Roleplaying level one

[Thrudd]

I disagree: it's supposed to be able to model a rogue and a wizard as well as a fighter. That, and the fact that a warrior being taken straight out by the average pistol shot is still a flaw in the combat system.

I would resolve that apparent flaw by reinterpreting what it means when a character takes enough damage to get killed. If the character dies, then the shot was one that would be fatal to a normal person. If the shot did not kill them, then it was not. Some of the more ridiculous or unbelievable results that the system can produce, like small animals dealing enough damage to kill a person, should probably be ignored or the rules outright changed. A cat shouldn't deliver any real damage to a human being, unless it is to deliver scratches that might become infected and cause disease after a couple days (roll on a table to see if you get "cat scratch fever" from claws with bacteria or feces on them). The rules are an abstraction. A dagger can absolutely kill someone, and if the dice roll indicates that it does so, then that 1 HP of damage wasn't just a scratch, it was a slash to the jugular or a stab to vital organs. If 1 HP damage doesn't kill you, then the dagger didn't get you in a vital spot, or it maybe it didn't even hit you at all. IN any case, 1 HP or any specific amount of HP does not reflect an objective amount or type of wound. It reflects characters getting worn down in varying amounts. When a character is out of HP, whatever last attack hit them was an attack capable of causing a mortal wound.