Thar's Problems in the Sub-Systems Cap'n!

Oh you elusive little sub-systems. You pretend like you are easy to ignore because you aren't part of the core d20 mechanics, but it seems like each week we are forced to deal with a new one like some episodic plot device. This week I deal with some of the more troublesome sub-systems within the d20 mechanics. I call them sub-systems because they either aren't tied directly to the idea of rolling a d20 or the d20 is only a small part of their overall nature.

Death and Dying
Perhaps the worst offender of the subsystems is the arbitrary "death at -10 hit points" rule. While it works well at low levels, when damage levels are low enough that a single blow is not enough to put a character well below this threshold, it can spiral out of control at higher levels when damage becomes much greater. I am not opposed to the idea of greater potential for one-hit kills at higher levels (more powerful characters should be taking greater risks), but having the poor luck of being taken down to 1 hp when the monster still has one swing left in its attack routine is vicious.

As always, I have a relatively simple fix in mind. Any time a character falls to 0 or fewer hit points, that character must make a Fortitude save equal to 10 + damage dealt. If the character makes the save, then the character is alive and stable, but unconscious, unless he succeeds by 5 or more, in which case he is disabled and conscious. If the character fails the save, then he is unconscious and begins dying. Each round on his turn he must make another save at the same DC +1 (cumulative) until he succeeds, at which point he is stable. If the character fails the save by 5 or more at any point, then he is dead.

Variant: For a less lethal version of this rule, reduce the save DC by 5 or 10.

Craft
Leave it to Wizards of the Coast to take something that only a few people would even be interested in to begin with and make the process so completely nebulous that no one would even bother to comprehend it, let alone try it. I've never seen a soul use this skill in a 3rd edition game unless it was part of fulfilling the prerequisites of a prestige class.

So let's take a crack at this shall we? What is really at the crux of this is that WotC didn't want PCs making tons of money easily without adventuring for it, nor did they want them crafting better weapons and armor than they could afford. That's all well and good but I believe barriers of time and prescient Dungeon Masters are a better protection against such things. We can do without a simulationist system like the 3.5 book provides. So lets categorize items thus: arms/armor and general equipment.

General equipment, including alchemical equipment is fairly simple to make. Anything with a DC 10 or less requires 1 day or less and a successful check. Anything up to a DC 15 requires 2 days. Anything up to a DC 20 requires 3 days. Anything up to a DC 25 requires 4 days. Only one check is made. A failed check means you lose half the time (round up) and must start over. Failing by 5 or more means half the raw materials are also ruined. You can voluntarily add 10 to the DC to reduce the time by half, to a minimum of 1 day.

Arms/armor is a bit trickier, but not much. Simple weapons (excluding crossbows) and bows (excluding composite bows) take 2 days and require a DC 12 check. Crossbows, composite bows, martial weapons, shields, and light armor take 3 days and require a DC 15 check. For composite bows an extra day and +2 to the DC is required for each +1 to the Strength bonus added. Exotic weapons and medium armor take 1 week at a DC of 18. Heavy armor takes 1 month at a DC of 20, and full plate 2 months at the same DC. Again, only one check is made, as the rules for general equipment above.

This system approximates the same results, with less complicated math. Now that I look at it, I should probably put the results into a table. I will file that away as an idea for another week.

Next week, This Spells Trouble.