LegendaryJWP said:
I didn't say you can't ever do one point of damage, only that an average strength guy, not pulling his blow, under perfectly normal combat parameters can't hit with a saber, or a short spear, or a dirk, or a battle axe or a ball and chain, and do one point of damage. And that, to me, is a concern that I would like a solution to. Hell, it wasn't even my idea, but once it got planted there, it's grown like nobody's business. Why, in this system, and in every other system I've encountered (short Rolemaster) do we stand idly by and let the nature of multiple dice dictate that there are weapons that can't do minor damage - that it's a clean miss/graze/just caught your loose clothing, or else it's a potentially debilitating hit?
I must admit it doesn't bother me in the least. I fence Sword & Buckler three times a week, using historical manuals, and from the illustrations in those and from my experiences, hits are either pretty debilitating or ignorable. In fact I would likely go the other way and introduce minimum damage on most weapons, as that would fit my experiences more... but, this would also make Legend/RQ6 an even more dangerous system, and it is plenty dangerous as it is.
But remember that the weapon damage is always for a "clean" hit to some degree. Weapon damage is applied:
- when a parry failed
- when the parrying weapon was too slow to stop anything (and also failed to gain a CM to enhance parry)
- when the person was too preoccupied to defend properly (out of CA).
- When a parry was successful, but the attack critted and choose bypass parry.
In all other cases, weapon damage will either be ignored or halved - in which case 1 damage hits can easily be seen.
And, taking this into account - if the two of us were fighting. I attack you with my broadsword and you are either in one of the following situations:
- Either you fail to defend properly with your buckler, shield or weapon. Or perhaps simply your footwork fails
- You try to parry with a free hand or a dagger
- You are simply too slow for me
- You defend properly, but I make such a masterful attack that I bash your parry out of the way, angle my sword to ignore it or some such
If I make a proper attack and ANY of the above is true, I will likely hit you pretty badly. Scratches are almost only seen when one moves his buckler up too slowly or has his hands too far out - then the sword might graze him and "deal 1 damage"... And this would be seen when the damage is halved by a parry.
But I understand your point - to you it seems like it is a fact coming from the dice types and therefore simply a fact of dice distribution, not realism or design. Pete who made the combat system knows a lot more about fighting than I do and if he believes Dirks never make the smallest scratches, I tend to believe him... he knows his stuff.
That doesn't need to mean anything to you or your game of course. See below.
LegendaryJWP said:
There doesn't have to be a big deal made of it, or that much added complexity, really. If a spear is weapon class 7, you roll d100 and compare to the chart cross referenced with weapon damage class 7. If you roll 01 to 14, you do one point of damage, if you roll 87-00, you do seven, and all possible values in between. There's no question about it then - a one point hit, whether it does minor damage or is shrugged off by armor, is always possible. Maybe you include a little version of the chart on the back of the character sheet, so it's easy to reference. Maybe, after a few games, you don't even have to bother checking anymore because you can do the math in your head. And no more 1d4+3 versus 1d6+1 versus 1d4+1+1d2 nonsense.
In either case, it eliminates my problem, and I may well go ahead and use it. And I invite others to join in, if they're similarly inclined and can see that just because there's a perceived problem it doesn't mean the whole product is being attacked, and can see things from an ecumenical point of view.
Well, this would be an extra layer or complexity that would annoy me. First of you need the chart - I have enough charts to think of anyway, and I much prefer that the players have on their character sheets what they need to roll.
But, your legend may wary. If this really annoys you that much, then create the chart, change weapon damages, or add a pumpkin to anything - it's your game, your rules