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RPG Combat: Sport or War?
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7726706" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Where did Gygax say that? Not in his PHB or DMG, both of which attribute high hit points to skill, luck, divine intervention, etc.</p><p></p><p>The game also suggests that the terrain that comes into play will be commensurate to level/tier of play (see eg p 44 of the 4e DMG). The game doesn't anticipate that <em>within a given campaign</em>, dropping the ceiling on someone does different damage depending on the level of the dropper (or the victim of the drop). Once dropping is established as doing X damage, it does X damage.</p><p></p><p>But the game does anticipate that dropping won't recur across levels and especially across tiers of play, because the game is expressly designed around an escalation of the narrative stakes as the PCs grow in level and move up the tiers. So if your Heroic characters are dropping ceilings on their enemies, then the expectation is that Paragon characters will be dropping whole buildings on their enemies, and Epic characters will be dropping mountain tops on their enemies.</p><p></p><p>So why does a fighter in AD&D, or 3E, or 5e, who ambushes and stabs someone, do only enough damage to kill a mook? (Whereas a thief or assassin might do more?)</p><p></p><p>Is it because the game designer thought killing by ambush is boring compared to killing in face-to-face combat? I think the answer is obviously yes. And personally, when it comes to game design I think having regard to what is or isn't boring makes sense. Likewise when it comes to authorship. So doubly so in a game that includes authorship as part of its play.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7726706, member: 42582"] Where did Gygax say that? Not in his PHB or DMG, both of which attribute high hit points to skill, luck, divine intervention, etc. The game also suggests that the terrain that comes into play will be commensurate to level/tier of play (see eg p 44 of the 4e DMG). The game doesn't anticipate that [I]within a given campaign[/I], dropping the ceiling on someone does different damage depending on the level of the dropper (or the victim of the drop). Once dropping is established as doing X damage, it does X damage. But the game does anticipate that dropping won't recur across levels and especially across tiers of play, because the game is expressly designed around an escalation of the narrative stakes as the PCs grow in level and move up the tiers. So if your Heroic characters are dropping ceilings on their enemies, then the expectation is that Paragon characters will be dropping whole buildings on their enemies, and Epic characters will be dropping mountain tops on their enemies. So why does a fighter in AD&D, or 3E, or 5e, who ambushes and stabs someone, do only enough damage to kill a mook? (Whereas a thief or assassin might do more?) Is it because the game designer thought killing by ambush is boring compared to killing in face-to-face combat? I think the answer is obviously yes. And personally, when it comes to game design I think having regard to what is or isn't boring makes sense. Likewise when it comes to authorship. So doubly so in a game that includes authorship as part of its play. [/QUOTE]
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