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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Healing and combat tension between 4e and Next
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<blockquote data-quote="Primitive Screwhead" data-source="post: 6027904" data-attributes="member: 20805"><p>Upon reading the OP I had a collision of ideas that had to percolate for a while before posting here.</p><p></p><p> The OP contention is that there should be a tension and swingyness in combat that leads to a feel of 'epic' sort of fights. The difficulty is balancing available healing, hit points, and damage thresholds to obtain this.</p><p></p><p>What if.... instead of messing with those three, we change a definition?</p><p> The OPs definition of 'win' is defeat by way of slaughter. Just expand that definition a bit.</p><p></p><p>1> Morale rules: There was a post in the 4e forum regarding a set of morale rules that I really liked. Basically there were trigger events that might cause the enemy to flee.</p><p></p><p>This gives you one more lever and the players have to pay a bit more attention in combat. If they come in with 'I Win' moves, the surviving enemies might immediately flee and take the mcguffin or find help.</p><p> Having the 'Boss' on the scene makes it less likely the NPCs will fail a morale check.. meaning you don't have different mechanical rules for a boss fight, but you have a story reason why the enemy fights like cornered rats.</p><p></p><p>With this setup, your encounters need to be amped up as you expect some to flee or surrender. And surrounding can add some cool RP aspects to the game.</p><p></p><p>The morale rules should have graduated effects:</p><p></p><p> Fail by 10 or more: flee and treated as a 'mere mortal'</p><p> fail by 5 to 9: flee and grant advantage to the next attack</p><p> fail by 1 to 4: flee</p><p> save by 0 to 5: no change</p><p> save by 6 to 10: 'fight tooth and nail', gain advantage to the next attack or grant disadvantage to the next attack.</p><p> Save by 11 or more: 'cornered rat' gain +2 to attacks until next morale check and gain advantage to the next attack.</p><p></p><p>Specific backgrounds like Beserker might give a bonus to the morale checks, making them mechanically more likely to be 'beserk'</p><p></p><p></p><p>2> the 'Mere Mortal' rule. If a creature has less current hit points than the attackers level + 5 {subject to change}, the attacker may spend a standard action to declare a death blow. Players are encouraged to develop the fluff 'signature' deal blows, but can adlib. There is no attack or save. NPC Solo's can have 'mere mortal' attacks.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Of course the DC, graduated scale, and threshold for 'mere mortal' will need tweaks to fit into the final rules. But this gives two more levers for building that 'back from the brink' fight and puts two more weapons in the players kit for 'defeating' enemies.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Primitive Screwhead, post: 6027904, member: 20805"] Upon reading the OP I had a collision of ideas that had to percolate for a while before posting here. The OP contention is that there should be a tension and swingyness in combat that leads to a feel of 'epic' sort of fights. The difficulty is balancing available healing, hit points, and damage thresholds to obtain this. What if.... instead of messing with those three, we change a definition? The OPs definition of 'win' is defeat by way of slaughter. Just expand that definition a bit. 1> Morale rules: There was a post in the 4e forum regarding a set of morale rules that I really liked. Basically there were trigger events that might cause the enemy to flee. This gives you one more lever and the players have to pay a bit more attention in combat. If they come in with 'I Win' moves, the surviving enemies might immediately flee and take the mcguffin or find help. Having the 'Boss' on the scene makes it less likely the NPCs will fail a morale check.. meaning you don't have different mechanical rules for a boss fight, but you have a story reason why the enemy fights like cornered rats. With this setup, your encounters need to be amped up as you expect some to flee or surrender. And surrounding can add some cool RP aspects to the game. The morale rules should have graduated effects: Fail by 10 or more: flee and treated as a 'mere mortal' fail by 5 to 9: flee and grant advantage to the next attack fail by 1 to 4: flee save by 0 to 5: no change save by 6 to 10: 'fight tooth and nail', gain advantage to the next attack or grant disadvantage to the next attack. Save by 11 or more: 'cornered rat' gain +2 to attacks until next morale check and gain advantage to the next attack. Specific backgrounds like Beserker might give a bonus to the morale checks, making them mechanically more likely to be 'beserk' 2> the 'Mere Mortal' rule. If a creature has less current hit points than the attackers level + 5 {subject to change}, the attacker may spend a standard action to declare a death blow. Players are encouraged to develop the fluff 'signature' deal blows, but can adlib. There is no attack or save. NPC Solo's can have 'mere mortal' attacks. Of course the DC, graduated scale, and threshold for 'mere mortal' will need tweaks to fit into the final rules. But this gives two more levers for building that 'back from the brink' fight and puts two more weapons in the players kit for 'defeating' enemies. [/QUOTE]
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