D&D 5E Comic-Style Play (looking for suggestions)

[MonkeezOnFire]

I expected a few "it ain't broken, don't fix it" but for the moment, I persist.

Actually, I'm more concerned about PCs than villains. In my other campaigns, I disliked the wack-a-mole effect of PCs doing down to 0 hp and back up fresh as a rose (lower hp notwithstanding) after being restored 1 hp. I found it cheapens the drama, and although I'm actually quite ok with D&D's abstract hp mechanics, this is its weakest point IMO in a more realistic narrative.

In this game on the other hand, I want to embrace the wack-a-mole. It fits with the genre. Characters go down during a fight and then get back up. Why? Because the fight is over, the bad guys has gotten away or completed his nefarious deed or whatever. No cleric or magic required.

Still, I don't want to remove the threat of death completely, and don't mind including injuries because again, the genre allows it. I haven't found the right balance however. If injuries have no effect you might as well not have them. If they are too debilitating they are just no fun at all.

At the moment, I'm leaning toward a houserule whereas successful death saves bring you back up to 1 hp (with penalties?), but I'm also contemplating doing something with HD, or allowing everyone a short rest at the end of an encounter, regardless whether you were reduce to 0 hp or not. There are many ideas on the table ATM.

So it sounds like you sometimes want the PCs and villains to merely throw each other around in a skirmish and other times life is at stake. Is it too gamey to have something like a tension level where at certain thresholds the rules of combat change? At low tension PCs are automatically stable when they go down, and when the villain reaches 0 hp instead of going down a chase scene is initiated. Then as tension increases over the length of the arc you add rules to make the combats more deadly to both sides.

 

[Fenris-77]

Just to alter the 0 HP rule, I might consider unconsciousness for 10 minutes minus CON mod in minutes. Pair that with encounter goals for both sides that move beyond "kill and loot" and you;re probably in business.

 

[jayoungr]

How about implementing something like the Force Points from Star Wars Saga Edition?

The way they work, in brief, is this: You get a certain number every time you level up. They can be spent to add a D6 to any attack roll or skill check. They also can be used to power some abilities, although that would be harder to add to D&D. But one of their other uses is that if you are reduced to 0 hp during a fight, you can spend a Force point to declare that you are just unconscious, not dead. As long as you have at least one Force point, your character won't die unless you want to retire him/her. But if you spend your last Force point, that's a way of saying, "What we're doing now is so important to me that I'm willing to put my character's life on the line."

In SWSE, PCs get 5+level Force points per level, but you'd probably want to have fewer in D&D, since there are not as many uses for them.

 

[Laurefindel]

Just to alter the 0 HP rule, I might consider unconsciousness for 10 minutes minus CON mod in minutes. Pair that with encounter goals for both sides that move beyond "kill and loot" and you;re probably in business.

I'm beginning to think this is the way to go: tweak the "dying" condition to change it into a "defeated" condition.

How about implementing something like the Force Points from Star Wars Saga Edition?

The way they work, in brief, is this: You get a certain number every time you level up. They can be spent to add a D6 to any attack roll or skill check. They also can be used to power some abilities, although that would be harder to add to D&D. But one of their other uses is that if you are reduced to 0 hp during a fight, you can spend a Force point to declare that you are just unconscious, not dead. As long as you have at least one Force point, your character won't die unless you want to retire him/her. But if you spend your last Force point, that's a way of saying, "What we're doing now is so important to me that I'm willing to put my character's life on the line."

In SWSE, PCs get 5+level Force points per level, but you'd probably want to have fewer in D&D, since there are not as many uses for them.

That sounds like the Action Point optional rule from the DMG (which specifically calls out Eberron IIRC). There was a plot point option in there too. Hum, I think I need to read that part again...

 

[Fenris-77]

The fate points (?) system from 7th Sea would work pretty well for what you want to - that game positively drips swashbuckling cinematic pulp. Alternatively, for a game like the one you outline, I might let a player trade in the protection of the damaged rules for some hefty bonuses and the potential that might actually die. Obviously saved for the highest of stakes scenes, but I think it would lead to some great story telling.

Edit - drama dice in 7th sea, which play like inspiration+, recover from knockout, and activate special rules. Anyway, I don't play 7th Sea much, but I use bits and pieces for hack ideas on a very regular basis.

 

[aco175]

I would be fun to have the bad guy always teleport at the last minute or turn into a bird and fly away, or fall into a river, or have a plane with a ladder hanging down, or the ground gives way to a underground river, or ...

Of course you need to let the players come up with escapes for their PCs as well. Mid-level mooks all can have teeth with cyanide inside.

 

[oriaxx77]

Play with regular rules. D&D 5 is a superhero game.

 

[Umbran]

Pair that with encounter goals for both sides that move beyond "kill and loot" and you;re probably in business.

Most of the discussion is about death, but I think, for the style that's being discussed, this is perhaps more important than exactly what rules are used for death.