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General Tabletop Discussion
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Would you change a monster's hit points mid-fight?
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<blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 6772671" data-attributes="member: 6801286"><p>They still emerge naturally, because its in response to an action by a player. But it is up to the DM what to do with those numbers. I've been in situations where a player scored a critical when throwing a spear at a fleeing guard, just as he was reaching for the door. Statistically the guard still had 1 or 2 hit points left. I ruled that the guard was pinned to the door, still struggling, but basically helpless and awaiting the inevitable execution. </p><p></p><p>I could have ruled it either way. I could have had the guard shrug it off, and continue to fight with what few HP he had remaining. But D&D is also about story telling. And having an enemy die 1 HP earlier is not going to invalidate any of the problem solving, strategy or resource management. I could have continued the fight one more round, and have the guard die from a normal attack. But from a storytelling perspective, this was way more exciting.</p><p></p><p>I'll give another example. Recently my players had to fight the undead avatar of a lesser evil deity. One of the players had borrowed the holy relic of the local order of paladins: A massive holy hammer. He covered the hammer in flaming oil, and set the relic on fire. He then smashed the creature's head in, and scored a critical. If we're going purely by the rules, undead are immune to crits. But given the context of the player's actions, I ruled that this was an extraordinary situation, and I felt the crit should still be rewarded. So I decided that since he was wielding a holy relic, the crit did take effect.</p><p></p><p>The rules are only there as guidelines, in my opinion. They should never get in the way of telling a good story.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Imaculata, post: 6772671, member: 6801286"] They still emerge naturally, because its in response to an action by a player. But it is up to the DM what to do with those numbers. I've been in situations where a player scored a critical when throwing a spear at a fleeing guard, just as he was reaching for the door. Statistically the guard still had 1 or 2 hit points left. I ruled that the guard was pinned to the door, still struggling, but basically helpless and awaiting the inevitable execution. I could have ruled it either way. I could have had the guard shrug it off, and continue to fight with what few HP he had remaining. But D&D is also about story telling. And having an enemy die 1 HP earlier is not going to invalidate any of the problem solving, strategy or resource management. I could have continued the fight one more round, and have the guard die from a normal attack. But from a storytelling perspective, this was way more exciting. I'll give another example. Recently my players had to fight the undead avatar of a lesser evil deity. One of the players had borrowed the holy relic of the local order of paladins: A massive holy hammer. He covered the hammer in flaming oil, and set the relic on fire. He then smashed the creature's head in, and scored a critical. If we're going purely by the rules, undead are immune to crits. But given the context of the player's actions, I ruled that this was an extraordinary situation, and I felt the crit should still be rewarded. So I decided that since he was wielding a holy relic, the crit did take effect. The rules are only there as guidelines, in my opinion. They should never get in the way of telling a good story. [/QUOTE]
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Would you change a monster's hit points mid-fight?
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