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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The "everyone at full fighting ability at 1 hp" conundrum
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<blockquote data-quote="DND_Reborn" data-source="post: 7829902" data-attributes="member: 6987520"><p>Every once in a while this comes up. We resolved it by removing "meat" from the equation. IRL, a successful sword hit would take down just about any one, regardless of experience in battle, etc. "Hit points" = "combat effectiveness" at our table. Loss of hp sometimes represents injuries, a loss of energy, your luck running out, your skill tested too far, etc.</p><p></p><p>We play the "killing blow" which reduces your hp to 0 is the strike, spell, etc. that finally does you in. That's it, you've had too much and simply can't avoid, absorb, dodge, etc. anymore. You are done and drop.</p><p></p><p>In movies, imagine the flashing exchange of attacks and parries and dodges, until finally one combatant runs the other through! That is the final blow that reduced hp to 0. Some of the earlier attacks "hit" and reduced hp, others missed completely.</p><p></p><p>It reminds me of when we first started with nearly <em>all</em> new players! One character, a monk, tried an unarmed strike on an ogre and "missed". The player asked, "How could I actually <em>miss</em>?!" We explained there as a good chance you might have made physical contact, but your strike was ineffective in reducing the <em>combat effectiveness</em> of the ogre (i.e. you did no damage).</p><p></p><p>It works for us and we don't have any confusion about it. I explain the concept to new players and they get it after a bit. Maybe it will help your table? Maybe not?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DND_Reborn, post: 7829902, member: 6987520"] Every once in a while this comes up. We resolved it by removing "meat" from the equation. IRL, a successful sword hit would take down just about any one, regardless of experience in battle, etc. "Hit points" = "combat effectiveness" at our table. Loss of hp sometimes represents injuries, a loss of energy, your luck running out, your skill tested too far, etc. We play the "killing blow" which reduces your hp to 0 is the strike, spell, etc. that finally does you in. That's it, you've had too much and simply can't avoid, absorb, dodge, etc. anymore. You are done and drop. In movies, imagine the flashing exchange of attacks and parries and dodges, until finally one combatant runs the other through! That is the final blow that reduced hp to 0. Some of the earlier attacks "hit" and reduced hp, others missed completely. It reminds me of when we first started with nearly [I]all[/I] new players! One character, a monk, tried an unarmed strike on an ogre and "missed". The player asked, "How could I actually [I]miss[/I]?!" We explained there as a good chance you might have made physical contact, but your strike was ineffective in reducing the [I]combat effectiveness[/I] of the ogre (i.e. you did no damage). It works for us and we don't have any confusion about it. I explain the concept to new players and they get it after a bit. Maybe it will help your table? Maybe not? [/QUOTE]
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The "everyone at full fighting ability at 1 hp" conundrum
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