How do -you- Combat RP?

[Dravus]

I'm a fan of natural role-play and so I don't generally plan out every last little detail in advance. On the other hand I'm not particularly interested in my character getting into a fight with another player's character unless it makes a lot of sense. All too often I see people trying to pick a fight in the middle of a city when in reality the local guards would intervene to keep the peace unless it happened in a really shady location.

I generally prefer to do it with people I know and trust since if I can't trust someone to fight on reasonable terms then there's not much point role-playing with them in the first place as far as I'm concerned.

[Mercurias]

A problem I have personally encountered in the game is sort of a general lack of sense of realism when it comes to combat. I can understand two people getting into a fight and pre-planning who is going to win or lose, and I've done so with friends who I like, but I'll see things that just make me shake my head.

Normally the standard reaction to being stabbed in the stomach or shoulder isn't to get mad and then have the strength to punch someone in the face while three feet of steel is still rammed into your body. Likewise, when someone casts a ball of fire at you and it hits your chest plate, that armor is going to be so hot that it could partially melt and the under padding could even catch fire.

 

Arrows are either shrugged off or considered to both have the speed and penetrative power of bullets while still arching like arrows. As a former competition archer, I can assure you that you can't have it both way sunless you're firing from a long, long way off with a bow that has such a strong draw that you would have to be a Roegadyn to pull it back.

 

I really just avoid combat RP like the plague.

[LiveVoltage]

Guys, stahp necroing the thread.   @_@

 

With that said, RNG or a pre-determined conclusion to the fight are the two best methods. RNG because RPers then dont have to take responsibility or trample on each others characters to win.   (And lets be honest, more goes into combat than skill. For example, weather, environmental structure, terrain and so on. All are just pieces of the big old combat scenario.)

 

Pre-written is good as well because it allows players to talk things out without hurt feelings of who gets to win and who gets stabbed.   :I

[Berrod Armstrong]

It's too subjective a topic to determine 'best' methods, really. 

 

Once the players engaging in combat communicate and co-operate, almost any method will serve wonderfully. Opinions, and things!

[LiveVoltage]

It's too subjective a topic to determine 'best' methods, really. 

 

Once the players engaging in combat communicate and co-operate, almost any method will serve wonderfully. Opinions, and things!

Yes but most methods fall under pre-determined or RNG. I digress but I never meant it as an absolute fact, just a generality and that I phrased it wrong so it look's as if what im saying is absolute, but it isn't, because there are different methods out there that I probably have overlooked or haven't noticed.

[Aduu Avagnar]

It's too subjective a topic to determine 'best' methods, really. 

 

Once the players engaging in combat communicate and co-operate, almost any method will serve wonderfully. Opinions, and things!

Yes but most methods fall under pre-determined or RNG. I digress but I never meant it as an absolute fact, just a generality and that I phrased it wrong so it look's as if what im saying is absolute, but it isn't, because there are different methods out there that I probably have overlooked or haven't noticed.

Free form being a good one when done well, or hideous when not.

[LiveVoltage]

It's too subjective a topic to determine 'best' methods, really. 

 

Once the players engaging in combat communicate and co-operate, almost any method will serve wonderfully. Opinions, and things!

Yes but most methods fall under pre-determined or RNG. I digress but I never meant it as an absolute fact, just a generality and that I phrased it wrong so it look's as if what im saying is absolute, but it isn't, because there are different methods out there that I probably have overlooked or haven't noticed.

Free form being a good one when done well, or hideous when not.

True but Free Form largely rely on communication. If you don't communicate then free form can turn ugly fast.

 

Why am I still on this thread? I need to stop encouraging the continuation of dead threads.  

 

Its not really dead though, but I just played a role in its revival so meh.   :I

[Kage]

Part of the issues I have in RPing combat is when you start to deal with people who use magic vs those who do not.

 

How lethal things are etc. Part of it is also the fact that in-game and cinematics of sorts we see things like Fireballs taking out entire Magiteks or people are run through etc. Would people who use magic just always overpower those who don't?

[LiveVoltage]

Part of the issues I have in RPing combat is when you start to deal with people who use magic vs those who do not.

 

How lethal things are etc. Part of it is also the fact that in-game and cinematics of sorts we see things like Fireballs taking out entire Magiteks or people are run through etc. Would people who use magic just always overpower those who don't?

I say the situation varies. A sniper/archer is going to kill a mage before he can get a spell off, while mages can (most of the time) overpower melee fighters unless they are really good at dodging or they have sufficient environmental coverage to duck and cover from the incoming spells and warriors and melee types tend to fight well against each other and non-magic ranged combatants. Just my two sense.

[Val]

Part of the issues I have in RPing combat is when you start to deal with people who use magic vs those who do not.

 

How lethal things are etc. Part of it is also the fact that in-game and cinematics of sorts we see things like Fireballs taking out entire Magiteks or people are run through etc. Would people who use magic just always overpower those who don't?

I say the situation varies. A sniper/archer is going to kill a mage before he can get a spell off, while mages can (most of the time) overpower melee fighters unless they are really good at dodging or they have sufficient environmental coverage to duck and cover from the incoming spells and warriors and melee types tend to fight well against each other and non-magic ranged combatants. Just my two sense.

 

Pretty much this. No one style is ever going to be better than another. Tactics come into effect, as well as the character's power. One fireball isn't going to be as powerful as another and, honestly, if someone shoots a fireball or something that they claim can topple buildings, I'll gladly excuse myself from the RP. The ONLY exception I have on that is if the person is meant to be the main RP antagonist for that particular story. 

 

While my own villain is meant to be a tad more powerful than normal, he has distinct weaknesses that allow anyone to defeat him should they manage to learn and exploit them. Magic can be a very OP thing and a near infinite number of possibilities are open to those that RP casters, but it doesn't HAVE to be. A caster could simply not be good, in the process of learning, have a chance for spells to backfire and affect themselves or everyone on the field, etc.

[Fates Skein]

One of my characters does use small 'daggers' or small knives, as well as poisoned blades, needles, other dodgy not-so-nice weaponry.  I'd love, love, love to have a fan item in game so I could play a character with a war fan, it's one of those eastern aesthetic weapons that I loved using in things like Exalted or L5R but have never gotten a chance to use in an MMO...

[Verad]

Dice-with-a-good-system-> High-roll-wins-> Emotes -> Duel, in that order of preference.

 

The tricky part with finding a good dice system is one that accurately reflects character abilities and the setting while still being nevertheless simple and abstract enough to proceed quickly without bogging down the posts. It's something I've been tinkering with for a while. 

 

Failing that, I'll take high-roll-wins simply because I prefer the unpredictability of it. Lacking that, I just don't find combat to be very interesting. The conflict that led up to the combat, certainly, but the details of the fight, less-so.

[Aduu Avagnar]

Part of the issues I have in RPing combat is when you start to deal with people who use magic vs those who do not.

 

How lethal things are etc. Part of it is also the fact that in-game and cinematics of sorts we see things like Fireballs taking out entire Magiteks or people are run through etc. Would people who use magic just always overpower those who don't?

I would like to chime in here as a caster.

 

As was said, circumstance and situation play a large factor, as well as a players inherent desire to win (the higher the desire to /win/ the roleplay, the more likely they are to use over the top stuff.)

 

I utilise a sort of common sense based system with my magic, start with a rough number of spells that can reasonably cast before being drained/mentally exhausted, the more powerful the spell, the more number of slots it takes up. As well as the fact that although he has no compunctions about killing, he generally tries not to.

 

There is also, with certain spells designed to incapacitate (binds/sleeps whathave you) the requirement to ask the permission of the target.

 

When all else fails, I fall in with Common Sense and rule of cool. As well as trying to make the fight fun for both parties. As a colaboration, if one side isn't enjoying it, I see it as a fruitless endeavour.

[Aduu Avagnar]

Part of the issues I have in RPing combat is when you start to deal with people who use magic vs those who do not.

 

How lethal things are etc. Part of it is also the fact that in-game and cinematics of sorts we see things like Fireballs taking out entire Magiteks or people are run through etc. Would people who use magic just always overpower those who don't?

I say the situation varies. A sniper/archer is going to kill a mage before he can get a spell off, while mages can (most of the time) overpower melee fighters unless they are really good at dodging or they have sufficient environmental coverage to duck and cover from the incoming spells and warriors and melee types tend to fight well against each other and non-magic ranged combatants. Just my two sense.

these methods I agree with, I have run into a couple of people that just no sell on any magic, or any other weapon/injury affecting them, and don't give any proper explanation, which makes me a sadpanda.