I was assuming that negative hit points still qualified as dying, maybe even culminating with mostly dead rather than dead, so healing would still play a role, and characters wouldn't necessarily die like flies; they would just end up out of commission for a while, like knights in an Arthurian tale or Porthos (was it?) in The Three Musketeers.
Fair point. By that token, certain feats would become amazingly valuable. Anything that gives you bonus HP, temporary HP or makes you able to function while in the negative would make you into the equivalent of Conan. Generally I kind of ignore the distinction between dead and dying, because in a world of 1 hp people, the healer is just as vulnerable and likely to die as quickly as the injured. Since a dying character is basically just unconscious and bleeding out, any situation that resulted in that person going down is likely to lead to them being finished off.
I suppose if you think it still plays like normal D&D, that speaks to the difference in our campaigns. AFAICT, such a world would lead to every player having the potential to only get in one action in a combat. Since combat is such a substantial part of the game, I would find something that turns it into a lightning death round to dramatically alter it's feel. YMMV.
ISimilarly, I was assuming everyday life would work like real life, without everything causing lethal injuries just because the old system considered one hit point a minor injury.
Well again, I agree with that. But that requires rejiggering a lot of rules. Hit points are a part of the games economy...making sure everyone only has one before they are dying means that they are simultaneously far more valuable and equally valueless, which is interesting.
Assuming all other rules generally stay the same, we can draw some ideas here. First off, high CON characters become the norm for players. Specific feats and abilities change their relative attractiveness dramatically. In a world where everyone is a minion, there is a dramatic flattening of a many things. Sneak attack? Almost valueless. Healing? Barely useful. Barbarian rages? Pointless.
Heck, if monsters haven't changed, mankind will surely be wiped out. If monsters have been changed, then the entire world is made of glass. It transforms society on a radical level. You assume that everyone would become more cautious and timid...but honestly, I think the opposite would happen. People would view death as inevitable and life as nasty, brutish and short. Cure Disease, if you could find someone to cast the ritual, has a very likely chance of killing you outright. Poison will kill all but the luckiest or hardiest within three rounds, usually. A cold winter could be an extinction level event. Now, if you redefine what can do damage and what hit points are, then that will change how all these systems interact. But at that level, I'm not sure you gain much over a M&M style of damage system.
Could this be playable? Sure. I just don't view it as being that much fun for people who enjoy the style of D&D game that my players and I enjoy, which features a mix of combat, skill challenges, role-playing and good old fashioned dungeoneering. As a one-shot(*), maybe...as a long running game? No.
(*) - Sorry 'bout that. Someone else made that joke, anyways. Not my fault.
