NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6318526" data-attributes="member: 42582">I think this is needlessly pejorative.They have to design the game to some specification rather than another. There is nothing inherently virtuous about a game lacking second wind or action surge. And there is nothing "lowest common denominator" about having them in the game.They are very simple ways of giving the player of a fighter "moves", much like the player of a rogue has "moves" (via cunning action) and the player of a spell-caster has "moves" (via choosing which spell to cast).They are not the only way to give a fighter player moves - another possible system has been sketched a handful of posts above this one - but they happen to be the one that the designers have settled on.I think there is more going on than just the "blank canvas".In a system of called shots for a minor penalty (eg increased natural fumble range), can a player declare as a called shot "I cut off its head"? Which permits bypassing the hit point system altogether (as well as the need for a vorpal sword, which is the most powerful magic weapon in the game and has as its sole power the ability to decapitate).And then the next question is, can an NPC make the same action declaration and bypass a PC's hit points?In other words, the presence of the hit point system in D&D, with the obvious implication that bypassing that system via SoD is a big deal, is a major barrier to introducing free-form stunts. Because it interposes a mechanical barrier between intention and realisation - the attacker is always intending to win the combat, but a successful to it roll is not enough to realise that intent until the opponent's hp have been run down.Good post.In Rolemaster, the harpy would have fewer concussion hits than the ogre (concussion hits in RM are one aspect of meat - attrition of them represents bruising and bleeding; other parts of meat are represented via a fairly intricate system of crit-delivered debuffs). But to represent its magical nature it might have a high defensive bonus (somewhat analogous to a 3E deflection and/or enhancement bonus) or critical reduction (somewhat analogous to DR/+X in 3E). In other words, the mechanics are presented in such a way as to answer the "why" question.</blockquote>

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