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Community
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What if 5e had 2 types of roles
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5700107" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>And that last bit is the entre to why all this cogitation is largely irrelevant. Here's a picture of what happens in a swordfight between 5 skilled warriors and their 5 orc opponents. The 2 sides decide to fight. Within 3 seconds they are engaged in a furious all out life-and-death struggle ranging across some sort of terrain. The orcs, strong and aggressive charge with their large axes (compare to the axes of the Varangian Guard, which are described as 'two handed and capable of cutting through shield, arm, and helm in one blow'). There follows a grand total of 30 seconds of brutal combat, filled with the screams and stink of eviscerated dying people, over a floor slippery with blood, in uncertain light, and with whatever mystical forces each side is unleashing going off left and right. In the time it just took you to read this paragraph you died. </p><p></p><p>Forget thinking. Forget anything but the most obvious and elementary tactics. Sure, speed, timing, etc will now and then take precedence over rote training, seizing the initiative and going in swinging, or blind luck. Not often though. The bolder, luckier, faster, stronger, and better equipped force will win, and it will happen so fast the other side won't even realize it is happening until it is over.</p><p></p><p>That's what a swordfight is like. All our fencing and SCA sparring experience means squat to that. There's a reason why a Roman legion kicked ass. Because they knew exactly what to do and how to do it, by rote and training, and had the best equipment, and that's a lot closer to what is going on in a D&D fight (on a smaller scale) than any kind of mocked-up fight.</p><p></p><p>Sure, intelligence is a great advantage, BEFORE swords are crossed mostly, and maybe if you're lucky once or twice in the middle you might, if you're well enough trained spot an opening and outsmart someone (that's the warlord or bard doing their thing).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 5700107, member: 82106"] And that last bit is the entre to why all this cogitation is largely irrelevant. Here's a picture of what happens in a swordfight between 5 skilled warriors and their 5 orc opponents. The 2 sides decide to fight. Within 3 seconds they are engaged in a furious all out life-and-death struggle ranging across some sort of terrain. The orcs, strong and aggressive charge with their large axes (compare to the axes of the Varangian Guard, which are described as 'two handed and capable of cutting through shield, arm, and helm in one blow'). There follows a grand total of 30 seconds of brutal combat, filled with the screams and stink of eviscerated dying people, over a floor slippery with blood, in uncertain light, and with whatever mystical forces each side is unleashing going off left and right. In the time it just took you to read this paragraph you died. Forget thinking. Forget anything but the most obvious and elementary tactics. Sure, speed, timing, etc will now and then take precedence over rote training, seizing the initiative and going in swinging, or blind luck. Not often though. The bolder, luckier, faster, stronger, and better equipped force will win, and it will happen so fast the other side won't even realize it is happening until it is over. That's what a swordfight is like. All our fencing and SCA sparring experience means squat to that. There's a reason why a Roman legion kicked ass. Because they knew exactly what to do and how to do it, by rote and training, and had the best equipment, and that's a lot closer to what is going on in a D&D fight (on a smaller scale) than any kind of mocked-up fight. Sure, intelligence is a great advantage, BEFORE swords are crossed mostly, and maybe if you're lucky once or twice in the middle you might, if you're well enough trained spot an opening and outsmart someone (that's the warlord or bard doing their thing). [/QUOTE]
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What if 5e had 2 types of roles
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