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
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Removing Hit Points from the Game
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="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 7580369" data-attributes="member: 50987"><p>We've done this a couple of times, in a couple of ways. Here's how it all went down.</p><p></p><p>-----</p><p></p><p><strong>Fixed HP:</strong> Back in the days of 3rd Edition, we capped everyone's hit points. You started out at 1st level, with a number of hit points equal to your Constitution score. Got an 18 Con? Sweet, you have 18 hit points. Then, at every level-up, you got +1 hit point. And that was that.</p><p></p><p>This meant that damage had to be scaled back for the monsters, and the party had to become a lot more comfortable with fleeing, using skirmish tactics, surprising their opponent, etc. And at higher levels, I had to make resurrection and reincarnation more widely available (and less expensive). We ended up abandoning this rule at around 9th level; it just wasn't viable for high-level play.</p><p></p><p>-----</p><p></p><p><strong>Wound Meter:</strong> In 5E, we experimented with "wounds." Every character and monster in the game could withstand a number of "wounds" equal to their max hit dice. Fighters have d10 hit dice, so they can withstand 10 wounds. Clerics have d8 hit dice, they can withstand 8 wounds. There were tweaks for Legendary monsters and such, but you get the idea.</p><p></p><p>Then, through the course of the adventure, any time you take any amount of damage for any reason, you take a wound. Fall 10 feet, getting struck by an arrow, or getting blasted by dragon-fire, doesn't matter--it costs 1 wound point. When you run out of wound points, you fall unconscious and start making death save throws. Short rest restores 1 wound point, long rest restores all of them, and cure wounds cures a number of wounds equal to the spell level used. (And this is neither here nor there, but players had a special "desperation move" that they could only do if they had 1 wound point remaining, and rolled a critical hit.)</p><p></p><p>We've only tested this for a couple of one-shot adventures, and it was a lot of fun. We haven't tried to run it as a campaign, though. It cuts through a lot of the math and makes resource management a bit easier, so it might be good for very young or very new players.</p><p></p><p>-----</p><p></p><p>Anyhoo. That's my two coppers anyway; these options certainly aren't for everyone. As always, if something isn't broken in your game, you shouldn't feel obligated to fix it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CleverNickName, post: 7580369, member: 50987"] We've done this a couple of times, in a couple of ways. Here's how it all went down. ----- [B]Fixed HP:[/B] Back in the days of 3rd Edition, we capped everyone's hit points. You started out at 1st level, with a number of hit points equal to your Constitution score. Got an 18 Con? Sweet, you have 18 hit points. Then, at every level-up, you got +1 hit point. And that was that. This meant that damage had to be scaled back for the monsters, and the party had to become a lot more comfortable with fleeing, using skirmish tactics, surprising their opponent, etc. And at higher levels, I had to make resurrection and reincarnation more widely available (and less expensive). We ended up abandoning this rule at around 9th level; it just wasn't viable for high-level play. ----- [B]Wound Meter:[/B] In 5E, we experimented with "wounds." Every character and monster in the game could withstand a number of "wounds" equal to their max hit dice. Fighters have d10 hit dice, so they can withstand 10 wounds. Clerics have d8 hit dice, they can withstand 8 wounds. There were tweaks for Legendary monsters and such, but you get the idea. Then, through the course of the adventure, any time you take any amount of damage for any reason, you take a wound. Fall 10 feet, getting struck by an arrow, or getting blasted by dragon-fire, doesn't matter--it costs 1 wound point. When you run out of wound points, you fall unconscious and start making death save throws. Short rest restores 1 wound point, long rest restores all of them, and cure wounds cures a number of wounds equal to the spell level used. (And this is neither here nor there, but players had a special "desperation move" that they could only do if they had 1 wound point remaining, and rolled a critical hit.) We've only tested this for a couple of one-shot adventures, and it was a lot of fun. We haven't tried to run it as a campaign, though. It cuts through a lot of the math and makes resource management a bit easier, so it might be good for very young or very new players. ----- Anyhoo. That's my two coppers anyway; these options certainly aren't for everyone. As always, if something isn't broken in your game, you shouldn't feel obligated to fix it. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Removing Hit Points from the Game
Top