Wound system
One of my biggest, continuing gripes with D&D and similar system, has always been the hit point abstraction. Our adventurers get hurt a lot, even to the point of dying, but they never get wounded. They are battered repeatedly by orcs and dragons, until they drop in a heap, yet a good night's rest will fix you right up.
There are, it should be said, some alternatives to this. There's the gritty and realistic resting scheme from the DMG, which will be a good fit for some campaigns, albeit too demanding for others. There's the wounds also presented in the DMG, which is a nifty feature to add to your campaign, albeit a tad over-simplified, and can be divided into two categories: "minor-inconvenience-until-you-receive-magical-healing-of-any-amount" or "oh-$€#!/-you-lost-an-arm!".
Below here, I will present my take at a wound system, tested and tried. The goal is to create a Wound system that is complex enough to be realistic, yet simple enough to be easily implemented. With this system, a wound can be removed by an effort of concentrated healing magic or good medical care, or, if left untreated and if you aren't healthy or lucky, deteriorate and turn nasty.
I would greatly appreciate any input.
THE TL;DR VERSION:
- Hit points function normally
- Wound threshold is Con score + Level
- Critical hits don't deal additional damage, but always causes wounds
- Damage more than 1, 2 or 3 times Wound threshold causes minor, major or critical wound.
- Wound consequences stack (if you have a major wound, you have penalties from both minor and major)
- A wound takes two consecutive Constitution saving throws to improve (successes) or deteriorate (failures), usually performed once per long rest.
- A minor wound that is improved is removed, a critical wound that deteriorates causes one level of exhaustion.
- Successful Medicine checks gives advantage on Constitution saving throws
- Magical healing that exceeds the DC in one instance, counts as one successful saving throw
Hit Points
Hit points function as normally for both players and monsters. As such, hit points are still an abstraction of cumulative negligible cuts and bruises, your endurance, and your skill at not being hit in combat. However, you are still unconscious when you reach 0 hit points, and dying, as normally. This symbolizes your body going into shock, from the strain and trauma of combat, or even blood loss. If you want, you can call your hit points 'Endurance' or 'Vitality', but I find that change is easier, if you don't throw too many new words around.
Alternative Version
Since the rules for Wounds below use Constitution heavily, and Constitution is already considered extremely useful for all classes, you could separate hit points from Constitution. If you do this, your Constitution modifier doesn’t add to your hit points, but you instead get a fixed amount each level, based on your class’ hit die. At first level you get twice the fixed amount. You still add your Constitution modifier to your hit die when these are spent for healing during a short rest.
D6 = 5
D8 = 6
D10 = 7
D12 = 8
Examples: Clark is a level 3 Fighter, so he has 14 (1st level) + 2 x 7 hit points = 28 hit points. A level 3 Fighter with 14 Constitution would normally have 28 hit points.
Martyn is a level 12 Wizard, so he has 10 (1st level) + 11 x 5 = 65 hit points. A level 12 Wizard with 12 Constitution would normally have 62 hit points.
This will make your players start out at a bit higher HP than normal (which is good, since 1st level is so bloody dangerous for PCs), and taper of to a lower than average HP level in most cases. Due to the way critical hits are reworked, this shouldn't cause unbalance.
Wounds
There are three different kinds of wounds: minor, major and critical. The effects of a wound is cumulative, which means, for example, that when you have a major wound, you suffer the effects of both a minor and a major wound. Critical wounds have permanent effects, which are not removed when the wound is removed.
Here are some examples of wounds. I have created wound cards, you draw from, but you can just as easily make a table and roll for them.
| Wounds | Level 1 – Minor – DC 10 Critical hit or damage > WT | Level 2 – Moderate DC 15 Critical hit > WT or Damage > 2 x WT | Level 3 – Severe – DC 20 Critical hit > 2 x WT or Damage > 3 x WT |
| 1 – Head | Disadvantage: Dex and Wis ability checks. | Disadvantage: Dex and Wis saving throws, no reactions and no concentration. | Constitution saving throw to improve is performed hourly. Two failures in a row mean you suffer one level of exhaustion. Your Wisdom and Intelligence scores are decreased by 2. |
| 2 – Gut | DC 10 Con saving throw when taking an action, or lose action. | DC increases to 15. | Constitution saving throw to improve is performed hourly. Two failures in a row mean you suffer one level of exhaustion. Your Constitution score is decreased by 2. |
| 3 & 4– Left & Right arm | You have disadvantage on ability checks using the injured arm. | You have disadvantage on attacks using the injured arm, and you can't hold a shield or any object heavier than 2 lbs. with that arm. | Constitution saving throw to improve is performed every minute. Two failures in a row mean you suffer one level of exhaustion. You lose the arm. |
| 5 & 6 – Left & Right Leg | Sprain DC 10 Dexterity saving throw after Dash or fall prone, and you have disadvantage on ability checks using that leg. | Speed is halved. | Constitution saving throw to improve is performed every minute. Two failures in a row mean you suffer one level of exhaustion. You lose the leg. Speed is halved and you fall prone after dash, unless you use crutches or a prosthetic. |
Wound Threshold
Your Wound Threshold is equal to your Constitution score + your level. Which means, it usually ranges from 9 to 40.
Examples: Clark is a level 3 Fighter with a Constitution score of 14. His Wound Threshold is 17. Martyn is a level 12 Wizard with a Constitution score of 12. His Wound Threshold is 24.
Sustaining a wound
When an enemy deals you a critical hit, it no longer deals additional damage, but instead causes you to be wounded.
You sustain a minor wound when you are hit with a critical hit, or take a single instance of damage that exceeds your Wound Threshold.
You sustain a major wound when you are with a critical hit that deals damage in excess of your Wound Threshold, or take a single instance of damage that exceeds two times your Wound Threshold.
You sustain a critical wound when you are with a critical hit that deals damage in excess of two times your Wound Threshold, or take a single instance of damage that exceeds three times your Wound Threshold.
Examples: Clark has a Wound Threshold of 17. He is hit with a critical hit, that deals 9 damage (remember, critical hits from monsters don't deal additional damage). He has suffered a minor wound. Martyn has a Wound Threshold of 24, but the dragon's breath deals 58 damage. It is more than two times his Wound Threshold, but not three times as much, so he suffers a major wound.
Healing a wound
A wound can improve or deteriorate, which is determined by making a Constitution saving throw after each long rest, each hour or each minute, depending on the wound. A minor wound has a DC of 10, a major wound has a DC of 15 and a critical wound has a DC of 20.
If you succeed two consecutive saving throws, the wound improves, and moves down in severity (a critical wound becomes a major wound, a major wound becomes a minor wound). If you fail two consecutive saving throws, the wound deteriorates and moves up in severity (a minor wound becomes a major wound, a major wound becomes a critical wound). A minor wound is removed upon improvement, and when a critical wound deteriorates, you suffer one level of exhaustion. The effects of a critical wound (in bolded text) are permanent, and are not removed upon improvement of the wound, and can only be removed by a regenerate spell.
An ally (or yourself, if applicable) may perform a Medicine check as an action, each time you make this Constitution saving throw, against the wound's DC (10 for a minor wound, 15 for a major wound and 20 for a critical wound). If one use of a healer’s kit is expended performing this check, it is made with advantage. If the check is successful, you have advantage on your Constitution saving throw against the wound.
Magical Healing
Magical healing in one instance equal to or greater than the DC of the Constitution saving throw counts as one successful saving throw. This healing does not also heal hit points – it is spend healing the wound. Any excess healing, however, goes towards healing your hit points.
Examples: Clark has suffered a minor wound in his leg. Luckily, his companion has a level 2 cure wounds, that heals 12 hit points. 10 of these healing points goes toward giving Clark a success on one of the Constitution saving throws against the wound, and 2 goes toward healing some of Clark's lost hit points. After the party has spent the night, Clark has regained all his lost hit points, but must still succeed on one more DC 10 Constitution saving throw against his wound, to be rid of it. His buddy helps him again, by rolling a 14 on his medicine check, and Clark now has advantage on his Constitution saving throw. He easily succeeds, and his strained ankle doesn't bother him anymore.
Martyn has suffered a major wound in his lungs. Unfortunately for Martyn, no one in his party has a healing spell powerful enough to heal 15 hit points in one go. After a long rest, Martyn has regained his lost hit points, but his wound is still bothering him. He has a poor Constitution saving throw (+1) and fails his Constitution saving throw. Now he has one failure. If he fails once more, his wound will deteriorate and fester, causing him permanent injury.
I was looking for a rework on HP and begun crafting something similar a while ago. I'll try to add wound types for elemental damage also (burns, frostbite, etc) to add variety in the system.
