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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 237322" data-attributes="member: 1645">Anytime anyone suggests that D&D's combat system doesn't make sense -- or that it could use improvement -- someone says "try GURPS" (or something similar).  This is often followed by a derisive comment about "realism" and not-so-heroic characters dying not-very-heroically left and right.A game can be simple and heroic without being D&D.Certainly most alternatives (GURPS, Runequest, Rolemaster, etc.) aim for complexity and grittiness, but that isn't the only way to go.  If we look at how D&D models combat and combat skill, we again see that great warriors have many, many more Hit Points than lesser warriors, they hit a bit more often, they dodge and defend no better, and they do no more damage.  (Various Feats can improve each facet of fighting, of course, but the default progression works as described.)Would D&D be less heroic if great heroes got a Defense bonus?  Hardly!  If they hit more often?  Hardly!  If they did more damage?  Hardly!If they had fewer Hit Points?  Boo!  Hiss!  OK, OK, but what if they traded off massive Hit Points for some of those other heroic qualities?  If you, as a player, had a choice between +3 hp and +1 AC, which would you take?  At low level you'd probably take the Hit Points, and at higher level you'd probably take the AC -- but it's certainly not clear that +3 hp is always more heroic than +1 AC.For a heroic game, players want a large enough Hit Point buffer that they don't get wiped out by a lucky shot, but once a character has 20 or 30 Hit Points, he's passed the hurdle where a single lucky sword or spear shot can take him out.  At that point, is it less heroic to get hit 10% less often than to have 10% more Hit Points?</blockquote>

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