Dueling Desires: unpleasable fanbase, not unpleasable fans

[TheFlatline]

As has been said before, combat balance is not the real issue - it's not hard to make warriors that stab really well, even in comparison to disintegration rays. At worst, you need to put weak points you can attack for massive damage on monsters that are too physically huge to "realistically" chop apart.

This is a terrible idea. It's so overused and cliche that even videogames are shying away from "attack the big glowing red spot for extra damage".

I think you misunderstand me - I'm not talking about literal glowing target points, I'm just saying that:
* Some people can't handle the concept that a "warrior" could slice through the torso of a 50' tall iron statue.
* The whole issue can be avoided by saying that a strike that kills said statue is hitting a vital point, rather than doing massive physical damage.
* Therefore, foes that are both large and homogeneous should be avoided, if you're trying to support the aforementioned people.

What you originally said and this are not the same. As a general rule I never liked systems with called shots and highly location dependent damage. It's finicky. The times it was added into D&D were never particularly enjoyable.

[Judging__Eagle]

Robby, I think that many a DM has said "and you shoot the X in the eye, or chop into it's skull, it's dead" upon a PC killing a creature. Be it a goblin or a bulette.

Computer and video games have even jumped on that idea; putting in slow motion sequences whenever a killing crit is delivered.

Which is ultimately, a part of timing.

None of the "dumb magic fighter" arguments are productive unless you are willing to look at the timing.


How fast should the action be resolved; and what sorts of results are you willing to have for different odds.

The whole "against the odds" mindset is sort of stupid and pointless if a character can use "heroic defense" vs "psychic powers"; and the numbers being compared is the only thing that matters. Just make the "against the odds" bullshit powers be something that gets used up in a scene. So, John McCain burns their pool avoiding being shot to death, and has no more pool left to avoid "getting their feet cut on glass shards". A "caution" pool, perhaps?

[echoVanguard]

Just make the "against the odds" bullshit powers be something that gets used up in a scene. So, John McCain burns their pool avoiding being shot to death, and has no more pool left to avoid "getting their feet cut on glass shards". A "caution" pool, perhaps?

This is pretty much how our system works. Characters have "Vigor Points" which are used to avoid injury or mishaps - for example, if an enemy beats your defense roll, you have the option of expending a number of VP equal to the difference between their attack and your defense roll to turn the hit into a "glancing blow" which does no damage, but may have rider effects (such as poison or knockdown).

echo