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<blockquote data-quote="Al'Kelhar" data-source="post: 518048" data-attributes="member: 7884">Unfortunately, the combat mechanics of D&amp;D are simplified in order to promote ease of use, understanding, entertainment, and &quot;game balance&quot; (although one might observe, wryly, that they can at times achieve none of these aims).&nbsp; Similar arguments based on &quot;logic&quot; are used to promote the idea that armour should not make a person harder to hit, only harder to injure, and therefore armour should provide damage reduction (IMHO this fails to appreicate the very game mechanic that AC represents in D&amp;D - AC is representative of how hard something is to damage, not to hit - but that's a whole other discussion).If you want logic to dictate every game mechanic in D&amp;D combat, think on this:I want to merely touch my opponent, somewhere, somehow, in order to discharge my touch spell.&nbsp; Therefore, I don't need to put much physical effort into the attack, and I only need to touch my opponent somewhere, and I because of that I need not put myself into a particularly vulnerable situation when making the touch attack.&nbsp; So: (a) Why should I get my Str bonus to the attack roll? (b) Why don't I get my Dex bonus to my attack roll?&nbsp; (c) Why don't I get a dodge bonus to my AC for the next round?I want to hit my opponent where it hurts, and discharge the spell at the same time.&nbsp; Therefore, I need to time my attack, direct it with precision, and put considerable force behind it.&nbsp; By doing so I might open myself up to a counter-attack.&nbsp; Just because the number I roll on a d20 would indicate a successful touch attack if I had been pursuing the combat tactic in the previous paragraph does not mean that I actually touched my enemy in this case, because I was actually trying a completely different attacking tactic.&nbsp; I could well have missed him by the proverbial country mile.In short, using logic to explain an abstract combat system doesn't work and gives rise to more questions than it answers.&nbsp; I suggest you go with the Sage.&nbsp; It'll work out much better in the long run.Cheers, Al'Kelhar</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Al'Kelhar, post: 518048, member: 7884"] Unfortunately, the combat mechanics of D&D are simplified in order to promote ease of use, understanding, entertainment, and "game balance" (although one might observe, wryly, that they can at times achieve none of these aims). Similar arguments based on "logic" are used to promote the idea that armour should not make a person harder to hit, only harder to injure, and therefore armour should provide damage reduction (IMHO this fails to appreicate the very game mechanic that AC represents in D&D - AC [I]is[/I] representative of how hard something is to [I]damage[/I], not to [I]hit[/I] - but that's a whole other discussion). If you want logic to dictate every game mechanic in D&D combat, think on this: I want to merely touch my opponent, somewhere, somehow, in order to discharge my touch spell. Therefore, I don't need to put much physical effort into the attack, and I only need to touch my opponent somewhere, and I because of that I need not put myself into a particularly vulnerable situation when making the touch attack. So: (a) Why should I get my Str bonus to the attack roll? (b) Why don't I get my Dex bonus to my attack roll? (c) Why don't I get a dodge bonus to my AC for the next round? I want to hit my opponent where it hurts, and discharge the spell at the same time. Therefore, I need to time my attack, direct it with precision, and put considerable force behind it. By doing so I might open myself up to a counter-attack. Just because the number I roll on a d20 would indicate a successful touch attack [I]if I had been pursuing the combat tactic in the previous paragraph[/I] does not mean that I actually touched my enemy in this case, because I was actually trying [I]a completely different attacking tactic[/I]. I could well have missed him by the proverbial country mile. In short, using logic to explain an abstract combat system doesn't work and gives rise to more questions than it answers. I suggest you go with the Sage. It'll work out much better in the long run. Cheers, Al'Kelhar [/QUOTE]

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