D&D 5E (2024) Jumping ahead: Bring back Bloodied for monsters

[Horwath]

100%-76% of HP, Healthy
75%-51% of HP, Bruised
26%-50% of HP, Bloodied
1%-25% of HP, Injured
0HP dying

this are descriptions we mostly use to describe the amount of damage the monster took.

 

[Lanefan]

I’d be ok with “50% HP”. That also allows for flexibility.

Indeed, and good call: some people/creatures might go bloodied at half-hits, others only when down to 1/4 hits, and still others on being hit at all. Just needs a one-liner in the stat block "Bloodied at ____".

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Indeed, and good call: some people/creatures might go bloodied at half-hits, others only when down to 1/4 hits, and still others on being hit at all. Just needs a one-liner in the stat block "Bloodied at ____".

The mechanism of having things trigger at various health levels, not just 50%, opens up things like a lich being destroyed breaks its magical staff, unleashing the dreaded retributive strike, or, at lower levels an owlbear lashing out with its claws with its dying breath to take its foes with them. Some foes should be scary until they're completely, 100% dead.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Indeed, and good call: some people/creatures might go bloodied at half-hits, others only when down to 1/4 hits, and still others on being hit at all. Just needs a one-liner in the stat block "Bloodied at ____".

And what if there are two thresholds?

Just call it “threshold” and insert it after ability name.

Example:

Keening Wail (threshold: 60 HP) The Troll sobs in despair over the state of its favorite roleplaying game. Creatures within 60’ who can hear must make a DC 10 Wisdom save and on a failure roll their eyes so hard they become Blind until the end of their next turn.

“Threshold” probably isn’t the best term, but something that denotes a numerical cut-off, not a physical state of the creature.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would flip it around to have the threshold first, and then the effect, so DMs will be less likely to miss it during play.

 

[vagabundo]

Bloodied is great in 4e as its a number you can easily reference. It's easy to remember and can impact both mechanics and the narrative in interesting ways.

WotC were fools to get rid of it.

 

[cbwjm]

Bloodied is great in 4e as its a number you can easily reference. It's easy to remember and can impact both mechanics and the narrative in interesting ways.

WotC were fools to get rid of it.

I think at minimum, WotC should have brought forward the bloodied condition and effects that trigger off it, tougher level 1 PCs (level 1 hit points being doubled or given a flat increase of 8 to 10 hit points would do it), and healing surges. Hit dice are fine, but I think PCs having a pool of healing surges would be better.

 

[Lanefan]

And what if there are two thresholds?

With this, sir, you're on to something. And why stop at just two?

Just call it “threshold” and insert it after ability name.

Or "Trigger", and lose the ability name entirely - it's not necessary.

Example:

Keening Wail (threshold: 60 HP) The Troll sobs in despair over the state of its favorite roleplaying game. Creatures within 60’ who can hear must make a DC 10 Wisdom save and on a failure roll their eyes so hard they become Blind until the end of their next turn.

“Threshold” probably isn’t the best term, but something that denotes a numerical cut-off, not a physical state of the creature.

I'd far rather stick with fractions or %-ages to keep it simpler for DMs who want to tweak monster h.p. totals (a common 5e variant, I believe, sees DMs cut everyone's h.p. by half) and also to allow for similar creatures with somewhat variable h.p. totals as if those totals had been rolled. It would also have to be made clear somehow that triggers can only happen once per combat, otherwise regenerating or self-curing creatures might get broken fast as they repeatedly passed through a trigger point.

But, for your Troll it might look like:

Trigger 1 = 50% hit points: the Troll screams in pain and frustration. Anyone in the room (or within 60' if area larger) that can hear must make a DC 10 Con save or have no reactions, no bonus actions, no spellcasting, and -2 to hit and damage until the Troll's next turn.

Trigger 2 = 25% hit points: the Troll ceases attacking and seeks only to escape, immediately (regardless of turn order) fleeing in what to it appears the safest direction, bullrushing anyone who would try to stop it. If fleeing is impossible e.g. the combat is taking place in a closed room then the Troll will instead become mindlessly berserk for three rounds, gaining double its usual number of attacks each at +4 damage though during this time all to-hit rolls against it are at advantage.

Trigger 3 = 0 hit points: if a foe is within reach, the Troll gains an extra full attack sequence as it collapses.

And this multi-trigger idea can go into some class- or species-specific feats or abilities as well. Hobbits might gain +1 on their Con saves for each 10% hit points lost, for example; or a Rogue's sneak attack damage might suffer a progressive penalty for each 20% hit points lost - that sort of thing.

The more I think about it, the more wide-open design space I find here.

 

[cbwjm]

Better to keep the number of hit points for the triggers in there somewhere so that DMs aren't having to work out what those %s actually translate into at the table.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The more I think about it, the more wide-open design space I find here.

MMOs have gotten a lot of crap over the years from tabletop players, but I think boss monster design there is head and shoulders above where it is in 5E.

It's an expectation in World of Warcraft, for instance, for big raid bosses to have multiple health-related triggers for all sorts of changes to an encounter, from armies of spirits stampeding across the battlefield to powerful attacks to the floor being smashed and everyone dropping down to a new battlefield on the floor below. (This isn't exclusive to WoW, of course. I believe it was pioneered in EverQuest's ring events back in 2000.)