The idea that adventuring or being a hero is only for the genetically gifted is nonsense. Most people would take up adventuring only out of desperation. They would be vagabonds, the disposed, the poor, and other outsiders. Second, adventuring is a dangerous profession and sooner or later your character is going to get injured or disfigured. It balances out experience and gives a natural point for a character to retire. He's too badly injured to go on. The idea that wounds do not have lasting effects, not even a scar, isn't realistic. Sure, you get a +1 to your proficiency for experience, but that's balanced by having a bad back that doesn't allow your character to run or lift heavy objects. Gold as XP. The in game economy gets broken because you can't have dragons without a dragon horde. Nobody knows why dragons need treasure or what they do with it. Characters quickly have a golf bag of magic weapons and a dump truck full of gold and all it gets them is a down payment on a retirement home (keep). The GM has to invent ways to separate characters from their treasure, and that creates unnecessary grievances. The desire for treasure warps the motivations for the game. How much is enough? Why is my cleric spending time going down holes and not preaching? Other games, where gold has a truer value, and XP isn't tied to gold, characters are more likely to be driven by factors like doing good for goodness sake, sense of community, religious fervor, etc. The abstract idea inherent in HP. If HP aren't wounds, what is my cleric healing? Is healing just a placebo? A better mechanic would be Luck as an attribute. You make a save because you're lucky. You don't step in that trap because you are lucky. You're not killed by that blow because you're lucky. It also creates an interesting dynamic in the game. The more you roll the dice, the closer you are to death because sooner or later your good luck becomes bad luck. It's why I like games with exploding dice for damage. Now wounds are actual wounds that have to be treated. Now you have to manage risk.
The rules from swords path glory
Is a muscle car from the 1960s obsolete? For sure. Is is still cool to drive them, love them, refurbish them? Hell yeah! Same story I would say :)
The idea that adventuring or being a hero is only for the genetically gifted is nonsense. Most people would take up adventuring only out of desperation. They would be vagabonds, the disposed, the poor, and other outsiders. Second, adventuring is a dangerous profession and sooner or later your character is going to get injured or disfigured. It balances out experience and gives a natural point for a character to retire. He's too badly injured to go on. The idea that wounds do not have lasting effects, not even a scar, isn't realistic. Sure, you get a +1 to your proficiency for experience, but that's balanced by having a bad back that doesn't allow your character to run or lift heavy objects.
Gold as XP. The in game economy gets broken because you can't have dragons without a dragon horde. Nobody knows why dragons need treasure or what they do with it. Characters quickly have a golf bag of magic weapons and a dump truck full of gold and all it gets them is a down payment on a retirement home (keep). The GM has to invent ways to separate characters from their treasure, and that creates unnecessary grievances. The desire for treasure warps the motivations for the game. How much is enough? Why is my cleric spending time going down holes and not preaching? Other games, where gold has a truer value, and XP isn't tied to gold, characters are more likely to be driven by factors like doing good for goodness sake, sense of community, religious fervor, etc.
The abstract idea inherent in HP. If HP aren't wounds, what is my cleric healing? Is healing just a placebo? A better mechanic would be Luck as an attribute. You make a save because you're lucky. You don't step in that trap because you are lucky. You're not killed by that blow because you're lucky. It also creates an interesting dynamic in the game. The more you roll the dice, the closer you are to death because sooner or later your good luck becomes bad luck. It's why I like games with exploding dice for damage. Now wounds are actual wounds that have to be treated. Now you have to manage risk.