat system and that it was an oversight on part of early D&D to have omitted methods of HP recovery other than "wound closing".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Teataine, post: 5602038, member: 6678036"] [I]"More 'realistic' combat systems could certainly have been included here, but they have no real part in a game for a group of players having an exciting adventure."[/I] p.9 [I]"As has been detailed, hit points are not actually a measure of physical damage."[/I] p.61 [I]"It is quite unreasonable to assume that as a character gains levels of ability in his or her class that a corresponding gain in actual ability to sustain physical damage takes place. It is preposterous to state such an assumption, for if we are to assume that a man is killed by a sword thrust which does 4 hit points of damage, we must similarly assume that a hero could, on the average, withstand five such thrusts before being slain!"[/I] p.82 -Gary Gygax, AD&D DMG PC hit points never were the same as physical damage, but luck, morale, arcane and divine protection, combat skill, sixth sense etc. D&D is an extremely abstract game when it comes to combat. It doesn't simulate actual melee any better than it simulates naval warfare. Hit points are a game mechanic, an abstraction, a pacing mechanism. So I don't see where the "wounds closing due to oratory" bit is coming from, since those lost HP don't represent wounds in the first place. I don't even play 4E by the way, it's just that I find this argument rather moot. If you want swords that deal wounds instead of meta point loss there's still Runequest for example. In fact I'd posit the opposite than you: that "such nonsense" was always inherent in the D&D combat system and that it was an oversight on part of early D&D to have omitted methods of HP recovery other than "wound closing". [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Mearls: The core of D&D
Top