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2007-07-17 More Hitpoints Not

I like Jonathan Drain’s article Flawed House Rule: Double-Rolling Hit Dice. He’s spot-on when he says that giving players more hitpoints makes for a boring game: Combat lasts longer, that’s it. It’s not necessarily going to make the game more enjoyable.

I agree.

And that brings me back to wargaming and the D&D rules as compared to M20, for example. I must confess I would have hoped that the rules would just fade into the background and combat would be fierce and furious eventually. But six or seven players at the table definitely slow things down. Too many rules!

D&D 4th ed alert Effects of fighting in magical darkness? How to drag an unconscious person out of danger? Charging up to a corner with reach weapon, and hitting somebody who’s hiding behind it, archers hiding in the bushes and people charging up to them with reach weapons, people wielding ranged weapons provoking attacks getting a -4 to AC when attacked – it’s all in there, somewhere. Argh!

Players and DM should roll all the dice in one go – roll both to-hit and damage, color-coded for multiple attacks. (Yeah, I should do it, too.) But many are superstitious, or don’t want to rush now that it is finally their turn. Then again, throwing the dice faster might not be the solution.

Last Sunday we had a fight where a flind cleric-4 cast Darkness, Bull Strenth, and Spiritual Weapon. Since Darkness cancels Light, and there was no other source of light down here, it was a very tough fight. See my post on the Paizo message board for details. It was also a very long fight. And Darkness prevented all spells requiring a line of sight from working, so the arcane spellcasters were condemned to inactivity. I saw a TPK approaching in seven mile boots. It was both exciting and exhausting.

So why am I complaining? I would have liked it fast and furious, but the rules and the spells afforded a different game. That’s why I’m still not quite happy.

Grofzg With Fudge Dice? Or the ZorcererOfZo rules? One of my players keeps recommending a different game – Everway. It’s available from Gaslight Press.

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