is there such a thing as over shooting your goals?

[Torbyne]

I feel that in answering the OP's question many of the posters since have overshot their goals... not that we havent answered the question according to both the Known Rules but also added several valuable opinions, anecdotes and thoughts on the use of weapons of mass destruction in world war. In effect, the OP has their answer plus wisdom behind the answer and a few tidbit of Knowledge: History to go along with it. Nicely rolled OP, nicely rolled.

[Scythia]

Knight who says Meh wrote:

Scythia wrote:

My "crazy houserule" is that non-lethal damage cannot kill. Otherwise it should be called "somewhat lethal damage".

As to the question, I have set a specific range before where rolling too high would have consequences, but only in cases where a character had a newfound power and I wanted to reflect the lack of precise control.

Non lethal isn't always, unfortunately.

I'm well aware. Much like HP, monsters, and magic, I don't worry too much about the reality of a thing compared to the fun. Killing someone you're trying to stop without seriously injuring isn't fun.

[Qaianna]

What deciding this in a game mechanics sense does is set some of the tone of the game. In the pit and extra trap case, are we dealing with a killer GM who's out to get you with a cackle? (Note the earlier comment about 75% failure chance in that scenario!) And the same with trying to knock out the peasant.

In these cases, the rules get in the way of something even more important: the fun of the game. Now, it CAN be fun to play out accidentally killing someone you didn't mean to. But I'd rather not worry too much about oversucceeding on things.

[Knight who says Meh]

Scythia wrote:

Knight who says Meh wrote:

Scythia wrote:

My "crazy houserule" is that non-lethal damage cannot kill. Otherwise it should be called "somewhat lethal damage".

As to the question, I have set a specific range before where rolling too high would have consequences, but only in cases where a character had a newfound power and I wanted to reflect the lack of precise control.

Non lethal isn't always, unfortunately.

I'm well aware. Much like HP, monsters, and magic, I don't worry too much about the reality of a thing compared to the fun. Killing someone you're trying to stop without seriously injuring isn't fun.

Fair enough.

[Chris Lambertz]

Removed a string of posts referencing real-world atrocities. Let's keep this stuff out of the Rules Questions subforum.

[Esban Silvermoon]

Ravingdork wrote:

zainale wrote:

there is a 20 foot gaping pit in front of you. you need to get across. that's when you notice a foot wide pillar in the center of the pit. you have to make a roll that will allow you to jump the ten feet and land on the pillar. but if you roll too well you might jump further then the 10 needed to land on the pillar. you rolled a X and over shoot the pillar and fall into the spiked pit trap.

Clever trap makers don't have a single pillar coming up from the pit. They have two pillars, one coming up from the pit, and one coming down from the ceiling over the same location. The top pillar has a permanent invisibility spell on it. Jumping across the pit results in someone bouncing off the invisible pillar and falling into the pit. >D

Dirty GM trick, something trap-makers would do if they had gold, but still a dirty trick.

PCs would start throwing marbles over and into every pit in the game.