Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Vargo" data-source="post: 393578" data-attributes="member: 4436">Borrowing from GURPS and Wizard's Crown...Okay, most people here know what GURPS is, but before GURPS there was Wizard's Crown, a computer-based tactical combat game with fantasy trappings.  Kind of an early version of the Gold Box games, from the same company.In The Wizard's Crown, armor had defense ratings - Cut, Crush, and Impale (might have been Thrust) - which varied based on the type of armor (chain was horrible against thrust) so that there were times when you would want to take advantage of a lower damage weapon with a better attack type for that particular target.  The system suffered, unfortunately, because there was no way to discern what creatures were vulnerable to what attack types other than repeatedly bashing away on them thousands of times and drawing statistical comparisons.GURPS took it the other way - armor had one rating (except for a couple special cases, such as chain mail), three attack types, and two attack styles.  You could cut, crush, and impale - and you could either swing or thrust.  Thrusting did less damage than swinging.  Most cuts and crushes were swung, and most impales were thrusts - but impales did 2x damage when they got past armor, and cuts did 1.5x damage when they got past armor.  Picks, which were swung impale weapons were fearsome indeed, but they could get stuck in the opponent, which was generally not a good thing.  It also made daggers and their ilk great against non-armored opponents, but harder to use against armored opponents, which is as it should be.  You could still do it, but it took some skill.The GURPS system of damage has it's issues, but it's a lot easier to adjudicate than the Wizard's Crown idea - less special exceptions and less math at the actual time of rolling for damage.And that's where the real problem is - any DR system adds a layer of complexity to the combat mechanisms.  The current system is1. Roll to hit2. Roll damage3. Record damageA DR system is1. Roll to hit2. Roll damage3. Subtract the appropriate DR4. Record damageYeah, you sometimes have to do the DR thing in the current system, but it isn't a sure thing every time.And yes, I would like a DR system combined with a WP/VP system - but I don't know if I would be playing D&D any more at that point...</blockquote>

Verification