Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin
I don't let stories determine outcomes for me and I'm definitely not there to tell stories to my players.
I'd tell them what the npc was trying to do and if they asked I'd tell them what their characters estimated were the odds of preventing it. I would not go an inch out of my way to try and make sure that Nyx the Barbarian wouldn't be able to move that far under a Great Haste Spell and send her Flaming Morningstar through the npc's skull before his hand could finish twitching.
The situations you're theoretically trying to set up aren't that realtistic when talking about a highly competent set of PCs and if the rules say that isn't what would happen then the "story" can go suck lemons.
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Sorry Fred, that's not what I meant. I meant, lets say the thug has the knife against the woman's throat and the PCs press the attack. The thug does the deed and rolls 3 points of cutting, and even to the throat that is not enough to kill the NPC, let alone bring her near a serious death... therefore "some" PCs knowing the math would not be that concerned with the stand off all that much. Its not a matter of just killing someone...its a matter of when the concept of HPs is not realistic to real life nor what would happen and to rev up the sense of danger in some rare'ish situations.
Yes its a game, yes there is magic and monsters, but there is still reality, physics, and biology.. and most importantly drama, intrigue, stress, danger, tension, and Story. We are not just game referees, but also story makers and tellers as well as entertainers in my opinion.
So maybe that defenseless woman, having the knife against her throat, no hope of fighting back, would not take just listed damage but maybe something like an extra multiplier or 2 or "double" whatever she should be at for being defenseless, or at a true disadvantage? Therefore her rolls are worse, so would her recusing by the PCs in the nick of time would be all the more fantastic due to her being so close to really dying and not just having a scar.
That is what i am talking about.