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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 1428468" data-attributes="member: 463">I agree with your point that in considering relative damage, one needs to consider typical examples of use.&nbsp; Eg on the LAW thread, people seemed happy with the idea that a direct hit from a LAW missile did 10d6 dmg, or 35 hp, and compared that to a greatsword's average 7hp dmg.&nbsp; I pointed out that a power-attacking high level fighter can easiy do 40-50 damage/hit with a greatsword.&nbsp; IMC (modern/D&amp;D crossover) I used a realistic damage scale for weapons, so a direct LAW hit does around 350 damage/hit (100d6), a direct RPG-7 hit does around 200 dmg/hit, and so on.I wouldn't regard your d6+8 longsword guy as a _typical_ case, though. Typical for me would probably be STR 13, 1-handed wielder doing d8+1, or average 5.5/hit.&nbsp; Typical greatsword damage IMC would be around 2d6+2, or 9 dmg/hit. IMC a 9mm pistol round does 1d6 dmg, or average 3.5/hit, equivalent to a shortsword thrust by a wielder of average strength.&nbsp; I think that's perfectly reasonable.&nbsp; A 5.56mm rifle FMJ round does 2d6 dmg, a 7.56mm does I think 3d6+1, a .50 Browning or Barrett type rifle round does 8d6, and so on - 30mm autocannon does I think 16d6.&nbsp; I'm basing damage on the result of a direct hit to a human, so inherently non-fatal scratches are ignored, assumed to be 'misses'.&nbsp; From figures I've seen, about 50% of all 7.56mm hits to unarmoured humans are fatal; about 25% of 5.56mm hits are.&nbsp; Can't recall data for 9mm pistol hits but I'm sure it's much lower, I suspect around 5%.&nbsp; For .50 it's well over 90% fatal, though some people survive - in D&amp;D terms, the ones with lots of hp &amp; a low damage roll.&nbsp; No human being survives a direct LAW hit, though.I think the d20 hit point system is already cinematic enough, without high-hp high-Fort characters being almost invulnerable to weapons - in cinema terms I prefer 'Saving Private Ryan' type combat to 'Desperado'.&nbsp; Heroic PCs can be made hard to hit by level-related boosts to their AC, but IMO should still fear being hit by heavy weapons.&nbsp; They should fear large amounts of autofire, but real (unarmoured) people have kept on fighting after being hit by 16+ small-calibre bullets so I'm prepared to allow high level PCs to do the same.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 1428468, member: 463"] I agree with your point that in considering relative damage, one needs to consider typical examples of use. Eg on the LAW thread, people seemed happy with the idea that a direct hit from a LAW missile did 10d6 dmg, or 35 hp, and compared that to a greatsword's average 7hp dmg. I pointed out that a power-attacking high level fighter can easiy do 40-50 damage/hit with a greatsword. IMC (modern/D&D crossover) I used a realistic damage scale for weapons, so a direct LAW hit does around 350 damage/hit (100d6), a direct RPG-7 hit does around 200 dmg/hit, and so on. I wouldn't regard your d6+8 longsword guy as a _typical_ case, though. Typical for me would probably be STR 13, 1-handed wielder doing d8+1, or average 5.5/hit. Typical greatsword damage IMC would be around 2d6+2, or 9 dmg/hit. IMC a 9mm pistol round does 1d6 dmg, or average 3.5/hit, equivalent to a shortsword thrust by a wielder of average strength. I think that's perfectly reasonable. A 5.56mm rifle FMJ round does 2d6 dmg, a 7.56mm does I think 3d6+1, a .50 Browning or Barrett type rifle round does 8d6, and so on - 30mm autocannon does I think 16d6. I'm basing damage on the result of a direct hit to a human, so inherently non-fatal scratches are ignored, assumed to be 'misses'. From figures I've seen, about 50% of all 7.56mm hits to unarmoured humans are fatal; about 25% of 5.56mm hits are. Can't recall data for 9mm pistol hits but I'm sure it's much lower, I suspect around 5%. For .50 it's well over 90% fatal, though some people survive - in D&D terms, the ones with lots of hp & a low damage roll. No human being survives a direct LAW hit, though. I think the d20 hit point system is already cinematic enough, without high-hp high-Fort characters being almost invulnerable to weapons - in cinema terms I prefer 'Saving Private Ryan' type combat to 'Desperado'. Heroic PCs can be made hard to hit by level-related boosts to their AC, but IMO should still fear being hit by heavy weapons. They should fear large amounts of autofire, but real (unarmoured) people have kept on fighting after being hit by 16+ small-calibre bullets so I'm prepared to allow high level PCs to do the same. [/QUOTE]

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