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
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Tink-Tink-Boom vs. the Death Spiral: The Damage Mechanic in RPGs
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="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7756254" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Not that different, as I do the strong enforce PCs and NPCs are equal mechanically, but as a procedure of play would consider orcs with axes an extremely dangerous foe for a 1st level party to face and would generally only throw an encounter with orcs in as climatic sort of fight in a projected 1st level adventure. Even kobolds with short swords is IMO a fairly bloody minded encounter for a 1st level party unless it is generally large, rested and well equipped. Typically if you are facing kobolds and you are first level, it's not a kobold with good equipment like short swords, but kobold commoners with obsidian knives and stone darts, or just clinching you and gnawing on you with tooth and claw. </p><p></p><p>One of the general rules I try to hold to with low level characters is no one hit should be lethal. So for example, you aren't going to run up against a hobgoblin with a great axe (unless you go out of your way to find trouble) because even a normal hit can do 15 damage, and a critical could in theory do 45 and will average in the mid 20's. I don't like putting players into situations where plain bad luck is what kills them, and I especially don't like doing that with 1st level characters where the player just doesn't have a lot of resources to mitigate against luck. Now of course, the old school solution to this is put a large number of PC's through a low level wringer, and take the few survivors that come out the other side. But that has consequences as well, and I generally prefer players earn their character deaths.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Once you are at 0 hit points or less, living creatures need to make a DC 15 fortitude save or fall unconscious. So yes, those 10 hit point kobolds are potentially still not dead at 0 hit points. It is in fact possible to hit a kobold for 15 damage and <em>have it not drop</em>. If you pass your save, you are conscious indefinitely, but you have to make another save every time you take damage. At -1 hit points or less, living creatures start dying, and take 1 damage at the beginning of each round. This triggers another consciousness check. To stop dying, you need to roll under your Con on a D%. However, you start dying again if you take any further injury. The point you die depends on your size. Humans die at -10, but those small sized kobolds die at -9.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7756254, member: 4937"] Not that different, as I do the strong enforce PCs and NPCs are equal mechanically, but as a procedure of play would consider orcs with axes an extremely dangerous foe for a 1st level party to face and would generally only throw an encounter with orcs in as climatic sort of fight in a projected 1st level adventure. Even kobolds with short swords is IMO a fairly bloody minded encounter for a 1st level party unless it is generally large, rested and well equipped. Typically if you are facing kobolds and you are first level, it's not a kobold with good equipment like short swords, but kobold commoners with obsidian knives and stone darts, or just clinching you and gnawing on you with tooth and claw. One of the general rules I try to hold to with low level characters is no one hit should be lethal. So for example, you aren't going to run up against a hobgoblin with a great axe (unless you go out of your way to find trouble) because even a normal hit can do 15 damage, and a critical could in theory do 45 and will average in the mid 20's. I don't like putting players into situations where plain bad luck is what kills them, and I especially don't like doing that with 1st level characters where the player just doesn't have a lot of resources to mitigate against luck. Now of course, the old school solution to this is put a large number of PC's through a low level wringer, and take the few survivors that come out the other side. But that has consequences as well, and I generally prefer players earn their character deaths. Once you are at 0 hit points or less, living creatures need to make a DC 15 fortitude save or fall unconscious. So yes, those 10 hit point kobolds are potentially still not dead at 0 hit points. It is in fact possible to hit a kobold for 15 damage and [I]have it not drop[/I]. If you pass your save, you are conscious indefinitely, but you have to make another save every time you take damage. At -1 hit points or less, living creatures start dying, and take 1 damage at the beginning of each round. This triggers another consciousness check. To stop dying, you need to roll under your Con on a D%. However, you start dying again if you take any further injury. The point you die depends on your size. Humans die at -10, but those small sized kobolds die at -9. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Tink-Tink-Boom vs. the Death Spiral: The Damage Mechanic in RPGs
Top