D&D 5E What are your biggest immersion breakers, rules wise?

[Sacrosanct]

Yep, and it's immersion-breaking for me. An arrow misses me but somehow pushes me closer to death? That's the part that I can't get past. So I just roll my eyes and ignore it as best I can.

Or when the attacker scores a critical hit. How does a person reconcile that your opponent scored a critical hit, double damage, but then also say it didn't even really hit you?

The whole concept of HP and immersion has been a problem since day 1. That's why there were articles in Dragon Magazine from almost the very beginning issues about adding pain and wound mechanics in the game. The issue has always been (and probably always will), is that the vast majority really don't care that much to implement those things. So we just accept it and move on.

 

[Oofta]

Just an observation. For all the people that have problems with HP, have you never hurt yourself? Bumped into something, felt a little sore for the rest of the day? Maybe strained a muscle while catching yourself instead of falling?

Because that's how I see HP. Yes, my PC deflected that ogre's blow that would have smashed a lesser warrior but it still left my arm a little numb or wrenched my shoulder a bit. Many more hits like that and I'm not going to have the strength or speed to deflect the blow and it's going to do real damage.

Bruises, sprains and strains accumulate making it more likely that the next blow will do real damage. Of course it's not any more realistic than any other aspect of the game, but then nothing about D&D is particularly realistic. It's just not the worst possible mechanic ever invented.

But everyone's entitled to their own pet peeves/immersion breakers.

 

[eyeheartawk]

Or when the attacker scores a critical hit. How does a person reconcile that your opponent scored a critical hit, double damage, but then also say it didn't even really hit you?

Also makes it hard to explain to first time players.

Me: "Your HP represents your combat fatigue, near misses, luck, and armor, but not really your amount of health left in a direct way"

Also Me: "That's a critical hit, that means he hit you so hard you take twice the damage."

I've had more than a couple people confused by this until, I assume, they do what we all did at one point, squint, shrug and accept that both things are somehow true and move on.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Just an observation. For all the people that have problems with HP, have you never hurt yourself? Bumped into something, felt a little sore for the rest of the day? Maybe strained a muscle while catching yourself instead of falling?

Because that's how I see HP. Yes, my PC deflected that ogre's blow that would have smashed a lesser warrior but it still left my arm a little numb or wrenched my shoulder a bit. Many more hits like that and I'm not going to have the strength or speed to deflect the blow and it's going to do real damage.

Bruises, sprains and strains accumulate making it more likely that the next blow will do real damage. Of course it's not any more realistic than any other aspect of the game, but then nothing about D&D is particularly realistic. It's just not the worst possible mechanic ever invented.

But everyone's entitled to their own pet peeves/immersion breakers.

Dude, I'm 45. I accidentally almost bump my arm and it hurts for a week!

More seriously, it's not that, it's issue like losing HP from an acid bolt, or magic missile (which never misses), or dragon's breath, or any type of fire damage, etc. It's hard to see how if you take a direct hit from a fireball and almost die, you're perfectly normal after 8 hours (even your hair growing back!)

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Oofta]

Dude, I'm 45. I accidentally almost bump my arm and it hurts for a week!

More seriously, it's not that, it's issue like losing HP from an acid bolt, or magic missile (which never misses), or dragon's breath, or any type of fire damage, etc. It's hard to see how if you take a direct hit from a fireball and almost die, you're perfectly normal after 8 hours (even your hair growing back!)

Which is why I use the alternate rules where a long rest is a week or more.

But even fire or acid can be the equivalent of a bad sunburn. I agree, it's far from perfect just one of those things we accept. Like John McClane being blown up, shot and in a half dozen fist fights then walking away with a couple of bandages and a limp at the end of the movie.

But I get it. I don't even really disagree. I just drank the kool-aid so long ago and play enough FPS video games with the same trope that I don't even think about it any more.

 

[Oofta]

This.

What I find either hilarious or annoying (annarious?) is the people arguing that something CAN'T break someone else's immersion, because rules, or something.

Translate this to a more common area- fiction, say, watching a program. Now, what breaks immersion (suspension of disbelief) varies from person to person. An easy example that most people are familiar with is when a television show (or movie, whatever) deals with a subject that you know very well. Say, a "lawyer show" or a "doctor show" or a "cop show" if you happen to be a lawyer, doctor, or cop.

Now, there might be something in there that annoys the heck out of you because you are familiar with it- it breaks your suspension of disbelief (your immersion in the fiction of the show). On the other hand, perhaps it is either otherwise so well-crafted, or is obviously so removed from the real-world of your profession, that it doesn't bother you.* Either way, what makes or breaks the immersion tends to be highly specific to the person watching it.

See also, the fictional cop rule. This means that in any given program, if there is some event (say, a gun fight), police will either not show up or show up not depending on verisimilitude to the real world, but on the needs of the fiction.


*Another example of this is the uncanny valley.

Yep. Like hackers breaking into any system on earth with a few keystrokes or the monitors that project letters onto the actor's glasses. Almost as bad as those movies where the lawyer is a good person. Really? Totally unrealistic.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Sacrosanct]

This.

What I find either hilarious or annoying (annarious?) is the people arguing that something CAN'T break someone else's immersion, because rules, or something.

Translate this to a more common area- fiction, say, watching a program. Now, what breaks immersion (suspension of disbelief) varies from person to person. An easy example that most people are familiar with is when a television show (or movie, whatever) deals with a subject that you know very well. Say, a "lawyer show" or a "doctor show" or a "cop show" if you happen to be a lawyer, doctor, or cop.

Now, there might be something in there that annoys the heck out of you because you are familiar with it- it breaks your suspension of disbelief (your immersion in the fiction of the show). On the other hand, perhaps it is either otherwise so well-crafted, or is obviously so removed from the real-world of your profession, that it doesn't bother you.* Either way, what makes or breaks the immersion tends to be highly specific to the person watching it.

See also, the fictional cop rule. This means that in any given program, if there is some event (say, a gun fight), police will either not show up or show up not depending on verisimilitude to the real world, but on the needs of the fiction.


*Another example of this is the uncanny valley.

I had to turn off San Andreas after 15 minutes. I was a Black Hawk crewchief in the army. There is no way a helicopter could do what he was doing with it. Not even remotely close lol. Same with the A Team movie and what they did with the Huey in that movie. Most military movies bother me, because they always screw something up. Don't people have advisers anymore?

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*