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Episode 1430: Near, Far, Wherever You Are

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There was a bizarre bit of rules logic in the old original edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons concerning throwing other combatants. If you were strong enough to pick someone up, you could throw them. I forget the exact details, but there was some conflict between the amount of damage the thrown person would take when they landed (which might have been figured as falling damage), and the amount of damage they could do to a third party if they hit them (figured as being hit by a relatively soft improvised weapon - as opposed to being hit by a sword, say).

Or maybe there was a conflict between the amount of damage you'd take if you fell onto a hard surface, versus if you were thrown onto the same surface. Like if you fell onto it with a certain velocity you'd take a certain amount of damage, but if you were thrown onto it at the exact same velocity, you'd take a different amount of damage.

Or maybe it was a conflict between the amount of damage you'd take because of impacting a hard surface, depending on whether you hit the hard surface, or the hard surface hit you (at the same speed). Essentially violating the principle of relativity. (Not even Einsteinian relativity either - just plain old classical Newtonian relativity.)

Actually, knowing the original edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, there were probably logical conflicts in all three of these cases.

Transcript

Chewbacca: I, too, shall avail myself of the opportunity to despatch two of these offensive troopers with such a manoeuvre.
[SFX]: THUD!!
Leia: I kick one in the widdershins. 15.
[SFX]: Boot!
GM: The trooper spins in pain.
Leia: I grab his blaster and start shooting.
[SFX]: Pow! Pow!
Han: I'll grab one too and blast the nearest trooper!
GM: According to the battle map, he's... touching you.
R2-D2: That's too close for a ranged attack.
Han: I throw him far enough away that I can blast him! 18!
[SFX]: THUD!!
R2-D2: But not further than the maximum point-blank bonus range.
Han: Right!
[SFX]: Pow!
[SFX]: Thump!
GM: <roll> Your throw knocks him out cold. There's no need to blast him.
Han: Awww.


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Published: Thursday, 10 November, 2016; 02:11:01 PST.
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