Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Archive Forums
Hosted Forums
Personal & Hosted Forums
Personal/Hosted Forums
City of Greerson
The Seekers of Legend
Campaign Brainstorming
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 2786041" data-attributes="member: 13098"><p><strong>Damage, dying and death (And Armor too!)</strong></p><p></p><p>OK, we all know hit points. I'm sure we all see how they are an abstraction at best and don't necessarily reflect pure physical damage that your PC receives. How does everyone feel about HP? Love the mechanic? Hate the mechanic? Somewhere in between?</p><p></p><p>We have instituted different rules for death and dying. I <strong>think</strong> everyone is fine with those. Admittedly it would be nice if we knew the rules for the mechanics a little better. But that will come with practice. </p><p></p><p>Does all of this make the game more enjoyable? It doesn't matter how you define enjoyable, is it more enjoyable for you?</p><p></p><p>There are several types of variants on damage. There is the wounds/vitality system used in Spycraft and Star Wars D20. There is the lower Massive Damage Threshold used in D20 Modern and Grim Tales. There is the damage save mechanic in True20. Of the mentioned variants, I am less interested in Wounds/vitality. </p><p></p><p>The lower Massive Damage Threshhold works like this. If you suffer an attack that exceeds your Con in damage, you take the damage and roll a fort save. If you fail the save, you fall unconscious and start dying. This was designed to keep weapons dangerous in the D20 Modern ruleset. Using it would definitely change the flavor of a D&D game. </p><p></p><p>The damage save mechanic in True20 uses the damage dealt to force a save. If you fail the save, you move down in conditions. Dazed, Staggered, Wounded, Unconscious, Disabled, Dying and Dead are all conditions. You don't track HP, you just track your current condition. Obviously this has quite a few different trickledown effects in things like curative and damaging magic. But it is an option. </p><p></p><p>Of course, maybe we don't want to change anything from normal HP as well. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>On a related note, how about armor? In D&D armor makes you harder to hit. It also weighs a lot and stuff. In many other systems, armor doesn't necessarily make you harder to hit, it prevents you from taking damage. There is a variant where armor provides damage reduction rather than a pure AC bonus. As an example, a chain shirt would provide +2 to AC and 2 DR. Plate mail would provide +4 AC and 4 DR. This might make you a little easier to hit, but it also makes you tougher to hurt. </p><p></p><p>Alternatively there is a system where armor converts some or all of the damage inflicted to subdual. You get bruised from a hit, but maybe it wasn't solid enough to really hurt. </p><p></p><p>Obviously all of these ideas are pretty significant. It might be easier to just go with the standard rules. But hey, I am discussing options to see what folks might be interested in. If I don't bring it up, it is hard to discuss.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BSF, post: 2786041, member: 13098"] [b]Damage, dying and death (And Armor too!)[/b] OK, we all know hit points. I'm sure we all see how they are an abstraction at best and don't necessarily reflect pure physical damage that your PC receives. How does everyone feel about HP? Love the mechanic? Hate the mechanic? Somewhere in between? We have instituted different rules for death and dying. I [b]think[/b] everyone is fine with those. Admittedly it would be nice if we knew the rules for the mechanics a little better. But that will come with practice. Does all of this make the game more enjoyable? It doesn't matter how you define enjoyable, is it more enjoyable for you? There are several types of variants on damage. There is the wounds/vitality system used in Spycraft and Star Wars D20. There is the lower Massive Damage Threshold used in D20 Modern and Grim Tales. There is the damage save mechanic in True20. Of the mentioned variants, I am less interested in Wounds/vitality. The lower Massive Damage Threshhold works like this. If you suffer an attack that exceeds your Con in damage, you take the damage and roll a fort save. If you fail the save, you fall unconscious and start dying. This was designed to keep weapons dangerous in the D20 Modern ruleset. Using it would definitely change the flavor of a D&D game. The damage save mechanic in True20 uses the damage dealt to force a save. If you fail the save, you move down in conditions. Dazed, Staggered, Wounded, Unconscious, Disabled, Dying and Dead are all conditions. You don't track HP, you just track your current condition. Obviously this has quite a few different trickledown effects in things like curative and damaging magic. But it is an option. Of course, maybe we don't want to change anything from normal HP as well. ;) On a related note, how about armor? In D&D armor makes you harder to hit. It also weighs a lot and stuff. In many other systems, armor doesn't necessarily make you harder to hit, it prevents you from taking damage. There is a variant where armor provides damage reduction rather than a pure AC bonus. As an example, a chain shirt would provide +2 to AC and 2 DR. Plate mail would provide +4 AC and 4 DR. This might make you a little easier to hit, but it also makes you tougher to hurt. Alternatively there is a system where armor converts some or all of the damage inflicted to subdual. You get bruised from a hit, but maybe it wasn't solid enough to really hurt. Obviously all of these ideas are pretty significant. It might be easier to just go with the standard rules. But hey, I am discussing options to see what folks might be interested in. If I don't bring it up, it is hard to discuss. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Archive Forums
Hosted Forums
Personal & Hosted Forums
Personal/Hosted Forums
City of Greerson
The Seekers of Legend
Campaign Brainstorming
Top