Taking D&D literally

[Pyrex]

[Hijacking]
Any damage that you have no way to resist (falling damage, etc) should be a Fort Save or die mechanic, with the DC based on how far you fall. Using HP to represent 'falling damage' is just plain silly.
[/Hijacking]

[Hijack again]
Instead of that, why not just change the way falling damage is handled?

What I'd be tempted to do is to scale both damage die and max number of dice (terminal velocity) by Size.

If we assume a baseline of Medium using d6's with a max of 20d6, Small would then be 15d4 and Large would be 25d8 and so on.

[/Hijack again]

 

[SWBaxter]

Now, if the world really worked as D&D suggests, the rulers would in actuality be better than the ruled. The world would really be comprised of fascist super-states, but it would be an actual benevolent fascist super-state that its people would gravitate to.

Not necessarily. The question you have to deal with pretty quick is "why don't dragons/outsiders/undead/other monsters rule the world?" Humans and other 1 hit die types can only achieve the heights of power by defeating threats, dragons and such achieve effectively godlike power just by aging. And if they know that all those little humanoids have the potential to someday achieve awesome power through surviving conflicts, they're going to squash anybody who looks like they're at least level 3 or so. Absent some kind of deus ex machina (quite possibly literally), civilization isn't going to advance past the stone age as humanoids huddle in fear from the draconic/demonic/undead/whatever masters that hunt their leaders. Maybe anybody who's too competent (clearly above 1st level) gets expelled from the tribe for fear that they'll bring one of the local critters down on the tribe. A few good-aligned critters might rule over relatively safe and benign enclaves, but even they will be on the watch for humanoids levelling up, since humans and such aren't good-aligned by default.

Could be a cool world (and I actually have notes on a setting somewhat like this, awaiting only an interested group), but it'd certainly be very different .

 

[Wombat]

BUMP out of sheer fascination to see what other tropes people will play upon

 

[Klaus]

Wombat, just as a sidenote, Paladins *do* face the same restriction as monks. Once a Paladin, always a Paladin, or never again a Paladin.

 

[Slife]

Physics would be the study of the game's mechanics. Kings would pay millions to hire trainers who would munchkin their children.

 

[VirgilCaine]

[Hijacking]
Any damage that you have no way to resist (falling damage, etc) should be a Fort Save or die mechanic, with the DC based on how far you fall. Using HP to represent 'falling damage' is just plain silly.[/Hijacking]

[Hijacking]IIRC, the 1e falling rules were 1d6 for 10', 2d6 for 20', 3d6 for 30', and 10d6 [or something] for 40' or more. Essentially, you couldn't really fall more than 40' and live.
[/hijacking]

Barbarians would probably not be trusted within cities simply for their tendency to go whacko and start hitting things. Yes, this is a controllable talent and has a limited number of uses, so perhaps there are patrols in town who go around provoking Barbarians until they rage a given number of times per day and then let them go about their business. Barbarians, however, are also notoriously jumpy (Uncanny Dodge) and would probably come off as paranoid. Overall, society would be happiest to keep them far away from other people. And their literacy problem would probably make them objects of derision and scorn in the otherwise literatre world. Top this off with the fact that Barbarians cannot be Lawful (Alignment working as an Absolute), structured societies would again have little reason to trust them.

Whacko. Hitting things. Guards Provoking Barbarians. Rage doesn't require a Will save to avoid going into. It's not Hulk-ness. It's not a psychosis that the guy can''t control.

I'm curious about the social dynamics of knowing that you absolutely cannot kill Grognard the Hero with one well placed sword thrust or crossbow bolt, no matter how well placed. Assassins would just flat out refuse certain jobs.

Armies would refuse to charge a single high level fighter. In our world, the first guy at least can hope he might get lucky. In literal-D&D-world, he knows he's dead, period.

Armies might become obsolete altogether - seriously, what army would go up against a group of 20 mid to high level adventurers? It'd be like medieval soldiers charging a Panzer division.

An assasin might not be able to kill him with one unpoisoned crossbow bolt or sword thrust...but a glove of storing with a poisoned heavy pick in it has got to hurt when making a coup de grace.

First of all, an army could simply grapple the enemy! There's no limit to Aid Another bonuses... 60 guys throwing pebbles at you when you're trying to keep somebody from pinning you has to be distracting. Boots of flying? Meet hill giants of rock throwing.

Of course, this is assuming that the Wizard or Sorceror isn't around to Cloudkill the army. A problem which I have taken care of IMC.

 

[A'koss]

We used to have these discussions all the time on RGFD, lots of (rather opinionated) fun...

A "real life" world with D&Disms would look very different indeed but a lot will depend on how long an "intelligent" humanity has been on earth and did they have to compete with every race in the Monter Manuals while doing so. Certain spawn-creating, intelligent and incorporeal undead like the wraith (who are not bound to any one location) could very likely spread like a virus and take over the entire world - crushing nearly all others through sheer numbers. And if not the undead, there are many, many other more worthy races to rise to dominance than humans and the other PC races. And may the Gods help you if you have Epic Level monsters running around in the world. Direct and continual divine intervention may be the only way humanity would have a chance in such a world.

Barring that however, D&D advancement can improve you in virtually every facet of your being. But think about what some of the numbers would mean in the real world. No one in the history of mankind had anything approaching a 30+ Charisma. What would meeting such a person be like? Or how about a 30+ Wisdom? Or someone who had both?

What is it to be so powerful that you could literally kill everyone in a city in hand-to-hand combat. Or wizards who were one-man armies. Invisbility, Mind Blank, Flight, Teleportation... Go ahead, frag that ugly suburb... who's going to know? Power corrupts and all that... What laws could control them? Hell, death itself is a minor inconvenience at best for high level guys. What if one group rose to such power that they could steamroll over all opposition?

Oh, I could go on and on and on with this topic...

Cheers!

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Oh, I could go on and on and on with this topic...

Cheers!

Then do, by all means.


Oh, and bump BTW.

 

[JimAde]

Fist fights would be very commonplace. Since nonlethal damage never actually causes injury, and you can't accidentally cause lethal damage, people would not take fist fights very seriously. Sure, it still hurts, but no more than playing rough football or rugby. The "friendly bar fight" would be a reality.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

What is it to be so powerful that you could literally kill everyone in a city in hand-to-hand combat. Or wizards who were one-man armies. Invisbility, Mind Blank, Flight, Teleportation... Go ahead, frag that ugly suburb... who's going to know? Power corrupts and all that... What laws could control them? Hell, death itself is a minor inconvenience at best for high level guys. What if one group rose to such power that they could steamroll over all opposition?

The Black Company series did a good job with this, IMHO.