Ovinomancer
No flips for you!
Sure, but that would require a major overhaul of the combat engine -- its not an easy swap.Sorry [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION] (yes, that is the sort of reply I was looking for) and @ Emerikol . I’ll get back to your guys’ responses as soon as I can. Pretty tied up.
Yup, I was referring to Blades (also, I think you may have a different copy than mine because mine is H1 -H4; Lesser, Moderate, Severe, Fatal...no H5!)!
Death Spiral is certainly a concern (because it’s not fun and not genre coherent). However, I think a Harm model could pretty deftly hook into D&D’s mechanics, allowing for these looming threats, but also allowing for interesting decision-points and archetypal realization.
For instance, with 5e:
1) Imagine a Fighter’s Second Wind allowing them to shrug of H1 outright or turn H2 into H1.
2) Imagine a Cleric’s Cure line being able to grant a new Saving Throw to move (say) H2 to H1, with higher Cures able to mitigate higher Harm levels or provide Advantage to the Saving Throw.
3) Imagine Armor being a limited use active defense in that you can use it at your discretion to mitigate Harm or provide Advantage on a Saving Throw. It “recharges” once repaired (giving Fighter-types a crafting niche).
Stuff like this should alleviate the Death Spiral. You’d just have to sort out the Saving Throw DCs (that and the severity of Harm could be tailored to genre tastes).
As for harm, L4 is out of action, yes, but not necessarily dead. L5 is straight dead, don't pass go. Trying to leap through the Lightning fences by timing the bolts would be a desperate enhanced roll with the explicit caveat that failure is a L5 harm -- you vaporize. The player could then spend edge to deny that outcome and maybe get L4, really cooked but alive, out of it. I'd probably require removing an equipment box or two or a L3 harm on a partial, but that's open. Regardless, trying to jump through lightning fences is a bad idea.