Vitality as Energy DMG

TLDR: Vitality makes sense as an energy damage stat, makes things easier to understand and roleplay, and adds more creativity to builds. (And makes damage systems simpler and easier to understand.)

Alright so as I understand it, Alex rolled in and saw the change and said this is not what vitality does. This was not my intention 20 years ago, but the game evolved. In the battle guide you’re supposed to judge how tired you get via amount of damage and be less tired if you have higher vitality. Does anybody even do that? I know Yan is running on adrenaline fumes. I have no idea how Last Ditch Effort makes any sense but thats the mechanic.

Having something to decide whether you should be more tired from damage is easier done just through, you’ve been hit this much so you should be this tired. Not a single person spec’d into vitality so they could RP themselves less tired at Near Death. It’s not appealing. No body has focused on vitality for ten years because no ones going to cry godmod if the other character doesn’t RP themselves as tired. And if they did they’d be laughed off the site.

Despite its intention 20 years ago, Vitality = Energy. Ki attacks are energy attacks. Making Vitality energy damage is not a stretch.

Stats don’t matter, but they are guidelines right? He has more strength than your toughness so you write his hits do hurt you a bit more. You have more toughness you can write like his attacks hurt less. That’s all vitality would do as energy damage. It’s just an easy comparison. He has higher vitality, so I should write like his blasts are more dangerous!

Easy comparisons make easy understanding makes easier for new members to acclimate to the system.

I’m also putting this together because damn this ki distributor is so boring. Keep your vitality from being too low to keep from losing from lack of stats (the most boring shit ever) but lower it with two options! Do you want to be tough or strong?

When vitality was energy damage you finally had some creative freedom with the specs. Do I want to be a tank? Do I want to be a physical fighter? Do I want to be a blaster? How weak am I willing to let my physicals get? My energy attacks? Do I want a creative build with a weak blaster who can wreck your face with a punch? Do I want to be a powerful blaster who can’t throw a punch? Do I want to keep these in balance? Do I want to be a physical tank? Do I want to just be a tank with evenly low physical and energy damage?

There’s so many options and now we’re reduced to: Do I want to be a tank or a cannon? That’s it. Make sure stamina and vitality are high enough you worry less about losing in the stupidest way this game has—not by strategy, not by writing, but by pure math—and decide tank or canon.

It’s boring!

With vitality as an energy damage stat math and understanding becomes as simple as:

Physical Attack: Strength vs Toughness
Energy Attack: Vitality vs Toughness

This applies to RP too, but if you want a ref to have a damage system, you can tell rolling in, this stat is better than this stat so I’m going to get more or less damage that way. If you don’t want a damage system its easier for you and your opponent to agree on whats happening. It’s a million times simpler and new people can grasp it immediately instead of the confusing mess of well his PL is higher so I’m just screwed or wait how does this damage work??

That’s a thing too, if you’re Alex just ignore this but, Strength used to be “determines the power of your attacks.” All your attacks. It wasn’t edited back, and now is just physical. To be fair, even when it said “all attacks” referees didn’t use it for energy attacks. Everyone had their own bullshit systems comparing ki/PL to toughness further fluctuating damage systems and keeping battling more confusing as to what you can and cannot take with which referee. That’s what we’re going back to.

Let us have the 75k Ki Redistribute and Make Vitality Great Again! Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.