Hit points & long rests: please consider?

[Mercutio01]

But I think you're underestimating what 'stabilised' means. Stabilised essentially means that the wound is NOT life-threatening. Wounds are a fluid thing. Just because the character went down, doesn't mean he took a fatal wound. It just means he took a POTENTIALLY fatal wound. So that stab to the gut might've looked bad when he went down, but ultimately it ended up just being a flesh wound.

I think I'd like to see something that affects a stable character that doesn't get attended to slip back into death saving throws at a penalty. It's not a situation that I think would come up frequently. Say a character saves 3 times and stabilizes, but is left behind or his unconscious body dragged off to some lair. Without medical attention within an hour, his stable condition has a chance to fall back into dying, with the % chance increasing for every hour still left untreated. You know, septic shock from an untreated wound...

This is just something that sprang to mind unbidden. It would very, very rarely be experienced, and it would definitely not be some sort of core assumption at all.

/I now return you to your topic.

 

[merchantsteve]

You're forgetting Death Saves.

In order to stabilise, you first have to succeed at three Death Saves. Every Death Save you fail in-between those success, you lose 1d6 hit points. Get to Con + Level minus hit points, and your character is dead.

So let's have some fun!

1st-level character with 10 Constitution goes to 0 hit points. Every round he rolls to see if he can stabilise or not. If he reaches 11 negative hit points before he rolls 10 or higher three times, he dies.

Well darn, he survived! Close though, got to negative 9 hit points before finally stabilising. Now he has to wait 2d6 hours before he gets 1 hit point. THEN he can rest IF he hasn't already done a long rest in the last 24 hours. So for 10 hours after the combat, the character was touch-and-go, but ultimately the wound just wasn't that bad and he pulled through. Now with a good night's sleep, he'll be up and about in the morning.

With my change using the 'bloodied' vs 'unbloodied' metric, it would take that fighter a lot more time to heal fully (sans magic). Also, my advantage concept would make healing in a hospital/inn/house much faster than when travelling on the road.
I like the 3 times succeeds better than the three strikes you die that 4e had.

 

[Mercutio01]

So for 10 hours after the combat, the character was touch-and-go, but ultimately the wound just wasn't that bad and he pulled through. Now with a good night's sleep, he'll be up and about in the morning.

Wait, wait, that doesn't bother you? He was nearly dying for 10 full hours, and the next morning he's walking around like nothing at all is wrong?

 

[merchantsteve]

I think I'd like to see something that affects a stable character that doesn't get attended to slip back into death saving throws at a penalty. It's not a situation that I think would come up frequently. Say a character saves 3 times and stabilizes, but is left behind or his unconscious body dragged off to some lair. Without medical attention within an hour, his stable condition has a chance to fall back into dying, with the % chance increasing for every hour still left untreated. You know, septic shock from an untreated wound...

This is just something that sprang to mind unbidden. It would very, very rarely be experienced, and it would definitely not be some sort of core assumption at all.

/I now return you to your topic.

using my bloodied/unbloodied idea, a diasadvantage (like improper care) would most likely lengthen the healing (not a slip into death again, but potential slower healing is just as bad). Also, if a PC was left behind, his chances of meeting doom from a wandering monster is pretty high. That is a lot easier to do than adding a 'slip back to dying' mechanic.

 

[Mercutio01]

using my bloodied/unbloodied idea, a diasadvantage (like improper care) would most likely lengthen the healing (not a slip into death again, but potential slower healing is just as bad). Also, if a PC was left behind, his chances of meeting doom from a wandering monster is pretty high. That is a lot easier to do than adding a 'slip back to dying' mechanic.

True. I was just spitballing, really. It was just a rough idea that sprang to mind. I probably wouldn't use it, and I think a situation like that has actually never come up in a game I've played or run (that's why we have magical healing after all).

 

[merchantsteve]

True. I was just spitballing, really. It was just a rough idea that sprang to mind. I probably wouldn't use it, and I think a situation like that has actually never come up in a game I've played or run (that's why we have magical healing after all).

My aim is not to pick apart the rules, but take some of the innovations that have merit and use them to shore up some weak elements. I've been playing D&D for 30+ years and this iteration has some really likeable elements. I think this advantage/disadvantage concept has some legs. As a DM, I am all for simple characterization of a situation and the mechanic delivers (well, at least for me!)

 

[VictorC]

I think you should only get some thing like your level and/of your con modifier back after a night of sleep. However, you should get all your hit dice/your hit die back.

I think using your (newly refreshed) hit dice, magic and potions are more than fair. While at the same time not taking too long to naturally regain your hp.

 

[Jack99]

If you base overnight healing on CON, we will get a situation where wizards heal up much quicker than fighters. I think we want to avoid that.

As an alternative to what Mearls suggested, why not base overnight healing on The HD mechanic. I would go with a long rest healing 1HD + 1 HD/lvl (without spending any). If you want even more gritty/hardcore/oldschool, you could keep it at 1 HD per long rest, or compromise and choose 1 HD + 1 HD/4 lvls.

 

[MichaelSomething]

But this creates a weird meta-game situation where you only know that you were struck a life-threatening wound when you're already dead. Which makes it hard to explain what happens in-game.

Docuk: Man, I thought that wound killed you!
Joaoc: It didn't...
Docuk: But how?
Joaoc: I guess you were wrong.

 

[nnms]

[MENTION=56189]Kzach[/MENTION] - As for the whole "realism" thing, it's not about wanting pure realism. It's about expecting the non fantastical to function in a plausible way. Different genres have different levels of plausibility. Action movies like Rambo have a totally different level of injury related plausibility than a gritty WW2 series like Band of Brothers or the Pacific.

When it comes to the feel of their D&D, some people want Rambo, some people want The Pacific.

Absolutely perfect opportunity to show off modular design.