On Wounds and Armor

[WriterX]

If you ever needed some guidance regarding the armor and "health" system, or rather how to RP it accordingly, here are a few tips that might help you! These are by no means something you have to follow but it can give you an understanding of at least how I imagine combat.

A work in progress.

On Armor Class and Scoring Hits

Armor Class is calculated by taking 10 (Default AC) then adding Dexterity, and then the different armor modifier (from armor, shield, spells, etc.). How to interpret how an enemy missed, or what he actually hit?

Well, let's take it from the top. When you are trying to chop down a tree you need to roll a 2 or better to "hit". Then, depending on the tree type, there might be Damage Reduction involved, but hitting the tree will rarely, if ever, be a problem, it's the damage reduction that might be. A similar case is with doors. It's not hard to hit a door, but it may be hard to bash it down if you lack the strength to do so.

Objects that are stationary and do not move are always easy to hit, which does not meat they are easy to destroy. When you do roll a 1 when hitting an immobile object it's not that you missed it, it is far more likely that you were holding the weapon wrongly and it bounced off, or it slid along the surface.

Holding the above in mind, what about characters and monsters? The basic 10 AC means that something is capable of moving around, and dodging, to an extent. The dexterity modifier means somebody is quick enough to evade hits, or too slow to do so.

So the basic 10 AC +/- DEX means dodging, in its many forms. Think about it this way, a Goblin with +1 AB trying to kill a peasant who might have 12 AC due to dexterity, will have an incredibly hard time to hit the peasant, because it simply lacks the training to hit anything. The peasant can easilly get out of the way. In turn a Warrior with a +8 Attack Bonus would have a much easier time to do so, because he is that much more skilled, and the peasant is not quick enough to get out of his way.

So, what about a fighter in a Fullplate? He would have a total of 19 AC (assuming +1 Dex) so the 1-11 AC is his Dexterity or dodging ability, while the 12-19 AC is his armor doing the talking. A fullplate is not as restricting as many think. People can still dodge in it, to an extent, but slower than in lighter suits of armor.

Holding the above in mind, let us say a goblin runs over to the fighter and rolls a 12, what does that mean? Well, if we use the above AC seperation it means the fighter did not dodge the goblins hit, but the goblin did in fact manage to hit the fighter. However the thick plating of the fullplate means the goblin could not hit his flesh, and the dagger bounced off the armor.  

It gets complicated the more layers of armor you have. You could devide your AC the following way (in order):

1-10 +/- Dex + Magical Dodging AC: Your dodging and Mobility - "The goblin never hit"

Shield Bonus (Including magical Shield Bonus) - "You blocked the attack with your shield"

Armor Bonus (Including Magical Armor Bonus) - "The goblin got past your shield but hit your armor"

Magical Armor Bonus (Deflect from cloak, for example) - "A magical force stopped the hit before it reached your flesh"

Natural Armor Bonus - "The dagger passed through your armor and magical shield, but was unable to puncture your thick skin/hide."

Think about dragons, they do not have ANY armor, the vast majority of their protection are their scales, which counts as Natural Armor. Some races, such as Minotaurs, wear some protection, but they have their thick hides to protect them from harm. Deep Lizards and Cave Bears are similar in these regards.

Natural Armor Bonus is different from Damage Reduction because DR can mean, for example, layers of fat, unnatural or magical thickness, "loose skin" (like some animalks have) etc. A Wererat might be easy to hit but its unnatural muscle thickness, and rapid regeneration could be the very thing stopping any wounds from happening, even though it might get constantly hit. In turn a Dragon might have INCREDIBLY tough scales to puncture through but once you do it will have no damage reduction to protect its flesh from further harm.

The example of stoneskin spells also applies. You get hit, but the magical spell soaks up the hit, protecting your fleshy innards from harm. You still get hit, and the hit connects, but the spell stops any harm, for now.

What about parrying? See, it's not taken into account when fighting. The animations show it but there is really no mechanical use of parrying on your end. Does that mean you are not parrying at all? That a fight looks like two guys in fullplates whacking at each other's armor until one of the sides gives in? It might just look that way, but that would make battles look more like brawls than elegant fights. Like I said, the above system is for some RP situations, not all of them. Yet at the same time, a professional Duelist would in fact be parrying the clumsy attacks of a warrior wearing a fullplate, because it's very hard to perform dexterous attacks while wearing so much armor. You are bashing whatever is in front of you, relying on your armor to protect you, and not really trying to stop an attack with your sword/axe/hammer. A duelist using the Parry Skill might have some armor and dexterity, but he relies on his personal skill with the blade to parry aside any attacks. He may just be more skilled with the blade than most, when it comes to stopping attacks WITH it, but it does not mean he is skilled enough to later find an opening in the enemy's defense to pierce through it. And if his defense fails he will have to rely on his dexterity and armor to stop the hit from connecting.  

So, when you see those fights among fighters it might just be grown men whacking each other with sticks, until one of them can no longer stand (you know, proper Medieval Fights!)

Most classes have access to Parry, but the Parry skill is rarely invested in, because of its mechanical limitations (you can only parry a number of attacks equal to your own attack number). Furthermore Parry might be a skill that "true" fighters invest in, such as Gladiators, Duelists, Knights or professional soldiers, who would, at some point in time, be forced into duels, or being forced to hold single opponents in tight corridors.

All in all, the lack of dynamics in NWN combat means that you cannot easilly or quickly turn Parry on or off, and if both opponents use Parry you are stuck in a stalemate, until one of them deactivates it. You cannot, like in PnP, suddenly decide to parry an incoming attack from an enemy.

Wounds - "Ouchie! That hurt!"

Adventurers get impaled, burned, cursed, crushed and cut on a daily basis. Yet if you feel that you want something more out of your combat than by all means, read on! Again, this is just some advice for RPing your wounds that you might had sustained during combat. These are not compulsory, but may add something extra.

Physical Damage

There are three types of physical damage that may be produced by weapons in NWN. Slashing, Piercing and Bludgeoning. Before we speak about what manner of wounds you could suffer from these let's first look at HOW they damage you.

Slashing weapons are a bit obvious. You swing a sword and cut somebody. Even a Fullplate has weak spots that may be cut, and in some cases you may find plenty of space between plates of armor where a blade could slide into. Different weapons are used in different ways. An Axe, Greatsword and Bastard sword are all larger weapons, and as such it would be hard for them to hit an enemy through a steel plate or between them. A dagger could, since it's smaller a rogue's sneak attack could be portrayed as a halfling sneaking up on a knight and sticking the dagger beneath his chest plate, and hit a vital organ.

Piercing weapons include bows, crossbows, spears and tridents. You punch through armor and skin to cause damage. Here the rules similar to slashing weapons apply. You can find a soft spot on a knight and punch your spear through it. Typically spears and tridents are thrust forward, and if the spear is sharp enough it can punch through somebody to the other side, especially if the weapon is magical.

Bludgeoning weapons... you smash. That's it really. Take a watermelon, apply a hammer to it, and you get a clear picture. How then do you harm somebody in a fullplate with a hammer? Believe me, it can still hurt a lot when the hammer turn a warrior's fullplate into a bent and sharp can, restricting movement and causing further bleeding. It has been known, in the middle ages, for knights to be stuck in their armor from excessive blunt force, thus needing a blacksmith to free them. In a fantasy setting like this one a warrior in heavy armor hit by a massive hammer could look fine on the outside, but inside the armor you would find a bloody pulp.

On the Elements - Magical vs Natural

There is always a debate about the effects of spells on the environment and people. Does hitting somebody with a fireball turn them into charring corpses?

Here is my perspective. Magical elemental damage carries the effects of the element but no further effects. So, you do not tend to set things on fire, when you cast a fireball. You burn them with the magical effect, but it's not natural fire, and as such it carries the scorching effects of fire, but it's not actual fire. So, if you cast a fireball into a wheat field you would create a scorched crop circle, but if you threw an alchemical fire that could start a proper fire.

What would happen if you had a barrel of alchemical fire explode next to you? That would burn, a lot, and it would not just me a magical effect, it would be a real one.

Note that DMs and people do not expect you to walk around as scorched cripples when you get hit by a maximized fireball. However, I imagine that if you ended up in the epicentre of an alchemical explosion you would not leave unscathed. I can understand that a lightning bolt spell won't make you bleed out of your ears, but an actual one would.

So, do not act overly dramatic if somebody casts scorching hands at you. However, if you end up in Lava? Different story.

On Healing

This might be a bit controversial, especially since we assume that a mini priest in a bottle can fix everything. In Video Games, however, giving somebody a potion does not mean that all ailments will be removed, and people can still die, why?

There are a few ways to look at this.

Hypothetical scenario. Knight charges at a giant valiantly. The giant retorts by smashing the knight away with his hammer or tree-club. The knight flies off and crashes into a cliff side, or any other hard surface. The healer quickly rushes over and casts a healing spell upon him, does the knight survive?

That depends on the nature of the healing magic. Doe the spell only seal up wounds, thus stopping bleeding? Does it only replenish somebody's blood level? Will it reconnect a severed spine? Usually the answer is that the healing spell will only seal up wounds, stop bleeding, and replenish one's blood a bit.

Yet, let us say that despite our best efforts the knight died anyway, why? Well, for one, the healing spell might not be capable of fixing organs that have stopped working, or were destroyed beyond "repair", due to the impact. The healing spell might had sealed up shards of stone and metal inside the knight, thus causing even more damage.

Nowhere is it said that a healing spell removes bolts, arrows and other materials from a person's body. If somebody gets impaled on a spear and you heal them that means you just sealed shut the wound around the spear, thus making the situation even worse.

Of course, this is a bit abstract, and unfair. On some quests a frontliner could get hit by over fifty bolts or arrows. Does that mean that before he can be healed you need to RP taking out every bolt and arrow individually? Will you refuse to heal them during combat, so that a person does not turn into a porcupine? Of course not. However, after combat you could RP tending to a person's wound in a "realistic" manner.

Here is an example.

As a healer you first clean the wounds, removing any invasive objects (shards of metal, bolts, arrows, etc.). You may apply some manner of cleaning liquid (alcohol being the cheap one) and then bandage up the wounds. Then it would make sense to use a purple crystal/healing potion to speed up the healing process, because you are certain that your sealing up the wounds won't leave something undesirable inside of them.

As the warrior you might not feel the wounds you have sustained until after the battle. Why? Adrenaline. As you fight you might not notice that a goblin has just made a deep wound in your leg, you will continue to swing your sword, until after emotions die down a bit and you collapse over realising that you just lost an awful lot of blood.

The instinct to survive, combined with how our bodies work, means that you won't suddenly drop over from a single cut, but you will try to continue fighting until the combat is over, or you are simply unable to continue.

The Barbarian rage represents that nicely, but fighters engaged in combat would also behave in a similar manner. The only fault of the Barbarian rage is that it only stops working after a specific amount of time, and not after combat is over.

"When does it hurt?"

During a single quest, or combat, you could suffer countless hits, wounds, cuts and spells. When should you RP that the attack left lasting damage on you?

My answer? Depends on what percentage of health, or how severe to your status, was the hit.

For example, a Barbarian with 100 HP is hit for 60 points of damage. That takes him down from Uninjuered to Badly Injured. Is this necessarily a hit that should be RPed as a severe one? Yes, but if you were a character with 70 HP total then that hit would leave an even bigger mark.

Health Points can be interpreted in a number of ways. Your blood level, vitality (life force, if you will), overall resistance to pain and wounds. The last of the three would make the most sense. A Level 1 fighter, recruit or trainee, cannot withstand as much punishment as a Level 10 fighter, who would usually act as the commander or veteran of a force. It's not just about being tough, it's also about being psychologically capable and sufficiently trained to withstand pain in all its forms.

With the above in mind, a fighter who suffered three critical hits could still continue to fight thanks to his adrenaline, and only after the battle realise that his guts are spilling out, his right arm is broken, and his leg smashed.

That being said, critical hit does not mean crippling hit. If a goblin runs up to you, when you play a Barbarian, and critical hits you for a single point of damage you will not interpret this as a crippling hit, the goblin simply found a slightly softer weak spot on you and hit. However if the critical hit did take a way a good chunk of health, and it clearly effected you, this could be interpreted as a severe or somehow crippling wound.

Spells are a bit harder to gauge. Like we said, a fireball hits and it burns you, but should you RP first degree burns during combat? It goes back to our earlier talk of Magical vs Natural Elements, but if you jumped into the Lava Moat on Fort Iron Dread and act as if nothing has happened, other than some fire damage, try to imagine yourself dunking your foot in a small pool of laval and being "ok" with it.

Long-lasting wounds or damage caused by wounds or by the elements is up to the player to RP and decide whether such appear. However if something happens during an event which might had left real physical damage on your then it can act as wondeful RP spice, and something to add to your character's description.

Let's talk about the wounds

Here is a list of different wounds you could suffer during combat, which you may choose to RP.

Bruise/Cut/Puncture - Caused by a standard physical attack. Depending on the amount of damage caused it could be a light or deep cut. These might not carry with themselves any long-term consequences, and some bandages/healing magic could heal them easilly.

Broken Bones - Most physical attacks can cause this. Bones can be broken with increasing levels of severity. The most dangerous of which are open wounds caused by broken bones. The least severe could be reflected by small damage to a bone, that a healing spell could fix. However, a severely broken limb would call for much more complicated medical attention.

Burns (Acid, Electricity, Fire, Frost) - Here too, there are different levels of Burns you can suffer. First degree burns are the most dangerous, and would effectively turn somebody into a cripple, depending on where the burns are. Here healing spells could work, but the scarring would be visible. Frostbite comes in similar levels of severity, and I doubt a healing spell could bring back a frozen and dead limb to working order.

Poisoned/Diseased Wounds - Some weapons or attacks can cause infection or poisoning. This may be a magical or natural effect. As an example, a ghoul's scratch or bite could cause ghoul rot, because its claws and teeth are colonies of all manner bacteria and diseases. A wounds that is diseased could show clear symptoms on the skin, the blood color, and so on. Poison is harder to represent visually, however especially powerful poisons, especially after applying secondary damage could show that a person is pale, weak, stumbling about, unable to breathe, suffering from a severe headache, etc. Treating such wounds magically is simple, since you eradicate the disease/poison entirely. Using mechanical means (anti-toxin, for example) is far more complicated, RP wise, but it could be represented as drinking a herbal antidote or cleaning out the wound before the disease spreads further.

Supernatural Drain - Some attacks can drain your different stats and abilities. In damage can be represented visually in the following ways.

Strength - Weak, cannot raise weapon, diffiulty walking.

Dexterity - Sluggish, trips a lot, has problems with performing even basic dexterous acts (opening a container, dropping items, etc.)

Constitution - Lack of breath, tiredness, pale skin.

Intelligence - Headaches, lack of focus.

Wisdom - Blurry vision, ringing in the ears, easily distracted, headaches.

Charisma - This is a hard once, since charisma can mean strength of character and visual appearance. This could be represented as stuttering, slips of the tongue, sudden outbursts, infected/blotchy skin, etc.

Level Drain - This is usually said to be "Draining of the Soul", and you could use the combination of all of the above to represent it, since Level Drain effects all your skills.