Changing the "Caster beats Mundane" paradigm

[Lacco]

The words from their example literally just appeared on the previous page. The biggest problems that I see are 1) poor fluffing on critical failures by GMs and 2) the fact that in D&D and several other systems the probability doesn't alter based on user skill or weapon type. However more in line with this thread is the fact that warriors have to worry about them and no other archetype does (aka doesn't apply to skills or magic). So in D&D and more specifically 3.X I definitely agree that it should be removed.

Couldn't agree more - especially about no.2.

Considering human factor failure rate decreases tenfold between "untrained" and "trained", a veteran should have much lower chance.

Cool.

How many demons have you killed, exactly?

Legendary demon slaying heroes shouldn't trip and sprain their ankle. And it definitely shouldn't be more likely the more legendary they are (4 attacks per round vs 1).

And I agree with you!

A demon-slaying hero could trip only if the whole floor is covered in slimy demon blood - but he should be able to ignore the sprained ankle. But these examples were not given for a demon-slaying hero.

Considering I'm level -1 at best and the friend I mentioned is somewhere around LVL 1 or 2, these examples could be used for maybe level 0-3.

But... a demon-slaying hero still could overswing and hit & destroy an adjacent pillar, leading to the collapse of the ancient temple. Or jam the damn sword two feet deep into wall. Or even stick it so deep into the demon he loses grip and the sword sticks from the surprised demon's body

Considering the opponents he faces, even a miniscule opening can be exploited - missed step is much worse when fighting high-level enemies.

And yes, the worst part is if a system increases the chances of fumble the more skilled the fighter is. That needs some serious fixing (there are systems that lower the probability with increase of combatants' skill).

I'm not against demon-slaying legendary heroes. I'm all for them - but even those guys should fumble once in a while. How often? Definitely much less than us, negative level guys

EDIT: Also, I'm one of the guys who plays games where 5000 peasants die on battlefield... that's why I usually provide low-magic solutions/examples.

EDIT 2: @GreatWyrmGold: As someone who still gets tunnel vision during sparring, I agree on most points. I'm quite proud of my footwork, yet I stumble too often when trying to coordinate everything at once. Practice makes it better. So, complete agreement.

@Max_Killjoy: Apologies for the caricature. I agree that a productive discussion does not lie that way - and I'm off to tend to my games