aidymouse
Sapling
I like milk. Oh, and Hands of Ether.
Posts: 3
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Post by aidymouse on Jun 14, 2019 0:57:48 GMT
The more I think about it the more in interests me. I was wondering what the design intent behind not adding anything to attack rolls was?
This isn't a criticism, more like a point of interest.
In most D&D inspired games, and indeed D&D itself, attack roll modifiers are representative of how good you are at fighting. Applying that logic to Hands of Ether makes it seem as if a warrior is as good as a child or a kobold at fighting.
P.S. Should this have been a new thread or put in the other one? Idk how forums work
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Post by hemlock on Jun 14, 2019 22:38:36 GMT
To be fair, I don't know how forums work either. But there's hardly anyone here yet, so it's not like you're upsetting anyone. Ha!
Ok, so we definitely wanted to avoid arbitrary numbers in Ether. A lot of base-fantasy games seemed to set a precedent of bigger numbers = power and progress. We wanted Ether to feel like you were actually picking up new skills as you furthered your journey - ones that are specific to your character, and mean something to the story. So, a lot of skills can help you get an edge in combat in very specific ways other than higher numbers. Numbers mean a lot less to us in terms of combat. We also tried to write the game to give everyone a chance - even kids and kobolds. Medieval battle, after all, is actually pretty sloppy. People are rarely cognicent when it comes to weaponry, and 99% of people walking around don't have a higher chance to be effective more effective with it. Two relatively untrained folks with swords would probably fuck each other up, and also have far less of a chance to kill each other than you might think. Cutting through bone and flesh is tough. Not to say warriors in imaginationary fantasy land wouldn't have an edge - but in Hands of Ether, being a 'hero' or adventurer doesn't mean you're a warrior, necessarily - even if your class is warrior. In hands of ether, everyone is just a person. Armaments are rare, and training is more so. You're a weak flesh sack, and you might get stuck by a blade no matter your grit or cunning. A lot of OSR games try to do it like this, but rarely follow through with actual danger.
That being said, I can see merit in an actually trained and experience warrior having better chance with a blade. There are in fact skills that can increase attack rolls because of that. If they want that option, they can take it. But until they actually get better at it by taking those skills, then they're just a person with a sword. It really just comes down to simplicity and our want of better ability choices than just increased numbers.
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