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<blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5624898" data-attributes="member: 92305"><p>I think that Gygax & Co., when developing the game, wanted to encourage characters to fight with swords and shields--the basic fantasy/medieval tools of war. All other weapons seem to be scaled up or down from that base line.</p><p> </p><p>But, to add to your question, what about bows or crossbows? In 1E AD&D, melee combat was abstract, as it is today. A "hit" scored by a character on an NPC doesn't necessarily mean that the character shoved his sword deep into his enemy because of the hit point system. And, doing a "hit" for 6 points of damage might have meant one swipe of the sword for 6 points, a slash and a stab for 2 points and 4 points respectively, six nicks and cuts that wear the target down, or a lot of other combinations--all because of the abstract nature.</p><p> </p><p>Bows and Crossbows and other distance weapons were treated a tad differently. While damage was still abstract, the actual attack wasn't. The combat round equaled one minute of real time, and in that time, a low level archer could fire his bow twice. This used up two arrows. This mean that each actual attack was not abstract the way it is in melee. Bow and other distance weapon attacks represent actual attacks.</p><p> </p><p>So, if you fire your bow twice, hit twice, and do 9 points of damage to a target NPC that has 32 hit points as a 5th level fighter...what really happened? We know that two arrows were fired a the target. His 32 hit points is reduced to 23 hit points. But, he's not otherwise effected.</p><p> </p><p>He did take some type of wound, too, because, if he healed naturally, it woud take him a week or more to heal back up.</p><p> </p><p>Yet, there are no other wound effects--the character has no penalties placed on him for the wound except for the loss of hit points.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>And...let take this one step further to a point that is more in-line with the OP.</p><p> </p><p>You play a 5th level fighter with 32 hit points. You're naked except for a loin cloth, and you're captured. Two guards are walking you to the courtyard to be interrogated by the garrison commander. The two guards walk behind you, both with leveled crossbows at your back.</p><p> </p><p>How many times will a character in this postion try something? Why not? What's the risk? Will the character die? Nope. Even if both guards roll Critical Hits, we're looking at a character with plenty of hit points to keep on fighting.</p><p> </p><p>I've always had a problem with that scenario. Sometimes, I would house-rule the situation (this was before 3E and the Massive Damage rule) to where the character would have to roll a Save vs. Death if either crossbow hit since the guards "had the drop" on the character.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Water Bob, post: 5624898, member: 92305"] I think that Gygax & Co., when developing the game, wanted to encourage characters to fight with swords and shields--the basic fantasy/medieval tools of war. All other weapons seem to be scaled up or down from that base line. But, to add to your question, what about bows or crossbows? In 1E AD&D, melee combat was abstract, as it is today. A "hit" scored by a character on an NPC doesn't necessarily mean that the character shoved his sword deep into his enemy because of the hit point system. And, doing a "hit" for 6 points of damage might have meant one swipe of the sword for 6 points, a slash and a stab for 2 points and 4 points respectively, six nicks and cuts that wear the target down, or a lot of other combinations--all because of the abstract nature. Bows and Crossbows and other distance weapons were treated a tad differently. While damage was still abstract, the actual attack wasn't. The combat round equaled one minute of real time, and in that time, a low level archer could fire his bow twice. This used up two arrows. This mean that each actual attack was not abstract the way it is in melee. Bow and other distance weapon attacks represent actual attacks. So, if you fire your bow twice, hit twice, and do 9 points of damage to a target NPC that has 32 hit points as a 5th level fighter...what really happened? We know that two arrows were fired a the target. His 32 hit points is reduced to 23 hit points. But, he's not otherwise effected. He did take some type of wound, too, because, if he healed naturally, it woud take him a week or more to heal back up. Yet, there are no other wound effects--the character has no penalties placed on him for the wound except for the loss of hit points. And...let take this one step further to a point that is more in-line with the OP. You play a 5th level fighter with 32 hit points. You're naked except for a loin cloth, and you're captured. Two guards are walking you to the courtyard to be interrogated by the garrison commander. The two guards walk behind you, both with leveled crossbows at your back. How many times will a character in this postion try something? Why not? What's the risk? Will the character die? Nope. Even if both guards roll Critical Hits, we're looking at a character with plenty of hit points to keep on fighting. I've always had a problem with that scenario. Sometimes, I would house-rule the situation (this was before 3E and the Massive Damage rule) to where the character would have to roll a Save vs. Death if either crossbow hit since the guards "had the drop" on the character. [/QUOTE]
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