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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Patryn of Elvenshae" data-source="post: 3272760" data-attributes="member: 23094">It's not odd at all if you consider the way in which HP-based combat tends to play out vs. a "one-shot kill, hard-to-hit"-based combat.The latter, when playing out, generally looks like:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, miss, , miss, hit, dead.</li> </ul>The former, when playing out, looks like:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Miss, hit (for 10% HP), miss, hit (for 20% HP), hit (for 10% HP), hit (for 30% HP), miss, hit (for 30% HP), dead.</li> </ul>What are the benefits of the latter?<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">It more conforms to people's ideas of realism, where getting stabbed with a sword just once usually ends a fight</li> </ol>What are the benefits of the former?<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">It allows players to get in more hits in an average combat, which is more exciting than misses</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The chances of a single hit ending combat (on either side) is lower; which leads to ...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Greater predictability in the duration and lethality of combat</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Players, who are able to watch declining HP totals, have a better understanding of a combat's progress</li> </ol>As regards point 4, it is very, very difficult to get an accurate (or even quasi-accurate) read on how a fight is going when there's no particular measure of round-by-round degradation.  If you've spent three rounds trading misses, are you winning?  Tieing?  In over your head?The benefits of the HP-based approach are part of the reason that the new Star Wars d20 system is moving away from WP / VP (a middle ground between the above systems) and back to HPs (with the addition of a new "condition track").</blockquote>

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