takyris said:
Kengar, could you demonstrate some other rules systems in which a normal -- no class levels, nothing special about him at all, and in this rules system he's considered an acceptible monster to send against just-starting-out heroes -- goblin can kill the most powerful player character possible with a single lucky strike?
Now, if you gave the goblin a morningstar, the weapon it is using in the monster manual, and if it rolled a critical hit, and if you were using the d20 Modern damage threshold instead of the D&D damage threshold, you could conceivably do 14 points of damage (2d8-2 for strength), which would force a massive damage save on anyone with a Con of 14 or lower. But you've specified a dagger, so that's out.
I'm not using traps, either, since what you seem to have in mind is a "no environment, no special circumstances, just one guy and a goblin in an arena, with the goblin having nothing but a dagger and the hero having all his equipment" fight.
It is statistically unlikely, but not impossible, for a goblin to kill a high-level character in D&D. I mean, thousands to one odds, yes. The easiest way would be for the goblin to disarm the hero with an incredibly lucky roll and then use the hero's weapon, and then roll a critical hit incredibly luckily, and so forth. Not completely impossible. Unlikely, yes, but not impossible.
So, if that's the test, please show me a system where a completely equipped character at the highest level (point value, whatever) achievable in the game, and who is combat-maximized (ie, not a GURPS guy with no points in combat), has a significantly better chance than the D&D guy of dying at the hands of something he was expected to beat when his character was first starting out as a brand-new recruit.
In addition to the ones alrady listed by others, I'll throw in Savage Worlds.
It's fine to talk about "all you have to so is change this or that rule" but then -in effect- what you are saying is that your game
doesn't meet this criteria. Any system, if sufficiently "tweaked" will meet a given requirement, but at what point are you still playing the same game? "Using d20 Modern" means "Not using D&D."
Two simple mechanics that many systems have, either of which will help pass the Lone Goblin test are exploding damage rolls and/or Wounds v. "Hit Points."
Exploding damage rolls mean that there is no upper limit on the amount of damage done by a weapon. In Warhammer FRP, you have "Ulric's Fury", in Savage Worlds you have the "Ace", many other systems have this kind of mechanic as well. What this represents is the lucky shot that slips between the armor joints and severs the artery, etc. The mechanic varies slightly from system to system, but the jist of it is this: if you roll maximum damage (i.e. a 10 on a d10), then you keep rolling and adding that die until it doesn't come up maximum. (This happens a lot more than you might think in Savage Worlds). The result? A goblin rolling a d4+1 with his knife might do 15-20 points of damage or more. Often? No, but I've seen a mook orc, rolling d8+2 damage kill Aragorn during a LOTR Skirmish in one blow (37 points of damage, when 21 would do the trick).
Wounds v. HP means that you don't have these abstract extra points that aren't really representing taking actual damage. The "roll with the punches" of D&D hit points means that the blow from the goblin that did maximum damage (call it 10 hp or so) didn't even actually touch the Ftr20. He wrenched his head out of the way at the last second, or threw himself to the side, etc. In a wounds-based system, you tend to not gain very many points over your career (if any). How hard you are to kill becomes a function of your defenses (parry, armor, etc.) not somehow being able to take 20 times the punishment you used to.
Wounds systems also tend to give characters some leniency is the form of "Fate Points" (WH) or "Bennies" (Savage Worlds). These give the player the option of bailing his character out of trouble by doing things like avoiding the effects of a nasty critical hit, or trying to reduce the damage taken by "soaking" it. This keeps the games from being
too lethal, but it's not too great a stretch for a character in the thick of things to be out of bennies or fate points and facing that lucky thrust from a gobbo.
Savage Worlds isn't really that gritty of a system, IMO. It's more pulp/cinematic, but it still isn't as high power as D&D. A SW fantasy PC tends to start off tougher than its 0xp D&D counterpart, but they don't reach the same dizzying heights at higher levels.
