Join me as I once again sit before my crystal ball to see what’s ahead for 5e, this time continuing on from initiative & combat and looking at the humble hit point.

And so, should the hit point survive?

Hit points are one of the things that I believe D&D has in theory never got right.

Hit points as a concept and mechanic are excellent in play, but there has always been too much confusion about how they are defined and what they mean, and too many contradictions between hit point loss and curing spells and hit point gain. They have always been a muddied concoction of actual physical damage as well as “skill, luck and/or other magical factors” as defined by the AD&D players handbook.

3e and 4e have put a twist of interpretation upon the model, defining them as the “ability to take physical punishment and keep going” as well as the ability to “turn a serious blow into a less serious one”. For some characters, hit points even represented “divine favour or inner power”. 4e adds that hit points represent “your character’s skill, luck and resolve – all the factors that combine to help you stay alive”. 4e however has perhaps gone furthest in this regard in that all the other health subsystems (ability score damage, fortitude, reflex and will saves, and drowning effects) have been removed with everything now funnelling through the hit point concept. Anything that represents a reduction in capacity (including illusions) gets struck upon the hit point tally. Never before in the game’s history has the interpretation of hit points been so wide and disparate. Physical damage (aside from the “bloodied” status), is kept in the shadows rather than being explicit. There are numerous gaming advantages to this that make adventuring more fun and less hassle for the players but with the sacrifice of certain logical consistencies.

5e will finally clean this up, and clarify and expand the uses of the humble hit point. Rather than casting it out, 5e will embrace the hit point in all its glory gaining all the advantages of previous editions while getting rid of most if not all the disadvantages.

So What is a Hit Point?

Looking through the veil with my 5e crystal ball, hit points will embrace all the definitions of previous versions of the game and then some. They represent the combatant’s ability to turn a deadly blow into a minor one, and the ability and desire to keep going regardless of physical punishment or morale. Part divine favour, inner power and luck, they also embrace something brand new to the term: the ability to perform exceptional things in exceptional circumstances (more on this one at the end of this article). Hit points are not lost anymore. Hit points are used. Think of them like adventuring petrol in the tank. What about physical damage you say? What about damage that threatens your character’s life? Well this is perhaps the biggest clarity advance; serious physical damage or “wounds” are finally separated from the hit point pool.

Characters and monsters can only take so many wounds before they collapse, start dying or are as good as dead. How are wounds measured? Well again in terms of clarity: a one hit point wound will take the average character one day to recover from. A two hit point wound two days and so on. The hit point becomes the unit of measure that defines the amount of time in days to naturally recover from a wound. How much wounding can a character take before they collapse? A relatively small number of hit points worth of wounds (as low as 10 ranging up to 40 or even more). This number is based on race, bulk (strength) and fitness (constitution) as well as age, expertise and training.

Finally Gary’s hit point definition of skill, luck and/or other magical factors as well as damage is split into its two most logical categories: the hit point pool and the wound tally respectively.

When do hit points become used and when are wounds taken?

Well the basis of this is similar to the vitality/wounds system from third edition’s unearthed arcana – except that 5e will base its entire system around this, rather than bolting it on top with mixed success. In terms of standard combat a successful “hit” that would normally cause a wound can be “ignored” by spending or using a like number of hit points. For example a successful strike that would normally deal a 5 hit point wound can be changed to an inconsequential flesh wound by spending 5 hit points. When a character has no hit points left to avoid wounds, then those hits do become wounds. Critical hits are strikes that normally cannot be avoided by spending hit points although unlike the vitality/wound system, there are several ways of avoiding or lessening the wounding potential of critical strikes. This is needed to take the “swingy-ness” out of the system while at the same time reaping all of its benefits. I’ll go into greater details on this in a future blog.

When are Hit Points restored and when are Wounds healed?

Perhaps the most significant issue with all forms of “healing” in prior editions is that it is trying to “heal” all the skill, luck and magic factors as well as the physical damage. In 3e and previous, the burden of healing a high level character’s one hundred and twenty hit points is extreme in terms of resources even though in terms of physical damage they may have only the same twenty hit points worth of physical damage as a low level character. 4e turned this on its head by making the restoration of hit points extremely easy but ignoring the ramifications of physical damage – a character can take any amount of “damage” on one day and as long as it doesn’t kill them, they will be at full capacity the next one. The “healing” surge becomes a strange beast under these circumstances – rarely being used for what other versions of the game has considered healing. However, this has also opened up a myriad of opportunities for hit point “healing” such as the warlord’s inspiring word, although it may have been better served in calling such instances restoration instead of healing.

Looking through my crystal ball, 5e takes all the best from both ideas by separating the hit point pool from the wound point tally. Hit points are restored very quickly – similar to 4e. Have a short rest (about 5 minutes) and you get half your hit point tally back. Have a long rest (about an hour) and you get all your hit points back. Have an extended rest (about 8 hours or typically overnight), and you get all your hit points back and you naturally heal some of your wounds (how much and in which way is a little more involved and suitable for a blog all of its own). Many actions can restore hit points in combat: divine attention, bardic inspiration, second winds and other motivations and occurrences. However, the healing of wounds is handled naturally through either natural healing or physical attention first or possibly through specific divine acts of healing later. Natural healing becomes the default for most things. Then in terms of the divine, imagine your cure light, cure moderate, cure serious, and cure critical acting consistently across the wound spectrum, regardless of the wounded character’s level. A cure light wounds “spell” or what could in game be “St. Dungar’s Blessing of the Wounded”, might heal up to a 5 hit point wound where as the more powerful “St Dungar’s Appeal to Pelor” might heal up to a 20 hit point wound.

This promotes a style of play where in the main, character’s can use up and restore their hit points numerous times across an adventuring day; wounds however when taken are not so lightly dealt with but neither are they overly debilitating (unless they force a character to collapse or worse). Importantly a character can survive nursing a couple of wounds for a day or two and not affect their overall performance or contribution to the party. There is however a nice balance between the fluidity of adventuring and the logic of taking serious damage. A party that gets badly beaten up is going to need to rest or retreat – or heroically continue, with that heroism truly meaning something dangerous and special.

How do hit point totals and capacity for damage and wounding improve over a character's career?

A character gains hit points when they gain particular abilities every level. As such, a character's pool of hit points will steadily increase as the character gains skill and expertise. For example a martially based character could gain hit points attached to taking a certain level of armor proficiency. If that character takes the heavy armor expertise feat, they gain 6 hit points to their hit point pool. These hit points represent the benefits of using armor effectively to lessen physical damage. A blow they take becomes just a bump that only needs a bandage and a kiss to keep the character going. A rogue may take a luck-based feat that gains them 4 hit points to their pool; this based on avoiding or lessening damage through getting lucky. A cleric may receive hit points representing divine protection or inner resilience. The character’s hit point pool reflects an amalgam of all of the abilities that make up their hit points. Thus a fighter gets a lot of bumps, cuts and bruises but nothing serious enough that impinges their capacity for battle, where as a rogue remains relatively untouched unless wounded.

A character’s capacity for taking wounds however remains fairly static across their adventuring career (it is their capacity for avoiding such wounds that dramatically improves). Part racially based, part toughness and equal helpings of strength and constitution make up the character’s limit for taking wounds. While the total number of hit points worth of wounds that a character can take may improve slightly with expertise and experience, what a character starts with is not going to be too much different to what they will have at the highest levels.

And so what about that new thing you mentioned with hit points?

Well character’s use hit points to avoid taking wounds. However I also mentioned in the definition above, the ability to perform exceptional things in exceptional circumstances. Essentially:

Players can now spend their character’s hit points to get their character to perform special actions. In 4e encounter and daily powers are artificially restricted – an evolution of the Vancian spell system as it were. In 5e, the spending of hit points is used to facilitate the performing of these special actions. (For the performing of the real big stuff, player’s need to spend one or more action points and the even rarer “destiny point” – but this is something for discussion in a later blog on further character resources).

Should a character conserve their hit points and resources to defensively avoid damage or does a character go on the offensive, spending hit points to accomplish the heroic (but in turn reduce their capacity to avoid damage). This provides for a new layer of tactical decision-making for the player on top of the action involved during combat. It also gets around some of the logical inconsistencies of the power system for martial exploits in terms of limited use.

And so next time:
I’m going to have a closer look at armor and the damage system and in particular using armor as damage reduction. Sean K Reynolds wrote an excellent piece here as to why armor as DR is too much work in 3e for too little gain. With an elegant twist, 5e turns upside down every one of his lucid arguments. To see how to do Armor as DR successfully, check in next time for a glance into my 5e orb.

Herremann the Wise

Following on from the previous entry, this is a supercharged look through my crystal ball into the future of the 5th edition of D&D. Lots of questions and answers with a big example round in the middle of it all.

Q: So how has initiative changed in 5e?

A: Well for a start you no longer roll initiative. Your character has an initiative score which represents readiness and capacity for action, reflexes and agility and battle wisdom and experience. The higher the initiative score, the quicker they act and the greater is their capacity to react to other combatant’s actions during a combat round.

The next big change is a move away from a purely cyclical initiative system to a discrete initiative system. The start and end of a round are important as they mark a discrete time frame for opportunity and advantage. However there is still a cycling through of combatants in order of initiative scores; an order that remains fairly consistent from round to round despite momentary changes to initiative scores caused by different actions in battle.

Perhaps the most important change is that combatants can now act across the breadth of a round rather than at one specific point. While a character can act on their turn, they can respond to other combatant’s actions and reactions with reactions of their own across the game round. Thus a player’s attention and capacity for action is maintained across a round rather than being overly focused on their character’s specific turn. A character may in fact not “act” on their turn, devoting all of their attention to reacting to other actions and reactions instead. The important result is significantly less downtime, greater attention to the opportunities for action at the table and thus greater emphasis on and opportunity for teamwork.


Q: So when can my character act during a round?

A: A character can act across the breadth of a round: on their turn, before and after. Combatants can perform actions on their turn in initiative. In addition, all combatants can perform reactions in response to other combatant’s actions or even other reactions. Reactions may only be performed after a combatant has had their turn in initiative. However, a combatant may also react to something happening before their turn but this requires an immediate reaction. Immediate reactions are usually limited in scope (in terms of movement and action) and more expensive in terms of character resources.

For example during a round: as an immediate reaction Kalgan the Rogue may drop prone and roll 5 ft. avoiding the worst of a drake’s fiery belching; on his turn with an action Kalgan can back flip up throwing a masterwork dagger through the back of a goblin’s braincase killing it and then later in the round as a reaction shift into a flanking position when an orc is injured by an ally. As shown, characters can act across the entire breadth of a round but the greater a combatant’s initiative score relative to others, the more opportunities they have to perform reactions.


Q: So you can perform actions on your turn, reactions after your turn and immediate reactions even before your turn. What exactly are actions and reactions though?

A: An action is a particular effort that the character initiates on their turn. It is an act that does not need to react to something happening or be triggered by some other action. For example a character may move into a more advantageous position, thrust a sword strike against a foe, or even cast a spell unleashing a ball of fire as an action on their turn. Actions are not reliant on a specific event or trigger to initiate them but actions may only be performed on a combatant’s turn.

Reactions though are a response to something happening in battle. For example, if a foe falls to a blow in combat, this trigger can be used for a cleave attack against an adjacent enemy where the momentum of the previous killing strike opens the opportunity for an additional melee attack. While the trigger for an action may occur, it obviously does not always have to be taken. If an enemy moves through a square threatened by a character (the trigger for an opportunity attack), the character may choose not to spend a minor action on an opportunity attack, preferring to save the effort required for a future endeavour.

Reactions always have a specific trigger. When this trigger happens, it allows the performing of the reaction, possibly interrupting the action or reaction that triggered it. Reactions are resolved when they are triggered; possibly being performed before the action that triggered them is completed and possibly being interrupted by another reaction in response (see the example below for how this works in practice). When reactions are triggered by other reactions, this forms a chain of reactions to be resolved in order.


Q: OK, but won’t this really suck if my character has a poor initiative score?

A: Sometimes but certainly not always. A relatively poor initiative score just means that reacting to things in combat is difficult but not necessarily impossible for your character. While it is not their forte, there are still ways around this: performing immediate reactions, using abilities that increase your initiative score, and fighting against enemies who have had their initiative score lowered below your character’s initiative score.

Immediate reactions can be performed before your initiative as long as your character is not flat-footed; you’re character is flat-footed if they haven’t already acted in combat. However, immediate reactions normally cost more resources (and sometimes significantly so) but sometimes, such immediate actions can really save your character’s bacon.

Most characters will have access to abilities or things that could occasionally increase their initiative score. However, perhaps more effective for a party are the use of abilities that when successful lower an enemy’s initiative score thus advancing everyone’s initiative in relation to the enemy. While you obviously can’t always choose your foes, reducing an enemy’s capacity for action and reaction by lowering their initiative is always a valid tactic (see combat round example below). Importantly in practice, as long as a character can act before the enemy, they will not be disadvantaged by their initiative score.


Q: So how many and what types of actions/reactions can my character perform in a round of combat?

A: All characters can perform a primary action/reactions and a number of secondary actions/reactions in a round. [From this point, action is used to refer to be actions and reactions.] To begin with, a starting (level one) character can perform a primary action, a minor action and one of either a martial, mental or spiritual action dependent upon the class of the character. Martial actions relate to tactical movements and physical combat efforts. Mental actions include those requiring specific checks of thought or arcane power. Spiritual actions are momentary celestial connections to create certain divine effects. Minor actions however are the general all-purpose action that can be used to perform any other type of secondary action, be it martial, mental or spiritual. In addition, some specific actions require a minor action (and thus the performing of such actions in a round is limited).

In terms of classes, Fighters will focus on extra martial actions, Clerics will focus on spiritual actions (and possibly martial ones too), Rogues will focus on martial actions (and possibly mental actions), and Wizards will usually focus solely on mental actions. As a character develops in expertise and experience, they gain further secondary actions, be they martial, mental or spiritual. For example a high level character may be able to perform a primary action, a minor action, three spiritual actions and two martial actions during a round of combat.

In addition and worthy of mentioning is the free action. A single free action such as speaking, dropping a held item or even dropping prone may be performed as part of any other primary or secondary action. For example as well as moving 50ft as a primary action, a character may yell out instructions to other combatants. As a sidenote, this clarifies the sometimes vexing question of when a character can speak during combat. During any primary or secondary action, you can perform a single free action and thus speak to warn the other characters, ask a question, give a nod or shake of the head, or answer in response to something happening. This provides an elegant restriction mirroring the rounds ordered progression of action and reaction.


Q: So why have a default static initiative score rather than a modifier?

A: Having default scores makes it easier for the DM to manage the order of actions as the order of combatants remains steady from round to round. By having a default order, the occasional change in initiative is more easily handled than if initiative order was randomly determined every round or at the start of combat and with further changes on top of this. As well, it means that an initiative score is a defined entity that reflects the ability of the character. It is an attribute that allows suitable comparison between combatants. It means that a combatants place in initiative has been determined by their natural ability and expertise, their condition and importantly what happens in combat; not on the random factor of a d20 roll.


Q: But will my character’s initiative score change that much during an encounter?

A: Normally no, although most martially orientated characters have abilities that allow them to improve their initiative score in the initial round of combat including any possible surprise round. The PCs however may have several abilities up their collective sleeves that might lower an enemy’s initiative. This is important as it means that more characters can act in front of the enemy and thus be able to better react to its attacks. As well, since the enemy is slower, it will not be able to defend itself as well against attacks on it.


An Example Round

In this example, a typical party (Rogue, Fighter, Cleric, Wizard) is attacked by an Ogre who has corralled six vicious Goblins to his cause of interrupting the party’s journey and profiting from the encounter. This example will break down the 2nd round of combat.

Default Initiative Scores

19 Rogue (Primary, Secondary actions {Minor, 2 Martial})

16 [E]Goblins (Primary Action, Secondary action {Minor})

15 Fighter (Primary, Secondary actions {Minor, 2 Martial})

13 Cleric (Primary, Secondary actions {Minor, 1 Martial, 1 Spiritual})

10 [E]Ogre (Primary Action, Secondary action {Minor})

8 Wizard (Primary, Secondary actions {Minor, 2 Mental})

During the first round, the rogue and fighter use abilities to get a momentary boost to their initiative as the two sides engage – neither side surprised the other. Some attacks were made on both sides with the rogue killing a Goblin who was flat-footed (it had not acted before the Rogue’s turn). The Ogre has positioned himself so as to attack either the Cleric or Fighter or possibly rush through to the “puny” Wizard.

During the second round, no combatants are flat-footed, initiatives return to the default above and the DM runs down these scores in order.


New Round (2nd)

NR Wizard:
Mental Action: to maintain Qadisha’s Dire Shielding (successfully cast and completed on previous round). Any ongoing spells requiring concentration or attention will usually require some expenditure of effort; such effort is always addressed at the beginning of a round.


19 Rogue: Primary action: to hide behind a nearby tree in the forest shadows. (DM adjudicates this: working out the Rogue is successful.)


16 Goblins: Primary and Secondary actions: to charge the Fighter and Cleric as well as one looping around to attack the rear-positioned wizard. (They all use up their primary and secondary actions to do this).

IR16: Fighter: Minor immediate reaction: Opportunity Attack on Goblin damaging the creature and stopping it from moving further (triggered by the goblin moving into the fighter’s martial zone). (Opportunity attacks can normally only be performed as a martial reaction but the fighter has an ability that allows them to be performed as an immediate minor reaction thus allowing the fighter to react before his normal turn of 15 in initiative).

R16: Rogue: Martial reaction: Ranged Attack (dagger) on damaged goblin (triggered by the goblin receiving damage). This ends up being a critical attack killing the hapless Goblin.

IR16: Cleric: Minor immediate reaction Blessing of Levandar offering the fighter additional protection from an incoming Goblin attack.

The Goblins finish off their attacks missing the fighter (thanks to the Blessing) but wounding the Cleric.


15 Fighter: Primary action: Attack which successfully kills another hapless Goblin.

R15: Fighter: Martial reaction: Cleave Attack at another Goblin within his martial zone but unfortunately missing.

R15: Goblin: reaction to shift 5ft. (triggered by the Fighter missing the goblin in melee). Note that this does not cost the goblin any action (as accounting for reactions would be too burdensome for the DM for minor creatures such as these). This is something the goblin can do whenever it is missed in melee combat.


13 Cleric: Martial action: to shift 5ft. and thus threaten the Ogre.
13 Cleric: Primary action (burning a spiritual action): to Smite the Ogre with the Censure of Arayas. (Using a spiritual action to augment the primary action is referred to as burning the spiritual action). This strikes the Ogre causing it to reel in a world of holy pain and judgment, which amongst other things reduces it’s initiative score by 5 and makes it grant combat advantage until it can take it’s turn in initiative.

R13: Rogue: Martial reaction: Ranged Attack (dagger) as before; drawing and throwing the dagger in a single motion but this time completely missing the disorientated Ogre (the Rogue was receiving an attacking bonus from the successful Censure).


10 Ogre: Cannot act because its initiative score is momentarily penalized down to 5.


8 Wizard: Primary Action: Finishes casting his Lucifus’s Dazzling Coruscation successfully. (This was started the previous round with a minor action and was made more difficult to cast successfully because the wizard already has another spell in effect that was continued at the start of this round). Seeing the Ogre in trouble, he targets the Coruscation upon the hapless Ogre which causes the lumbering beast further pain as well as a further initiative penalty of 5.
8 Wizard: Minor Action: Moves a small distance back to put more distance between himself and the circling goblin.
8 Wizard: Mental Action: Starts casting a lesser spell to be completed next round (a more powerful spell might have cost a minor action or even a primary action to start casting).


0 Ogre: As the Ogre’s initiative has been taken down to zero (or lower), the Ogre can only take a single action (any flavour) at this point. However, it has to deal with several effects first. The Censure of Arayas lasts until the end of the round but since the creature has got to its turn in initiative, it is no longer granting combat advantage. However, Lucifus’s Dazzling Coruscation is a different story. This takes a minor action to possibly alleviate it’s effects (Requires a Fortitude Save). The Ogre however, doing it’s dumb best decides that a primary action to attack the fighter with it’s club is in order (having no idea what has happened to it and not wanting to clear its wit’s).

R0: Fighter: Martial Reaction to shield block the attack (triggered by being attacked with a blockable weapon). This increases the Fighters defences sufficiently that the blow misses miserably.


EOR Ogre (End of round): Censure of Arayas dissipates at the end of round.
And so this round ends, ready for the third round to begin.


Other Miscellaneous Ideas and Issues

Q: So in a nutshell, what are you trying to fix or improve with these changes to initiative?

A: In essence: add a significant extra dimension to combat, make initiative values represent something, spread a player’s attention and capacity for involvement across a round (rather than at a specific point), increase opportunities for interaction and teamwork, handle reactions (or what used to be readied actions) in a clearer way, address the natural imbalance between casters and fighters as well as make the overall experience a more vivid representation of the to and fro of battle.


Q: How will initiative mechanics affect the balance issues between casters and martial types?

A: In 3e, casters found it very easy to cast their spells with only occasional concentration checks (a skill usually maxed out) to determine success or failure, or 5ft. steps to move out of the way of threatening enemy’s. In 2e, you had the difficult circumstance of having spells interrupted and failing (even if the caster took but a single point of damage). In 4e, casters had the power level of their effects reduced to be in line with other characters (which took a little of the colour out of the spellcasters which made them special in their own way). The aim of this initiative approach is to address these issues in a couple of ways.

Casters generally have a low initiative score which means that their scope for reaction is limited; if they do need to react to something dire, they are forced into an immediate reaction which will either be costly in resources or maybe even impossible. The reverse of this is also true: that who they’re targeting will most likely have had their turn in initiative and so the target of a spell will have the capacity to react advantageously to the spell. A target that can react to a spell is more likely to increase their defences or reduce the effectiveness of a particular spell in one way or another.

Also most of the more powerful spell effects require a longer casting time than 3e/4e’s effectively instant spellcasting. This means that a caster will sometimes have to start casting in one round and finish it in a subsequent round (normally the next one). While they may not be as easily interrupted as in 2e - they don’t automatically lose a spell when damaged - there is greater scope for an enemy to try and disrupt a caster due to the longer casting times, particularly for more powerful effects.

The other factor of initiative that affects a spellcaster is that like 4e, they will be held more strictly to an economy of actions. A lot of spells have a duration of concentration (the duration of spells has been simplified to either instantaneous, concentration, encounter [no more accounting of a variable number of rounds] or larger periods of non-variable specified times such as an hour, a day or even a year). A spell of duration concentration requires the burning of a mental action at the start of a round. As such, how many such effects a caster can have going at any one time is limited by their expertise and subsequent number of actions per round as well as how willing they are to use up all these resources. Examples of this will be given in a future blog in relation to magic, but this is one factor that is easily used to rein in the flood of summoned/called monsters to a battle amongst other issues in relation to economy of actions.


Q: What is the thinking behind the minor action versus the other secondary actions?

A: The trick with a minor action is that it is restricted to once a round (or twice if the primary action is used for an additional minor action). In this way you can naturally limit such things such as second, opportunity or cleave attacks.

For example a character might have two martial actions in addition to their primary and minor actions. With an opportunity attack, this normally costs a character a minor action to perform. As such, our character can only perform one opportunity attack a round. However, if someone has the combat reflexes ability, they can perform opportunity attacks as a martial action. So our character can perform two opportunity attacks as martial actions (and a third one with their minor action if necessary).

Cleaving is another example. A Cleave attack may be a minor action, where as a character with the Great Cleave ability can perform cleave attacks as a martial action. Having this structure allows a natural progression and scope for certain abilities while maintaining a reasonable economy of actions. It gets rid of the weird circumstances in 3e where a fighter would be restricted to a certain number of normal attacks but could easily and spectacularly defy this natural limit with a strange abundance of attacks of opportunity and cleave attacks, which could at times defy belief as well.


Q: How is player downtime and the scope of a round addressed?

A: Rather than acting at a single point in the round, a character has the capacity for a number of reactions across a round. This means that the player needs to actively attend to what’s going on interacting with both enemies as well as allies. This reduces downtime, provides a focus for teamwork and interaction as well as naturally lessens the harshness of 3e action failure (a player does not have their turn, fail and then have to wait an entire round to act again).

In terms of the scope of a round, 3e had a true richness of what could happen but at the expense of character actions soaking up more game time, leading to longer rounds and thus greater downtime between player turns. 4e addressed this downtime issue by reducing the mechanical scope of what could happen and how quickly it could be resolved which allowed for more streamlined actions to induce less downtime. However the payoff was an increase in combat rounds and a feeling of grind (where an encounter’s outcome was determined ahead of when the encounter was actually completed).

The aim of this system is to keep some of the mechanical scope, flavour and complexity of 3e while at the same time reducing downtime by having players act across a round rather than at a specific point. It attempts to solve the downtime issues without limiting the scope of the game or creating a feeling of grind.


Have any questions, criticisms or thoughts? Don't be a stranger and feel free to post a reply.

Next time, I'm going to look long and hard through the crystal ball to find out what is to become of the humble hit point. Will it stay? Will it be vaguely defined? Or will it finally be consistently defined and expressed and used in new ways that finally make sense?

Herremann the Wise

Well with my first gaze into the crystal ball beyond the darkened veil, I can see a method of combat interaction that neatly draws from the previous three editions; evolving the mechanics of combat into something fresh, interactive and more representative of the to and fro of battle. The following presents the fundamentals of this new system. This will be followed up with the next entry being an in depth discussion of the issues that are being addressed and why these deliberate changes were made. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into the future of D&D (as I would like to see it anyway).

INITIATIVE & COMBAT

Combat

Desperately swinging a sword to distract some hideous beast from your ally’s prone body, surveying the battlefield before unleashing an eldritch cascade of arcane power or reacting to a giant missing your head by somersaulting through his legs to strike at an unprotected enemy are some of the typical heroics and actions involved in combat.

Combat centres on the careful interplay of action and reaction amongst two or more combatants. The rules for what may be done are carefully structured to not only present an enjoyable gaming experience, but to also simulate the heroics, bravery, magic and treachery that is at the heart of fantasy.

Initiative Score

A combatant’s initiative score represents their core ability to act and react in combat. It is a measure of their reflexes and agility, capacity for action, and wisdom and experience in battle. The greater a combatant’s initiative score, the greater is their capacity to react to the actions of other combatants.

In terms of mechanics, a character’s initiative score is not modified by a d20 roll and will remain the same during combat. Occasionally, certain circumstances may provide a momentary increase or decrease to this initiative score such as bonuses when a combat begins and certain combatants explode into action or penalties when a combatant has their wits knocked out of them.

The Structure of a Combat Round

Combat is organised into a series of discrete rounds. A round represents approximately six seconds of time in the game world in which combatants have the opportunity to act and react, to gain advantage, curry success and avoid failure.

The quickest combatant (the one with highest initiative score) gets the drop on all the other combatants and gets to act first – be it blasting an enemy with a magical staff, striking an off-balance foe or desperately running for cover. Once the character has acted, they may freely perform reactions for the rest of the round. Reactions are additional actions that may be performed in reaction to something, such as parrying an incoming strike, shifting out of range when a threatening enemy has just been wounded or holding up a shield when the immediate vicinity is blanketed by fireballs.

That first combatant is followed in order of initiative score by all other combatants. Once a combatant has had their initiative turn, they are entitled to freely perform reactions during the rest of that round. This continues until all combatants have acted, at which point the current round is ended, any un-used actions are ignored and a new one begins with the quickest combatant acting first.

It should also be noted that most characters can perform immediate reactions, which may be performed in reaction to any action at any point in the round. However, doing so costs the character more dearly in resources to the point where such immediate reactions may not be viable or even possible.

Actions in Combat

Each combatant can act a number of times across a round of combat. Actions and reactions are classed into either primary actions or secondary actions. A primary action represents the major action that the combatant is focused on performing in a round such as charging into melee with a weapon, casting a spell, or even running at top speed. Secondary actions are minor efforts used to augment the primary action or to aid, or also to react to other actions or reactions. Secondary actions may include parrying an incoming blow, blessing an ally, upgrading a strike to a power attack, the drawing in of energy in readiness of casting a spell, making an opportunity or cleave attack, directing a summoned creature or tactically shifting a few steps of movement.

All characters and creatures can perform a single primary action as well as a number of secondary actions in a round. The greater a combatants skill level and experience, the more secondary actions they are able to perform in a round. For example, a wild animal such as a wolf may only have one secondary action to go with their primary action where as a master swordsman may have five or even more secondary actions as well as their primary action.

The Structure of a Combat Encounter

Combat is organised in a series of discrete rounds of action but to begin an encounter, there are several different options. First is the surprise round option where one side or another is waiting in ambush to initiate hostile action against any encountered would-be-combatants. Only aware combatants are allowed to act in this abbreviated round using only a single action (be it a primary or secondary action).

Second is the parley mode option where all characters and non-player characters are involved in some manner of discourse that will either end the encounter without hostility, or where the parley mode is used to gain advantage when hostile action begins. This allows certain tactical movement or readied action, bluffing, intimidation or diplomatic communication and is aimed at encouraging some manner of discourse and preparation before certain encounters to gain specific advantages rather than just a headlong rush into combat.

Third is the direct attack option. This is where everyone is aware of all other combatants and battle begins in a regular manner in a normal combat round where all combatants may act according to their initiative. This is usual when the player characters attack a beast with little interest in pre-battle antics or conversation.

Once combat begins, a combatant is considered flat-footed until they have acted. This means they cannot perform any immediate reactions until they have had their first initiative turn. Combat continues as previously mentioned, round after round until one side or the other is defeated.

A combat ends when either the player characters or all the foes they are facing are defeated. Defeat comes in several flavours such as escaping, surrender, being bloodied, maimed or knocked unconscious or in some cases, the ultimate defeat of being killed (and possibly eaten or disintegrated). This takes gameplay out of combat initiative mode and into a different mode of gameplay.

Next Time...

Catch the next installment, a follow-up discussion of the issues of initiative and combat structure that are being addressed and why I see these changes as the natural evolution of the game.

Herremann the Wise

The Dreaming

Imagine, if you could see through the darkened veil into the future of Dungeons & Dragons; what would you see?

This blog is about what I see through that veil, or if you will what I wish to see. I have spent the last year writing upon all aspects of the game in a series of diary entries, documents and discussions. However, aside from creating a forum and posting some rudimentary and formative ideas there, I have not released these ideas and visions to the public - only to members of my gaming group. This blog is about me sharing my vision of Dungeons & Dragons and its 5th Edition.

With the creation of a new edition, there are two processes that happen. On the one hand, a new edition must be attached to its ancestors while on the other, the pendulum must swing significantly to the side introducing new ideas and concepts to differentiate it from what has gone before. What I would like to see for 5E is the pendulum swinging back to a more simulation-orientated approach. One where the world is represented through its mechanics and their consistency with that world. 4E has swung away from this approach; I'd like 5E to swing back.

Future Discussion
There are so many aspects to discussing a new edition of Dungeons and Dragons that choosing where to start is difficult. However, my first post (consider this one post zero) will focus on the backbone of the combat system: Initiative.

Initiative
By initiative, I'm not just talking about the order of actions in combat, but how the actions of combatants are organised, how they react to one another and in essence, answering the question: "what can my character do in combat?". By the subtle melding of concepts from 2nd Edition into the robust structure of 3E/4E (with a twist), I believe I have created something new for a 5E that honours previous versions while at the same time, introduces a very important new dynamic into the game. Initiative will become a key dimension of the game like it never has before.

Character Health
After Initiative, the next thing to focus on is the interlinking of several broad concepts focused around the health and condition of the character; in other words discussing how the character lives and dies. What factors make up the capacity of the humble character or if you will: Character Health? The core one here is examining hit points in all their glory and confusion. The solution as it were to unravel the complexities and confusion of dealing damage and healing form the base of how a character survives in the dangerous world of Dungeons & Dragons. Again though, I provide an elegant twist which joins these character health concepts to the previous discussion of initiative and action.

Magic
With these two dominant topics discussed, I'll then discuss the topic finalising this core triumvirate: Magic. Magic is what makes the game and world special in Dungeons and Dragons. In 4E, magic and physical action have been mechanically homogenized, with mainly flavour to differentiate them. In 5E, I would like to see magic become special once more. The mechanics of magic should be different from those of physical action. Magic should be capable of the fantastic and implausible rather than getting confused with the mundane. I have devised several features of magic to do exactly this while keeping the caster in check (in terms of power) to his fellow adventurers.

From there, I shall fill out the rest of what I dream for 5E. I hope you enjoy this peek through the darkened veil into the future.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

Herremann the Wise