Wound/Vitality Points and Psionic Body

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'm going to experiement with the WP/VP system in my new campaign, but a question occurred to me this morning on the way to work. The feat Psionic Body gives a character +2 HP as well as +2 HP for every subsequent psionic feat taken. Using the WP/VP system, would these HP go to Wound Points or Vitality Points?

 

[genshou]

The way I've always handled this is that the feat applies to vp, but sometimes I create a feat identical in all but name and function which provides the same benefit to wp. So, for example, Psionic Body would be the name I would use for the wp version (if I made one), and Psionic Stamina comes to mind for the vp version. In much the same way, Improved Stamina works like Improved Toughness, but for vitality instead of wound points.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Cool...thanks!

 

[Zeit]

I would say that by taking the feat you'd get 1 VP and 1 WP. For every subsequent psionic feat, you'd get 2 WP. This would make it more interesting and not really overpowered, I think.
If you do not think this is enough of a benefit, you could always say that the feat itself gives 2 VP, and the subsequent ones 2 WP.

 

[genshou]

I would say that by taking the feat you'd get 1 VP and 1 WP. For every subsequent psionic feat, you'd get 2 WP. This would make it more interesting and not really overpowered, I think.
If you do not think this is enough of a benefit, you could always say that the feat itself gives 2 VP, and the subsequent ones 2 WP.

Interesting, but my own concept of vitality/wounds is best served by limiting feats and effects to only dealing with one or the other. For example, cure spells can affect either vitality or wounds (at half effect for wounds), but never both. Heal, however, fully cures ALL damage, so it affects both vp and wp.

If you run into any other design considerations regarding vp/wp, DungeonmasterCal, send me an email–or if you start a thread on the subject, a private message–and I'll let you in on ideas I spent hours or even weeks poring over.

Remember the name that is genshou when it comes to vitality/wounds in D&D: I'm the only one I know of here on EN World who has been using it since 3rd Edition came out, and thus I've worked out most of the wrinkles. Most.

 

[Zeit]

Interesting, but my own concept of vitality/wounds is best served by limiting feats and effects to only dealing with one or the other. For example, cure spells can affect either vitality or wounds (at half effect for wounds), but never both. Heal, however, fully cures ALL damage, so it affects both vp and wp.

Maybe it is best served by making up different feats for each version, but I think a feat that gets 2 VP plus two per every other psionic feat is a bit overpowered. Unless I am picturing the idea behind the system wrong.

 

[genshou]

Maybe it is best served by making up different feats for each version, but I think a feat that gets 2 VP plus two per every other psionic feat is a bit overpowered. Unless I am picturing the idea behind the system wrong.

It's actually less overpowerd than regular hit points. In D&D, massive amounts of hit points don't matter because there are so many good ways to circumvent them (eg, death spells and Con drain). However, in vp/wp, any critical hit automatically bypasses vp. So having hundreds of vp is not as useful as one would think, especially in epic-level scenarios...

If you meant by your post that it would be overpowered with wound points, I would argue against that in D&D, where all crunchy Fighters get Power Attack and most monsters deal at least two dice of damage per attack. Any critical hit will result in the target simply being torn asunder, instantly killed.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Interesting, but my own concept of vitality/wounds is best served by limiting feats and effects to only dealing with one or the other. For example, cure spells can affect either vitality or wounds (at half effect for wounds), but never both. Heal, however, fully cures ALL damage, so it affects both vp and wp.

If you run into any other design considerations regarding vp/wp, DungeonmasterCal, send me an email–or if you start a thread on the subject, a private message–and I'll let you in on ideas I spent hours or even weeks poring over.

Remember the name that is genshou when it comes to vitality/wounds in D&D: I'm the only one I know of here on EN World who has been using it since 3rd Edition came out, and thus I've worked out most of the wrinkles. Most.

Thanks!! Rest assured, then. You'll be the recipient of all the WP/VP issues that arise!

 

[Zeit]

Egads, I keep mixing vitality and wounds up again. It should all have been reversed in my previous posts.

 

[genshou]

Egads, I keep mixing vitality and wounds up again. It should all have been reversed in my previous posts.

No problem. I allowed for either eventuality in my post. I'd certainly think it's unfair to get a great deal of wp in a Star Wars vp/wp game, but it's entirely appropriate and hardly unbalanced in D&D. I've considered a variant that gives wp based on hit dice (a d4/d6 gives 1 WP per level, a d8/d10 gives 2, a d12 gives 3).