thread: 2013-10-17 : The Magic Trick: Damage in Dogs in the Vineyard
On 2013-10-20, Gregor wrote:
So this derails from Vincent's point somewhat, but if you're looking to "fix" D&D specifically, there is a number of ways to fiddle with the threat factor of combat.
-the first isn't even mechanical: fights aren't about life or death but alternative objectives, the default outcome is losing something (advantage, resources, a specific item, time, your way in the dark, your freedom...) or running away instead of slaughtering or being slaughtered
-the second is also a matter of DM style. Telegraph the threats and odds of failure to the players clearly. So when death is on the line it's their choice whether to risk it, or fall back to safety (at some other cost).
-the third is to twist the death&dying; mechanics a little, which people have been doing forever. Treat hp as the abstract resource that Gary intended them to be, not wounds. So 0 hp can mean a lot of things. Maybe further damage is applied to Constitution, which keeps the tension up but also gives the PCs a big safety buffer. As for save-or-die effects, there are various interpretations, with some, if you fail a save vs. Poison, you're not instantly dead, just mortally poisoned, frothing, spasming...out of the fight but salvable by a timely antidote. Many poisons take hours or days to kill.
(A)D&D is malleable as hell.
