Lately, I've been wondering about the Defense stat. You see it in some "big time" games, such as Final Fantasy. However, I started playing DnD this year. It doesn't have a defense stat, it has constitution.
I'm just wondering if I should put it into my game or not. Some people take less damage than other people, or seem to. I wonder, is it because they lose less of a fraction of their health? Oh well. Please reply with your thoughts. Thank you.
^.^
ID:265432
 Jun 25 2005, 1:44 pm
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Agh! I HATE that formula. Even if some people DO take less damage than others, they won't take the same damage all the time. I think you missed my point.
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Constitution in Dungeons and Dragons is more along the lines of "physique, fitness, health, and physical resistance to harship, injury, and disease" (As quoted from the AD&D 2nd Edition Players handbook). Physical resistance refers more to being able to resist poisons or side effects from taking major damage (and going into shock).
AD&D works off of AC (Armor Class) and THAC0 ('To-Hit-Armor-Class-0'). To see if something hit's its target the player rolls a 20-sided dice. If it is THAC0-AC or higher than it is a hit. Damage is then done based on the weapon the character used to attack with. The 'Defense' stat is an easy way to create defenses. Defense is really made up of 4 things (assuming your talking semi-realistic combat (ie. no magic, spells, etc.) 1. Armor 2. Parrying 3. Blocking (with a shield, etc.) 4. Dodging Wearing heavy plate mail a character struck by a sword isn't likely to take much damage, especially if the sword is made up of a material softer than the plate mail. At the same time, someone in plate mail won't be able to move around quite as quickly as someone wearing light leather or chainmail, and wouldn't be able to dodge attacks aswell. Parrying attacks is usually done simply by blocking with one's own weapon and then pushing back away. It can also be done using a short-sword or other appropriate weapon in the offhand. Blocking is pretty simple. Opponent swings, put up shield or other object to block the path of the opponents weapon and have it strike the object rather than yourself. A big metal tower shield would be able to block a considerable amount of attacks, but it's big and hard to maneuver, likewise how a small buckler is easy to maneuver but can't block as much. Otherwise mundane objects can also be used to block an attack, chairs tables, etc. But picking up a wooden chair and expecting it to block a swing from a huge war axe won't work well. Dodging is simply moving out of the way of an attack. Light armor (or no armor), good physical shape, being small, etc. all make it easier to dodge around an attack. It's also possible to partially dodge an attack, moving out of the way of an attack and getting hit in the arm is still better than getting hit square in the chest. Defense can really be implemented in anyway you want but simple methods like damage=strength-defense can get boring quickly. | |
There is no one right answer. How many stats you have will depend entirely on how you want combat to run. For example, you may decide that you want to have agility+skill+accuracy checked against awareness+skill+evasion and then weapon+power +strength against armor+defense+deflection. Or just have one big offense score v. a defense score.
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another good idea is special armors take less fire damage or a special sword that does more damage to dragons.