So, I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I wanted to take some time to talk about it at length. To make a long story short, I don’t like miss mechanics in RPGs. When I say “miss” I mean when a character makes an attack, the attack ends up having no effect. For instance, in the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons, if you’ve never played, to hit an enemy with an attack, you must roll a d20 and add a modifier. If the result is less than the target’s Armor Class (or AC), then the attack misses entirely and deals no damage. Only a certain amount of attacks can be made in a turn, and, especially at low levels, missed attacks can mean a wasted turn.
On the other hand, miss mechanics act as an effective release valve, as they force characters to invest in stats other than offense and defense/HP. These types of mechanics allow for tanks to even have a hope of closing distance against a sniper without sacrificing all of their “hit points”, as an example. If the tank remains behind the shield, the bullets won’t do any damage.
However, a system like that works in D&D because there are rules in place and details to consider. AC is determined in part by what armor you’re wearing, characters only perform crazy feats of acrobatics if they succeed on a skill test, et cetera. On this website, we use a very bare-bones system to judge combat. That allows for much more freedom in weapon design, clever strategy, and attack descriptions, but it also leaves a lot of room for bias.
As an example, consider a glass-cannon type character that’s described as “nimble and agile” in the related character profile, presumably letting them dodge attacks with relative ease. Now consider a tank-class character that’s equipped with armor and shields, but moves slowly. Finally, let’s pit them in a 1v1 fight against a hypothetical invincible sniper. Which character would the sniper have a harder time taking down?
Theoretically, the tank should last longer because that character invested heavily into defense. However, if the agile character can dodge one sniper bullet, what reason would he not have to dodge all the bullets? And this is where I feel there’s a bit of a problem. Under certain circumstances, nimble, “glass-cannon” characters that take advantage of “dodge-tanking” can potentially be more survivable than tank characters while also dealing more damage.
Now, I’m not pushing for a change in the system, I just want to critique it and point out flaws. No system’s going to be perfect, and I’ve taken advantage of miss-mechanics myself. I just wanted to share my thoughts on the subject.