Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 9758241" data-attributes="member: 3400">I think prior posts are right that it depends a lot on the game involved. In Call of Cthulhu, I generally consider a hit to involve contact since the hit points ablated are so few, based on physical stats, and don't change as an investigator gains in skill and experience. In D&D or Star Wars Saga Edition, where the hit points increase with level, there's obviously a complex variety of factor that complicates the whole issue. But regardless of the idea that hit points represent some physical, some luck, some divine providence, some skill, etc, I treat each hit point as being a mix of all those factors (in proportions that may change over the course of the PC's career). So that means all hits involve something physical - maybe it's a hit to the armor that jars the person inside (as opposed to one that doesn't because it's a "miss"), maybe the dodging the target did put some strain on a joint or muscle so their defenses are degraded (hit points ablated), maybe the blaster bolt came so close that they felt the scorching heat or were showered with hot sparks as it interacted with their cover, etc. And the more there's a follow-on effect of the successful attack roll - like a poison or some other rider, the more that narration HAS to involve some level of physical contact. The venomous jaws of the formidable grumwizzle may not have directly punctured their target, but the maw came close enough in a glancing blow to splat some of the toxic material on the PC in such a way that it still has a credible effect (the degree of such being dependent on how much damage was rolled).</blockquote>

Verification