Path: poly-vlsi!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!sifon!charnel!rat!usc!wupost!darwin.sura.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!menudo.uh.edu!ccsvax.sfasu.edu!z_copeab
   From: z_copeab@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
   Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
   Date: 7 Oct 92 09:55:28 CST
   References: <1992Oct5.000735.1354@ccsvax.sfasu.edu> <1992Oct5.160921.29563@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> <70229@hydra.gatech.EDU> <1992Oct6.211155.29474@u.washington.edu>
   Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University
   Lines: 18

   In article <1992Oct6.211155.29474@u.washington.edu>, scythe@byron.u.washington.edu (The Grim Reaper) writes:
   > Actually, I always assumed that happened to be an arrow of Dragon Slaying
   > that Bard was using.  But on damage-face it, AD&D damage is not realistic.
   > In real life, people get killed by dagger thrusts.  In AD&D, people
   > have a good chance of survival. People also get killed if they fall
   > off high buildings.  Level 20 fighters can jump into deeeep pits and
   > walk into battle the next second.  Face it, damage is not realistic.


	   But in AD&D, a normal person *can* be killed by a dagger, or falling
   off a building! A normal person only has about 1-6 hps.

	   There is nothing (majorly) wrong with weapon damage in AD&D. The
   problem is inflated hps at higher levels; *that's* what makes things
   unrealistic.

No. There is a problem. You say in AD&D a normal person CAN be killed
by a dagger hit, because it has only 1-6 HP. That's not exactly true.

Suppose the guy has 4 HP (pretty standard). Longsword hit, over 50% chance
that the guy is dead. If he isn't, the next blow WILL kill him. The problem
isn't that the person CAN be killed, it is that the person WILL be killed.

The problem is that it's much much much much much more probable that a
wound of severe nature should happen. Take our 4HP guy. He receives a sword
wound. ARG! But he receives only 2 points of damage. That's still half of
what a dagger can do. He survives, with still 2HP left. What do you say.
Suppose the threat to him suddnely flee (authority arrives). How well is
our guy? He just lost half his hit points. Has he a bug wound on his arm,
or something? Surely he's not up to par and can't start a fight at full
efficiency now. Where are the rules to describe the effect of damage on
combat? 

I'm thinking about making rules that say that if a 8th level fighter lost
half his HP, he functions as a 4th level fighter, receives half his bonuses
for high dex/con/str, etc... (if he had a low dex/con/str, then the malus
stays the same) (or another rule like that). 

So when he's got only 1HP left, he's on the verge of death
truly. Of course, the same should apply to monsters, and a way to make
stats happen to fall under 3 when the guy falls at 0 HP or less shouyld bec
made. But it's all too complicated.


Here is another example: you have a young child. 1 HP. You stab him,
he tries to flee with his high dex (childs should be agile), whatever.

*IF* you hit him, then it's impossible to say "he can be killed".
Heck, he WILL be killed!!! Impossible to have an arm wound, or whatever.
It's either you miss or he go down. DUH.


There is a BIG problem with AD&D, but I can't see any way to change it
unless rewriting the whole system, so I'll just continue to enjoy this damn
game...


--
/---------------------------\
| Patrick "Paradak" Rannou. |
| Rannou@info.polymtl.ca    |
\---------------------------/