Quote Originally Posted by Lyc
I was of course trying to highlight the broken rule, not being literal.
Hmm, I use broken to mean that a rule doesn't acheive what it's supposed to. I guess you could use broken for all sorts of things you don't like.

In that case D&D 2e was broken because my whole group hated it :D Just kidding

Though not by much - a sap i
Quote Originally Posted by Lyc
nflicted 1-3 points of damage. Assuming no damage bonuses and an average of 2 points damage against a 50 hp fighter, the user could spend roughly 1/2 and hour achieving nothing, longer if the target has more hit points, regen/heal items. Of course if someone is trying to knock you out you dont stand there and take it. The whole point of knockout weapons was to quickly incapicate an opponent who could be a threat.
No, the whole point of KO weapons is to take out opponents who are pretty weak.

D&D is a heroic RPG, not grim/gritty. It's about kicking in the door and taking names, not going down in one hit because of a low level character with a sap is attacking you.

They're both mutually exclusive and can't exist together. Just a connundrum of role playing.

You're either playing a heroic game or a grim/gritty game. You can't be heroic if the rules make you vulnerable to a wimp with a pipe and you can't have a grim/gritty game if you can laugh off glancing blows by running up walls, jumping over opponents and other crazy combat moves.

Grim/Gritty you're afraid of that random attack that can cripple or take you out.

So thats not a fault of the rule as you not liking the genre tropes