Unclear Description: Randomized Damage Attack

So, it seems people want Randomized Damage Attack = "A specific attack whose gimmick is that it has a far wider range of damage than most other attacks."

And Something Else = "Every attack being randomized to some extent, be it ±99% or ±1%."

...

Well, I'm okay with that.

Edited by Malady on Mar 17th 2020 at 12:06:10 PM

For the second one I think ‘Predictable Damage Range’ would be a decent name for it.

Loot heavy games like Looter Shooters and MM Os typically have these ranges listed on item and spell tooltips. Other games you hit a mob once and you can predict that that same attack will do around the same each time just not exact numbers.

Isn’t the second one just any instance of attacks having randomizes damage? So Random RPG Damage?

Why limit it to RP Gs? Its actually something much older, like pen and paper stuff and is in use by games in all genres.

Even card games like Hearthstone, the Shaman card Lightning Storm, '2-3 damage to all enemies.' And Hearthstone is not an RPG.

I personally think though that "predictable" or "limited" is extremely important in the title.

Predictable Random Damage? Just spitballin'.

Edited by WarJay77 on Mar 20th 2020 at 4:01:09 AM

Randomized Damage Adjustment?

Technically Random Damage, since the range is typically so small that even though it's "randomized," it doesn't tend to actually make a meaningful difference?

Or is that definition too narrow?

Edited by HighCrate on Mar 20th 2020 at 1:15:58 AM

Way too narrow, it's "Any attack being randomized to some extent, be it ±99% or ±1%."

I thought the trope in question is the general concept of attack damage being based on a random number generator rather than being fixed. It was brought up earlier in the thread that this is a nearly Omnipresent Trope in video games, or at least RP Gs. Most of the names proposed so far have been far narrower than this.

Hmm, maybe RNG Decides Damage, then? If we can assume people know what "RNG" means? Or Dice Roll Damage Calculation?

Edited by WarJay77 on Mar 20th 2020 at 4:24:55 AM

Ooh, I like Dice Roll Damage Calculation.

Gotcha. So "Any attack being randomized to some extent, be it ±99% or ±1%" would be the Super-Trope, and "A specific attack whose gimmick is that it has a far wider range of damage than most other attacks" would be the Sub-Trope that fits under it? Am I on the same page?

That is acceptable to me.

I really like Dice Roll Damage Calculation: it's both evocative and descriptive, I feel. ^_^

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Mar 20th 2020 at 2:00:55 PM

If it's intended to be a very broad-level Super-Trope, I think keeping it simple might be best. Just Random Damage. It's the more narrow Sub-Trope that needs a more specific name.

I think Random Damage System would work well.

I would be a little concerned about confusion with "Randomised Damage Attack"; having a different name, and a fairly descriptive one, may help to keep the two pages distinct.

I'd have the same concern as above, but a little less so, I think; "system" does, in all fairness, suggest a broader application than the singular one suggested by "Randomised Damage Attack".

Yes, we would probably have to find a more specific / descriptive name for Randomized Damage Attack to properly distinguish it, but my understanding is that that is on the table anyway.

Edited by HighCrate on Mar 21st 2020 at 10:30:34 AM

Randomized Damage sounds fine for the supertrope, but we do need something more distinct for the subtrope.

Ah, fair point—for some reason I had it in my head that "Randomised Damage Attack" was a name that had been settled on. ^^;

(I'd still be inclined to vote for "Dice Roll Damage Calculation" myself, but I won't gainsay "Random Damage" if the name for the sub-trope is still undecided.)

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Mar 21st 2020 at 9:58:50 PM

TBH as flattered as I am that people like the title idea, it would limit us slightly to ones where the attacks all have a range of damage they can randomly do, not where it's truly random. So if we have examples where it's not decided based on a range and is truly random...it might not work.

However, if we do have to make it narrower to explain that it's not about truly random damage, then it works.

It just depends on what we're looking for, IG.

Damage Range - Could be a good concise name? The implication would be that its randomized, but then there's cases like VideoGame.The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind, where, IIRC, the range is for how long you wound up for the attack?

Edited by Malady on Mar 21st 2020 at 2:11:12 AM

Maybe combine the two— Random Damage Range.

I'm not sure I'm following what you mean by "truly" randomized damage. All random damage has a range by definition. Even if that range were "0 to infinite" that's still a range.

Edited by HighCrate on Mar 21st 2020 at 5:58:06 AM

I guess so, but predictability is an issue; if the range is predictable, it's less random and you can strategize with it. If it's not predictable, it's a shot in the dark, and only the RNG can save you.

Eh, maybe you're right that it's still technically a range. It just feels different to me for reasons I'm struggling to verbalize.

I mean, there can definitely be ranges too small to make a practical difference. E.g. if the enemy has 100 hp and an attack does 20-24 damage, it's always going to take five attacks to kill them no matter what.

My understanding is that that's what the split is for— one Super-Trope for "damage is random, and it might or might not make a difference" and a Sub-Trope for "damage is wildly random and/or bypasses normal defense calculations so that any given attack might do massive damage or almost nothing."

Edited by HighCrate on Mar 22nd 2020 at 7:25:13 AM