What rules don't work?

[boredgremlin]

You touch on it in your initial post but for me, one of the stupidist rules is Swallow Whole.

Specifically the ability to cut your way out (!) and then the whole miraculously closes itself 'by muscular action'(!) and the creature can continue fighting without harm even though something has just done an 'Alien' and burst out of its stomach (!!!).

Yeah, right.

IMC the simple change was to make all instances of "swallow whole" into "chew" - you remain in the creatures mouth and it gets to do automatic bite damage every round, you can attempt to make grapple checks to get free or strike with light weapons etc. At least it can't bite anyone else while it is chewing you.

I totally agree about swallow whole. I like that chew rule too. Gonna steal it. Lol thx.

For me something i allways wondered was flying. Seems to me flying should give you a dodge bonus because you can also go up and down. And a lot of those creatures are really fast too. So for creatures with good manueverability i give a +2 AC and perfect maneuverability a +4.

 

[boredgremlin]

Of course, but it still has zero consequences (other than bringing you closer to death), regardless of what type of damage caused the hit point loss. Regardless of the description, the mechanics do not change. You still just cross off some number, which has almost no influence on your character.

A fighter falling down from a mountain and impacting the ground at terminal velocity can afterwards just stand up and walk away, for example. 19 out of 20 times.

And that doesn't "feel" right.

While it's ok and acceptable, from a meta-perspective to use this abstract value, it's one of those things, that make the game highly artificial.

Bye
Thanee

You would probably like the HP system from either the white wolf games or the revised grim and gritty. Both have penalties for getting hurt before you die that include penalties to skill checks and attack rolls. My next campaign i am gonna try the revised grim and gritty rules in whole instead of just peacemeal like i am now.

 

[boredgremlin]

Falling damage.

I've uncapped falling damage in 3.x - 20d6 max was okay in 1e AD&D when fewer characters had Con bonuses to to HP, characters tended to level more slowly overall, and at higher levels characters stopped adding hit dice and instead added a set increment, all of which conspired to make HP totals lower.

Now there are 10th level barbarians running around with 150 hit points jumping off 500' cliffs...

i found a good variant rule for falling. I think it was somewhere in the house rules section here actually. Anyway its like this. The first 10 ft of falling does 1d2 damage to Con, Str and Dex. Every 10ft after that adds another d4 damage to those abilities. So a high level character has just as much chance of dying or getting busted up really bad by falling off a building as a low level character. After all what difference does how good you are at fencing have to do with you doing a sailor dive off 3rd story balcony?

 

[boredgremlin]

I'll hazard a guess, since I pretty much do the same thing.

That wyvern hit you, just not badly. It's stinger found a chink in your armor, and tagged you about as badly as getting hit with a half-inch knife blade. However, it was covered in poison, which immediately seeped into the wound (or not, depending on your save).

Telas

you can easily kill almost any man on the planet with a half inch blade. Virtually all of the bodies vital points are within a half inch of the surface.

 

[Telas]

you can easily kill almost any man on the planet with a half inch blade. Virtually all of the bodies vital points are within a half inch of the surface.

Actually, not really. I speak as a personal trainer, a former Infantry soldier, a judge at a knife-fighting tournament, and someone who's been to far too many knife-fighting seminars. I'm not bragging, just qualifying.

There are two basic targets for a blade: blood vessels and nerves. The central nervous system (brain and spine) is shielded in bone. The heart and aorta are behind the ribcage.

Both nerves and blood vessels do run near the surface at times (your groin and armpit are good examples), but the big targets that immediately kill or immobilize are pretty well protected. The neck is the one most people think of, but the carotids hide behind the sternocleidomastoideus muscles (there's a 10CP word). Throw in some body fat and a couple of layers of clothes, and even a clean hit with a half-inch knife might not get the carotid artery. On top of that, the neck's a surprisingly tough target to actually hit. :\

Even if you sever a major vessel (femoral or brachial arteries, even the jugular vein), you're trying to drain about 1.5 gallons of blood through a very small hole (although it is being pumped , not drained). It can take a while, and in a fight to the death, a few seconds is a long, long time.

So what's left? The windpipe, but a body can operate for a while without air, so we're back at the start. Internal organs are difficult with a short blade, since a few layers of fat and muscle might enough. Anyway, internal bleeding isn't immediately fatal.

Nipping the median nerve at the elbow can cause a hand to lose the ability to grip. If that hand is holding say, a sword, this could be considered a proximal (if not direct) cause of death. A similar case can be said for cutting the brachial nerve at the groin, but groin shots are notoriously hard to score (especially on guys, who tend to protect the area). :\

And on top of all that, you knew what I meant.

Telas

 

[Psion]

Ooh, ooh! What does Spycraft do?

It simply does not have them. You get two actions per round, either of which can be an attack, at your attack bonus.

Simple as it seems, you really can't retrofit this into D&D without doing lots and lots of rework with snowballing consequences.

 

[Romnipotent]

to continue my last post "thats why I play gurps"

 

[Gez]

Link, please. Come on, Gez, don't tease!

OK.
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=2147707#post2147707

 

[boredgremlin]

Actually, not really. I speak as a personal trainer, a former Infantry soldier, a judge at a knife-fighting tournament, and someone who's been to far too many knife-fighting seminars. I'm not bragging, just qualifying.

There are two basic targets for a blade: blood vessels and nerves. The central nervous system (brain and spine) is shielded in bone. The heart and aorta are behind the ribcage.

Both nerves and blood vessels do run near the surface at times (your groin and armpit are good examples), but the big targets that immediately kill or immobilize are pretty well protected. The neck is the one most people think of, but the carotids hide behind the sternocleidomastoideus muscles (there's a 10CP word). Throw in some body fat and a couple of layers of clothes, and even a clean hit with a half-inch knife might not get the carotid artery. On top of that, the neck's a surprisingly tough target to actually hit. :\

Even if you sever a major vessel (femoral or brachial arteries, even the jugular vein), you're trying to drain about 1.5 gallons of blood through a very small hole (although it is being pumped , not drained). It can take a while, and in a fight to the death, a few seconds is a long, long time.

So what's left? The windpipe, but a body can operate for a while without air, so we're back at the start. Internal organs are difficult with a short blade, since a few layers of fat and muscle might enough. Anyway, internal bleeding isn't immediately fatal.

Nipping the median nerve at the elbow can cause a hand to lose the ability to grip. If that hand is holding say, a sword, this could be considered a proximal (if not direct) cause of death. A similar case can be said for cutting the brachial nerve at the groin, but groin shots are notoriously hard to score (especially on guys, who tend to protect the area). :\

And on top of all that, you knew what I meant.

Telas

Fascinating. I was an army ranger.

Personal attack and politics removed

 

[Psion]

to continue my last post "thats why I play gurps"

Should we start a list of GURPS rules that don't work?