> AC simplifies "harder to hit at all" and "harder to actually damage" into a single stat, which is frankly a positive.
Agreed. In practice, if you're shot while wearing a bulletproof vest, the bullet isn't penetrating the armor, but it's still doing concussive damage to your skin and organs-- you can even still die from internal bleeding. This varies by caliber, range, penetrative ability of the round, etc.
For D&D, this would be the difference between being shot by an arrow while wearing plated mail, versus taking a cannonball to the chest. The calculation needs to be "was the attack successful" and the technicalities handwaved away. You take damage from the arrow depending on whether it pierces a gap in the armor. You take damage from the cannonball depending on whether it hits you or misses.
> some developers truly believe that people want to sit around watching other people roll dice and do math for ages.
It's cheap and quick to do any number of calculations in CRPGs, but it's a snorefest when you bring that approach to IRL gatherings after everyone's been drinking. At that point you might as well try to play FATAL.
Agreed. In practice, if you're shot while wearing a bulletproof vest, the bullet isn't penetrating the armor, but it's still doing concussive damage to your skin and organs-- you can even still die from internal bleeding. This varies by caliber, range, penetrative ability of the round, etc.
For D&D, this would be the difference between being shot by an arrow while wearing plated mail, versus taking a cannonball to the chest. The calculation needs to be "was the attack successful" and the technicalities handwaved away. You take damage from the arrow depending on whether it pierces a gap in the armor. You take damage from the cannonball depending on whether it hits you or misses.
> some developers truly believe that people want to sit around watching other people roll dice and do math for ages.
It's cheap and quick to do any number of calculations in CRPGs, but it's a snorefest when you bring that approach to IRL gatherings after everyone's been drinking. At that point you might as well try to play FATAL.