I mean dnd also puts literal daggers at 1d4. Combat systems in general fall apart if you consider reality too much. Like I killed a bunch of monsters so now I hit better makes sense. I killed a bunch of monsters so now I have more health doesn’t.
That could work too, but for many people, being able to dodge/avoid hits is exclusively the DEX bonus to AC, and they believe it doesn’t have to do anything with hit points.
I’m on two minds about that: On the one hand, it’s true that you’re far better at dodging in lighter (or no) armor. OTOH, I agree with you that experience teaches you to decide where you’re going to get hit if at all. So it might be something like “raise your arm so the strike doesn’t hit your belly”.
Funny meme but I think people( and DnD) fail to realize how dangerous a sling is. Just a regular one can cave in metal, let alone human bone.
Plus it didn’t kill Goliath but stunned him. David then cut his head off.
So, you know, those who fall by the sling die by the sword
Slings and whips where my earliest disappointments playing D&D. 1d4!? Really?
I mean dnd also puts literal daggers at 1d4. Combat systems in general fall apart if you consider reality too much. Like I killed a bunch of monsters so now I hit better makes sense. I killed a bunch of monsters so now I have more health doesn’t.
I rationalize it as “You took some blows so now you have a better pain tolerance”.
See, I interpret that as being: you now know what kills people, so you are better at avoiding it.
That could work too, but for many people, being able to dodge/avoid hits is exclusively the DEX bonus to AC, and they believe it doesn’t have to do anything with hit points.
I’m on two minds about that: On the one hand, it’s true that you’re far better at dodging in lighter (or no) armor. OTOH, I agree with you that experience teaches you to decide where you’re going to get hit if at all. So it might be something like “raise your arm so the strike doesn’t hit your belly”.
Most weapons can kill in one hit IRL if used right. In D&D, 1d4 is both the damage of a sling shot bullet and the HP of a commoner.
A commoner has 1d8 hitpoints. In 3.5 their hit die was d4, but it wasn’t clear how many levels the average commoner had.