Dragonblade
Adventurer
Here is my fleshed out 5e healing model. The terminology of course can change.
Base System:
So all PCs have HP but its divided into two health pools. Half of their HP, round up, goes into the "Vitality" pool. The other half goes into the "Wound" pool. So a 1st level PC with 11 HP would have 6 Vitality and 5 Wounds.
The Vitality pool represents purely intangible forms of damage avoidance. Narrow misses, stamina, luck, morale, etc. Everything but actual physical damage.
The Wound pool represents a mix of actual physical damage and intangibles. Kind of how HP has always been defined before. The key point here is that the Wound pool does represent that some physical damage has been taken. What form that damage is depends on the current situation at the table.
Taking Damage:
By default, successful attacks or spells that deal damage always take from Vitality first, including criticals. Criticals just do more damage. When Vitality is depleted the PC is Bloodied. All further damage comes from the Wound pool. At 0 Wounds, a PC is unconscious and dying. While dying you cease taking damage, but instead start making death saves. 3 failed saves and you're dead, 4e style. If you are hit or damaged again while dying, you automatically fail you're next death save. No negative HP in this system.
Some monster or PC abilities could trigger on Bloodied, kind of like 4e. You could also use Bloodied for the Save or Die trigger that Mearls talked about. In other words, the first time you reach Bloodied in a combat, you are now vulnerable to save or die effects for the rest of the battle, with the option that in grittier games, Save or Die is always on the table. Or in less lethal ones, not used at all or further mitigated.
Also, it makes things like poison make more sense. Until you get down to your Wound pool, you don't have to make poison saves from poisonous monsters. Or alternatively, such monsters do a mix of HP damage that works normally (Vitality first then Wounds), plus maybe does an additional 1 Wound, thus meaning physical damage has been taken and you have to make a save.
Recovering Damage:
The Vitality pool automatically returns to full after every short rest.
The Wound pool only recovers with time or magic. Warlords or martial PCs with self-healing abilities heal Vitality only.
Clerical healing magic normally heals from the Wound pool. Though of course you could have some magic that heals from either or both pools. Its magic afterall. But the advantage is that Warlord and martial healing now makes sense for those who want more verisimilitude in their HP mechanics.
You can never recover Vitality unless your Wound pool has at least 1 HP in it. If you are dying, a Heal check can stabilize you, or perhaps even restore you to 1 HP in the Wound pool depending on how good you want Heal to be. Perhaps only those trained in heal can actually bring you to 1. But anyone can stabilize.
At DM's option, for grittier games, characters who dip into dying can also end up with longer term injuries and penalties that may take weeks or months to recover from, or even require more powerful healing rituals.
Natural Healing:
You heal your CON modifier in Wounds per day, minimum of 1.
Base System:
So all PCs have HP but its divided into two health pools. Half of their HP, round up, goes into the "Vitality" pool. The other half goes into the "Wound" pool. So a 1st level PC with 11 HP would have 6 Vitality and 5 Wounds.
The Vitality pool represents purely intangible forms of damage avoidance. Narrow misses, stamina, luck, morale, etc. Everything but actual physical damage.
The Wound pool represents a mix of actual physical damage and intangibles. Kind of how HP has always been defined before. The key point here is that the Wound pool does represent that some physical damage has been taken. What form that damage is depends on the current situation at the table.
Taking Damage:
By default, successful attacks or spells that deal damage always take from Vitality first, including criticals. Criticals just do more damage. When Vitality is depleted the PC is Bloodied. All further damage comes from the Wound pool. At 0 Wounds, a PC is unconscious and dying. While dying you cease taking damage, but instead start making death saves. 3 failed saves and you're dead, 4e style. If you are hit or damaged again while dying, you automatically fail you're next death save. No negative HP in this system.
Some monster or PC abilities could trigger on Bloodied, kind of like 4e. You could also use Bloodied for the Save or Die trigger that Mearls talked about. In other words, the first time you reach Bloodied in a combat, you are now vulnerable to save or die effects for the rest of the battle, with the option that in grittier games, Save or Die is always on the table. Or in less lethal ones, not used at all or further mitigated.
Also, it makes things like poison make more sense. Until you get down to your Wound pool, you don't have to make poison saves from poisonous monsters. Or alternatively, such monsters do a mix of HP damage that works normally (Vitality first then Wounds), plus maybe does an additional 1 Wound, thus meaning physical damage has been taken and you have to make a save.
Recovering Damage:
The Vitality pool automatically returns to full after every short rest.
The Wound pool only recovers with time or magic. Warlords or martial PCs with self-healing abilities heal Vitality only.
Clerical healing magic normally heals from the Wound pool. Though of course you could have some magic that heals from either or both pools. Its magic afterall. But the advantage is that Warlord and martial healing now makes sense for those who want more verisimilitude in their HP mechanics.
You can never recover Vitality unless your Wound pool has at least 1 HP in it. If you are dying, a Heal check can stabilize you, or perhaps even restore you to 1 HP in the Wound pool depending on how good you want Heal to be. Perhaps only those trained in heal can actually bring you to 1. But anyone can stabilize.
At DM's option, for grittier games, characters who dip into dying can also end up with longer term injuries and penalties that may take weeks or months to recover from, or even require more powerful healing rituals.
Natural Healing:
You heal your CON modifier in Wounds per day, minimum of 1.
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