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I hate death saves. Propose your solution.
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<blockquote data-quote="The Grassy Gnoll" data-source="post: 7462399" data-attributes="member: 6788652"><p>Ok, so, how about adapting my fast and loose HP narrative that I use in a more mechanical way.</p><p></p><p>Narratively, when describing damage, I say that the player receives an <strong>injury</strong> (“the orc slashes your leg, take 4 Damage”), rather than <strong>attritional</strong> damage (“the orc slams his shoulder into you, momentarily winding you, take 4 Damage”, or “the orc’s sword and yours lock for a moment and it is a huge effort to stop it reaching your throat, take 4 Damage”), when the following conditions are met:</p><p></p><p>- The character is at or below their starting HP total, or</p><p>- The Damage dealt is equal to or more than the character’s starting HP total</p><p></p><p>Example: Sam the Human Fighter with CON 16 at L1 has starting HP of 13. </p><p>Any damage taken by Sam at L1 is a narratively-described wound of some sort, because, well, L1.</p><p>At L3, Sam now has 31 HP. Only when he takes 13+ Damage in one hit, or when he is reduced down to 13 HP (and any further damage received past that point) during the fight, do I describe that attack as wounding him.</p><p></p><p>For you, you could adapt this mechanically to reflect greater levels of peril by:</p><p>- Rolling on the injury table in the DMG every time the wounds are triggered.</p><p>- Starting your PCs off with your double-HP idea but keying the above off normal starting HP (so they’re not too squishy at L1)</p><p>- Keying the above off your double-HP level if you want to make battles more dangerous </p><p>- Keeping 0 HP as dead, dead</p><p></p><p>It might allow for more control on the player’s behalf to understand that, oooh crap even though it’s only a Kobold with a butter knife, having waded through all of his family and their pet ogre, I’m now just 1 HP away from risking serious injury: where’s that healing potion?</p><p></p><p>But also gives you a nice tension to add to the battlefield. Allowing those glorious deaths - the bards will sing the Lay of Sam for years, how he fought on despite losing an eye and a hand to the swarms of kobolds that surrounded him, his blade never stopped swinging even as he fell”.</p><p></p><p>Just an idea. It’s not a spiral, but it does provide a klaxon.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Grassy Gnoll, post: 7462399, member: 6788652"] Ok, so, how about adapting my fast and loose HP narrative that I use in a more mechanical way. Narratively, when describing damage, I say that the player receives an [B]injury[/B] (“the orc slashes your leg, take 4 Damage”), rather than [B]attritional[/B] damage (“the orc slams his shoulder into you, momentarily winding you, take 4 Damage”, or “the orc’s sword and yours lock for a moment and it is a huge effort to stop it reaching your throat, take 4 Damage”), when the following conditions are met: - The character is at or below their starting HP total, or - The Damage dealt is equal to or more than the character’s starting HP total Example: Sam the Human Fighter with CON 16 at L1 has starting HP of 13. Any damage taken by Sam at L1 is a narratively-described wound of some sort, because, well, L1. At L3, Sam now has 31 HP. Only when he takes 13+ Damage in one hit, or when he is reduced down to 13 HP (and any further damage received past that point) during the fight, do I describe that attack as wounding him. For you, you could adapt this mechanically to reflect greater levels of peril by: - Rolling on the injury table in the DMG every time the wounds are triggered. - Starting your PCs off with your double-HP idea but keying the above off normal starting HP (so they’re not too squishy at L1) - Keying the above off your double-HP level if you want to make battles more dangerous - Keeping 0 HP as dead, dead It might allow for more control on the player’s behalf to understand that, oooh crap even though it’s only a Kobold with a butter knife, having waded through all of his family and their pet ogre, I’m now just 1 HP away from risking serious injury: where’s that healing potion? But also gives you a nice tension to add to the battlefield. Allowing those glorious deaths - the bards will sing the Lay of Sam for years, how he fought on despite losing an eye and a hand to the swarms of kobolds that surrounded him, his blade never stopped swinging even as he fell”. Just an idea. It’s not a spiral, but it does provide a klaxon. [/QUOTE]
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