You Bash the Balrog ...

[RangerWickett]

I'm reading this essay, and I'm confused. It seems like the term 'pivot point' means two different things, and I can't figure out what. I was good up to the diagrams with the rectangles, but then he said that the rectangles would always have the same area, and I cannot figure out how he's determining what the height and width of these rectangles should be. Can someone help?

For instance, he's apparently talking about hitting objects. So this rectangle's shape is somehow dependent upon where you hit your target. But what is what? He's talking about swinging a sword, but is the 'pivot point' where your hand would sit still if you just chopped with the blade (no arm motion, just a chop with a wrist motion, like in saber), or does it somehow involve swinging your whole arm.

I mean, I'm seriously confused by that point in the article. I need someone to walk me through it with examples and possibly flashcards.

 

[mythusmage]

I'm reading this essay, and I'm confused ...

There are forums at that site, you could ask there.

I suspect he's talking to the cognoscenti, those in on the lingo. The essays would read differently if written for a general audience.

 

[frankthedm]

How would you account for user skill when determining damage?

Power attack

 

[Umbran]

Power attack

Frank has it quite right here. The game already has a mechanic for turning your expertise into damage, in a way that's reasonably balanced for game-play. There's no need to stack on new abilities or class-based bonuses.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Ah, one has to love The ARMA. I'd account for it with Expertise from the Core Rules. I use some of my own home brewed feats for this sort of expertise.

 

[SweeneyTodd]

As has been said, power attack covers this. So do iterative attacks, as well as the fact that BAB means you're more likely to hit, so on average more damage is done. (I've seen lots of people describe misses as hits that didn't get through armor.)

But in D&D, losing hit points doesn't necessarily mean you've actually been wounded, so it doesn't seem like it needs to be taken to account. (In other words, damage is already abstracted so much that I don't see a reason to have one element of damage made very concrete.)

 

[Andor]

Having slogged through that entire article (and WOW but that guy spends too much time being impressed with his own brilliance) there isn't a blessed thing in there about the skill of the sword user. It's all about how a properly made sword is designed so that when you hit somebody with the correct part of the blade the center of rotation for the impact is positioned to transmit no shock to your hand. And this gives several direct and secondary benefits.

In D&D terms a masterwork sword should be +1 to hit AND damage is about how far it goes in game terms.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

That doesn't work too well with light weapons.

No, but Invisible Blade and Duelist do.

Really, the people that can do sick damage with light weapons are the kind of people that typically have Sneak Attack-- and most knife fights are a series of feints and minor, irritating cuts followed by one nasty, fight-ending impalement.

 

[Pinotage]

You Bash the Balrog. The Balrog Breathes Fire. You Die. -more

Sorry, couldn't resist. Too much of a Angband type title!

Pinotage

 

[Plane Sailing]

Frank has it quite right here. The game already has a mechanic for turning your expertise into damage, in a way that's reasonably balanced for game-play. There's no need to stack on new abilities or class-based bonuses.

Not strictly true, it is a mechanism for allowing you to sacrifice accuracy for brute force; as already mentioned above it cannot be used with light weapons, thus it depends upon having a heavy enough weapon to do it.

Might be worth asking the question why there isn't a feat that is based on INT that enables you to swap BAB for damage for any light weapon, as a parallel to power attack.