[Lanth]

Ok... To add realism

when fighting a skeleton ( or any other bone only creature)

arrows wouldn't do damage unless you designate where you shoot and most of the time it would only be the eyes sockets or head ?
and a Blunt weapons ie. a mace would get a hit on them ?

is it wrong to use these and say if a character is using a bow that he can't attack it ( unless mentioned above)

looking for anyones ideas on the whole thing
and how would you add how would you say rules to it, like would blunt weapons get a plus against them or what ?

This post has been edited by Lanth: 18 June 2007 - 12:24 PM

[Dthclaw]

Skeletons already have damage reduction against slashing and piercing weapons to account for the difficulty of realistically damaging them. Requiring a declaration of where you're attacking to justify whether you damage a skeleton is cumbersome and redundant when DR handles dealing with damage resistance as is.

So, no, I don't think you should do what you're talking about. Bows already have a sub-optimal ability to damage creatures with resistance against piercing, and swords are similarly but less limited (another fairly realistic nod - someone swinging a sword or an axe may be going into/through bone, but it's going to be easier than shooting it with arrows). Bludgeoning weapons already have a 'plus' for dealing with skeletons - they defeat it's DR and deal full damage. So... no plus, no full-blown immunity, no stripping characters of the option to attack.

Damage reduction and damage immunity are intended to handle the ability to shrug off damage. Use the former far, far more often than the latter, because there are only three weapon damage types. And never ever declare that a character simply cannot do something just because its ineffective.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Dthclaw is dead on target there. I would only add that the consequences of banning a particular damage type will lead to frustration amongst your players. It's same as when you decide to randomly put an anti-magic field over an entire dungeon; the party's spellcasters rapidly become a liability rather than an asset, and their players have the joy of failing at all their attack rolls, getting killed, and having to make new character sheets. Try to avoid pointlessly pissing off your players. Now, if they're munchkins that cry whenever things don't go their way, go for it. But still maintain consistency. Even if you intend to punish them for abusing rules, don't suddenly give bony undead immunity to an entire type of damage; there are more creative ways to turn a munchkin against himself. Like grappling. They never remember the grappling rules....