RE: (TFT) Attributes: 4 viewpoints

[Michael Taylor <MichaelTaylor1@compuserve.com>]

Message text written by INTERNET:tft@brainiac.com
> 
>>>>>>The only thing I would add, as stated before, is some sort of
"Health" (HT)
>>>>>>or "Endurance" or "Constitution" or "Vitality" or "Stamina" or
whatsoever
>>>>>>one wishes to call it. Having a separate measure of health is, in my
not at
>>>>>>all humble opinion, a very important stat. It is used to determine
recovery
>>>>>>from injuries, any saves for disease and poison (though with poison
that
>>>>>>save is HT combined with ST, see below), all Fatigue related damage
(see
>>>>>>below), and with DX to determine MA (and yet again, see below).

I've never understood this. Of all the additional attributes that TFT could
use, this one seem the most unjustified and unrealistic. By every realistic
measure Strength and Health are directly related. Even given the individual
differences, statistically none of them would be greater than "1-points"
worth. IMHO.

>>>>>>If you are reduced to 3 or less HT from fatigue, you have an
>>>>>>adjST of -3. This does NOT affect hit points, but does affect how
much you
>>>>>>can lift and carry, along with weapon use. 

Why wouldn't it? Can you really dodge and parry just as well when mortally
wounded as when you are fresh? To me, ST doesn't represent flesh content -
it represents "resistance" to injury. Generally vitality and ability to
"roll with the punches". 30 ST wizards aren't big buff weightlifter's,
they're highly just energetic old men....

>>>>>>Note that HT does NOT determine hit points, which are a function of
body
>>>>>>mass, and thus are still considered ST. 

This doesn't make sense to me, because if that's the case then you CANT
kill an unconcious foe - because you still have to chop up their body to
"kill" all their body mass. Hit Points only make sense if mass is "part" of
the equation but not the whole thing...

>>>>>>Notice that GURPS fell into this
>>>>>>trap. For humanoid types it works (sort of) but for larger beasts it
fails.
>>>>>>The solution they came up with was to have two HTs, one a measure of
health
>>>>>>and the other a measure of hit points. Clumsy, in my mind. Not only
>>>>>>inelegant, but not really accurate, either.

I have to agree with you there. You can drop a missile on an Elephant,
Whale or Dinosaur in GURPS and it won't even slow it down!

Michael 
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