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My Idea on Making 4E Combat 'Grittier/More Realistic'
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<blockquote data-quote="Talaeden_Denthiir" data-source="post: 4539707" data-attributes="member: 18257"><p>This is an email that I originally wrote to my DM:</p><p></p><p>4E Rocks. It Rocks harder than 3E. Yeah, we both know that I've been harsh on the system so far, but that's just because I see it potential and am a little miffed that the game designers kind of did a half-assed job with some things while leaving other things out for the sake/pressure of deadlines/money.</p><p></p><p>One of the problems that people have with 4E is the lack of realism. They ascribe it to being too 'video-gaemy'. While I don't wholely agree with them as I think what WotC did was a wise decision both from a marketing stand-point and a standpoint of getting new/disenfrancised players into the game. But, some lack of realism is still there.</p><p></p><p>Many people correlate this with combat. They cite examples from taking an extended rest and washing away all of your wounds and within combat they cite the abstract nature of HP's and Healing Surges. While I haven't found any 'solutions' to the Resting thing and don't know if we need to' I've come up with a possible solution to making combat 'grittier'.</p><p></p><p>Others (including myself) have come up with ways in 3.5 to make crits count more. Things from crit cards to crit charts to imposing penalties with crits. What all this boils down to though is just more book keeping. What's my minus to attack now? How many points lower is my Str Score? I lost Con, so how many HP did I lose? A Crit to the stomach is like being poisoned, so has it been 10 rounds yet, do I need to make a secondary save? Stuff like that.</p><p></p><p>During the later months of 3.5 I tried to change rules by working within the existing system. I.E. I tried using existing mechanics to modify the system instead of further burdening it with added mechanics == new rules. For example I developed a Defense/Armor Acts as DR System using the existing Save Mechanics). That said, I (finally) bring up my idea for 4E:</p><p></p><p>Healing Surges are already a part of 4E. Your characters health is not only a reflection of your HP anymore. In the LFR 4E Preview adventure, 'Escape From Sembia', written by Chris Tulach, the characters had a Skill Challenge that involved escaping the city while being chased by the city guards. In this example, if a character attempted to scale a wall (climbing challenge) and failed it and fell, he would loose 1 or 2 healing surges to represent that. So how about this:</p><p></p><p>If a Character gets Critted, they loose a Healing Surge. Simple. All you do is check off a surge. Elegant, because it represents so much. Said character has less healing surges for suffering more 'heinous' wounds. They are effectively 'more wounded' roleplaying wise. A character with less healing surges do to Crits is gonna want to rest sooner and be less effective during combat. RP wise, "Tordek took a beating from that Orc Horde and is seriously f'ed up, and we need to get him to a safe place to rest soon".</p><p></p><p>What do you guys think?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Talaeden_Denthiir, post: 4539707, member: 18257"] This is an email that I originally wrote to my DM: 4E Rocks. It Rocks harder than 3E. Yeah, we both know that I've been harsh on the system so far, but that's just because I see it potential and am a little miffed that the game designers kind of did a half-assed job with some things while leaving other things out for the sake/pressure of deadlines/money. One of the problems that people have with 4E is the lack of realism. They ascribe it to being too 'video-gaemy'. While I don't wholely agree with them as I think what WotC did was a wise decision both from a marketing stand-point and a standpoint of getting new/disenfrancised players into the game. But, some lack of realism is still there. Many people correlate this with combat. They cite examples from taking an extended rest and washing away all of your wounds and within combat they cite the abstract nature of HP's and Healing Surges. While I haven't found any 'solutions' to the Resting thing and don't know if we need to' I've come up with a possible solution to making combat 'grittier'. Others (including myself) have come up with ways in 3.5 to make crits count more. Things from crit cards to crit charts to imposing penalties with crits. What all this boils down to though is just more book keeping. What's my minus to attack now? How many points lower is my Str Score? I lost Con, so how many HP did I lose? A Crit to the stomach is like being poisoned, so has it been 10 rounds yet, do I need to make a secondary save? Stuff like that. During the later months of 3.5 I tried to change rules by working within the existing system. I.E. I tried using existing mechanics to modify the system instead of further burdening it with added mechanics == new rules. For example I developed a Defense/Armor Acts as DR System using the existing Save Mechanics). That said, I (finally) bring up my idea for 4E: Healing Surges are already a part of 4E. Your characters health is not only a reflection of your HP anymore. In the LFR 4E Preview adventure, 'Escape From Sembia', written by Chris Tulach, the characters had a Skill Challenge that involved escaping the city while being chased by the city guards. In this example, if a character attempted to scale a wall (climbing challenge) and failed it and fell, he would loose 1 or 2 healing surges to represent that. So how about this: If a Character gets Critted, they loose a Healing Surge. Simple. All you do is check off a surge. Elegant, because it represents so much. Said character has less healing surges for suffering more 'heinous' wounds. They are effectively 'more wounded' roleplaying wise. A character with less healing surges do to Crits is gonna want to rest sooner and be less effective during combat. RP wise, "Tordek took a beating from that Orc Horde and is seriously f'ed up, and we need to get him to a safe place to rest soon". What do you guys think? [/QUOTE]
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