Little details in RPGs that annoy you

[markec]

When tiny enemies drop large loot, like in Diablo 2 you kill a swarm of flies and get a plate armor.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

50,000 hitpoints and hits for 2,000 damage

Yeah, what a scrub. Only 2000 damage?

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

- Cleave - this doesn't make any sense in terms of RL combat. How would you cleave in RL? You would have to cut cleanly through the first guy's torso to hit the next guy. Yeah...

As ridiculous as this clip is, EVEN IN IT it wouldn't be a cleave, since the sword got stuck midway through.

 

[TedNugent]

power attack makes perfect sense in a world centered around dice rolls

But it's this kind of thinking that keeps DnD from feeling like realistic medieval combat. Power attacks, hitpoints, etc.

I would argue that magic prevents DnD from feeling like realistic medieval combat.

Well, and the fantasy monsters.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Cleave came from a rule that was in every(?) prior D&D edition but had no real name. It was for making fighter-based characters feel 'heroic' when fighting very weak enemies by being able to take out many at once.
Like a scene of a master warrior vs a bunch of armed peasants.

iirc, the main difference is that cleave has no HD limit.

 

[markec]

When you find useful expensive stuff, including money in random barrels scattered around settlements.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

power attack makes perfect sense in a world centered around dice rolls

But it's this kind of thinking that keeps DnD from feeling like realistic medieval combat. Power attacks, hitpoints, etc.

I would argue that magic prevents DnD from feeling like realistic medieval combat.

Well, and the fantasy monsters.

Well, someone made this point on some youtube video i was watching a while back. Combat against humanoids should be realistic medieval. Combat against dragons and such should be nothing like typical combat. Imagine trying to take a dragon down with a sword or a spear. Those thing would be like toothpicks.

You should have to prepare siege equipment, special traps, etc. And this would also force the developers to make dragons and such rare, as they should be, instead of the typical 20 dragons per map we see in typical fantasy RPGs.

 

[jebsmoker]

your character carrying an unfeasible amount of loot on their person is something that bugs me if i think about it

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Combat against dragons and such should be nothing like typical combat. Imagine trying to take a dragon down with a sword or a spear. Those thing would be like toothpicks.

D&D was meant to be an approximation while you used your imagination(yuck)
look at a game like dragon's dogma to get an idea of how it was supposed to play out in your mind

The issue isn't the idea, it's that video game D&D adaptations lose a lot of the magic.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Vavra made this point before he was driven from here by the whining. A lot of RPG modeling was done as a massive abstraction back in the day because there was either no computers involved at all, or very primitive computers. Now, we have the hardware to delve much deeper, and these abstractions are no longer necessary. New deeper and more concrete models are required.

 

[King Crispy]

That's already been attempted.

It was called Oblivion.

 

[None]

Encounters designed with prebuffing in mind.

 

[perfectslumbers]

Large monsters who move/attack very rapidly.

 

[Denim Destroyer]

Lack of keyboard shortcuts contributing to over relying on the mouse. I have developed an appreciation for keyboard shortcuts after my relatively recent dive into 80s-90s computer gaming. This has lead me to the conclusion that even for most modern games keyboard shortcuts are more than sufficient for most actions yet current audiences expect primarily mouse driven interfaces.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

When NPC doesn't say and I can't ask how much will I get for doing the quest.
Vague "enough for a job like thay" or "you'll see" is even worse.

Time is money. Just tell me how much you're going to pay.

This could be good if the quest itself rewards you along the way like you kill some big bullshit monster that was guarding some super magic armor or sword so even if the NPC cheapskates you at least you know the reward was to be found and not told about.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

-Swimming in armor. It's always hilarious to me in any game. Complete immersion break.
-Likewise, when a game treats going in and out of water like it's nothing. Which is every game really. Most people are deeply uncomfortable walking in even moderately wet shoes, let alone trudging through waist high water.
-Armor in general is not depicted correctly. We could have a debate on the general approximation of hit points and what they represent in the abstract but the fact remains the concept of 'punching through armor' with a sword is ridiculous. Plate armor was a full tech tier ahead of medieval weaponry to the point that knights could wail on each other all day long without seriously harming one another. Battles were fought until one side got tired and gave up, then they paid the winners some money. Or they devolved into fist fights and grapples with combatants reaching under each other's armor and pulling their opponents nuts off (true story).

 

[Zizka]

When you can summon a meteor from space in battle and use a 10’ sword but your character can’t get past a bush blocking the way.

 

[RPK]

I'd call that a critical hit.

while using Power Attack, obviously.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

-Armor in general is not depicted correctly. We could have a debate on the general approximation of hit points and what they represent in the abstract but the fact remains the concept of 'punching through armor' with a sword is ridiculous. Plate armor was a full tech tier ahead of medieval weaponry to the point that knights could wail on each other all day long without seriously harming one another. Battles were fought until one side got tired and gave up, then they paid the winners some money. Or they devolved into fist fights and grapples with combatants reaching under each other's armor and pulling their opponents nuts off (true story).

The kind of plate armor most typically seen in video games was contemporary with firearms.
The main issue is the aversion of firearms in fantasy games pulling material from a time when they existed.

 

[Tyranicon]

Historical accuracy is like virgins having sex. As long as they make a good attempt, we won't shame them too much.

 

[Not.AI]

Games that have low level enemies that look like giant dangerous monsters and high level enemies that look like small creatures that look harmless compared to low level ones.

Elden Ring.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Historical accuracy is like virgins having sex. As long as they make a good attempt, we won't shame them too much.

The hidden technique: masturbate before your first time and enjoy the ride.

 

[Wunderbar]

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/the-smaller-things-that-annoy-you-in-rpgs.130863/
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...most-annoying-design-choice-in-a-game.141962/

 

[King Crispy]

You'll notice I posted nothing in either of those threads.

AND MINE IS BETTER.

 

[Wunderbar]

You asked for a "little detail", and then immediately undermined your own thread by complaining about a rather huge issue in writing.