[Rockabye]

Sawrock » Tue Jan 13, 2015 12:09 am[/url]"]get slashed by a sword

and

getting cut in half

are not the same thing. It's also important to realize that just because a fantasy world is making survival of direct hits possible, that does not mean that's what is happening. If you're attacking someone with a sword, and they have a weapon too, they're probably not just going to stand there and make no attempt to block it. I'm pretty sure that the Defense stat is there for that reason. Systematically at the very least, everyone tries to block, but some are more adept at it than others.