Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 5059427" data-attributes="member: 3448">I agree with PCat's description.&nbsp; I also agree that swingy fights are more exciting and more deadly than non-swingy fights.&nbsp; The other aspect is that they can be more frustrating-- swingy also often implies a substantial luck component, which can be frustrating.&nbsp; For example, monsters with high defenses but low hit points will tend to make for a swingier fight-- if the PCs can connect, they can end the fight quickly, but if they roll poorly, they can get killed.&nbsp; The trouble is that that can make the players have a strong feeling of &quot;if only our rolls were better we would have done fine,&quot; which can be a source of annoyance.(Of course, frustration from periods of really bad rolls are inevitable in any game where dice are important to the resolution system, but swingier fights within that increase the risk of frustration.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cerebral Paladin, post: 5059427, member: 3448"] I agree with PCat's description. I also agree that swingy fights are more exciting and more deadly than non-swingy fights. The other aspect is that they can be more frustrating-- swingy also often implies a substantial luck component, which can be frustrating. For example, monsters with high defenses but low hit points will tend to make for a swingier fight-- if the PCs can connect, they can end the fight quickly, but if they roll poorly, they can get killed. The trouble is that that can make the players have a strong feeling of "if only our rolls were better we would have done fine," which can be a source of annoyance. (Of course, frustration from periods of really bad rolls are inevitable in any game where dice are important to the resolution system, but swingier fights within that increase the risk of frustration.) [/QUOTE]

Verification