3/4 hps, +1/2 level damage working nicely!

[SlyFlourish]

I've been using this house rule now for three sessions and I'm liking it. Creatures have 3/4 their normal hitpoints and deal +1/2 their level in damage. Crits deal max + 1d10.

This works well primarily at paragon + level where PCs have a lot of ways to mitigate damage. Battles are fast and brutal. Finally a really hard hit can bloody a fighter in one round.

Anyway, its working well for me and I wanted to share.

 

[Silverwave]

Looks like a good idea, but the problem here is when the group is facing higher lvl monsters. They now become way much powerfull since they will still have plenty of HPs, and already do more damage (and will do 1/2 lvl more).

I would be interested to see how it turns out.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I've often thought about introducing such measures as temporary parts of the game.

So you'd have three cinematic speeds:

1.) Montage. Very speedy. Weighted towards PCs.
2.) Fight Scene. A little speedy. Not much weight either way.
3.) Boss Fight. Deliberate Pace. Monsters made more durable. PCs get a chance to prepare.
4.) Plot Twist. Variable Pace. PCs are at a disadvantage and have no time to prepare. Monsters are likely to break things off or attempt to capture.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Good idea, Doctor,

I have another template I use for my BBEG that makes them a little nastier.

I still drop them to 3/4 hps since solos just have too many hps. I give them the damage boost like normal. Then I add a heroic template thingy:

Stun = lose one standard action; daze = lose one minor action.

For some I might also reduce blind and knocked prone. I had an assassin who couldn't be knocked prone (light on his feet) or blinded (blind fighting).

This helps lock up your BBEG and make the fight a lot less dramatic.

For faster fights, I might just reduce monster hps to 1/2.

 

[BendBars/LiftGates]

Does the +1d10 on a crit apply only to monsters or to PCs, too?

 

[SlyFlourish]

Does the +1d10 on a crit apply only to monsters or to PCs, too?

Just the monsters. The PCs already get huge bonuses on crits with those +4 weapons.

 

[gamefiend]

sounds like a solid mechanic. Does it make it too lethal for non-defenders though? It seems like rangers and rogues could have a hard time with this.

 

[Agamon]

I played 8 sesions of Paragon tier (11 to 13) with just the 3/4 hp rule. While it made the fights quicker, the players weren't really all that challenged. So yeah the +1/2 lvl damage would certainly even things out a bit. I'll going that route from now on.

 

[SlyFlourish]

sounds like a solid mechanic. Does it make it too lethal for non-defenders though? It seems like rangers and rogues could have a hard time with this.

Its definitely more dangerous. I think I had a spitting hydra from the Dungeon Delve that nearly knocked out an Invoker in a couple of hits.

At paragon, a lot of these classes, particularly rangers, have about fifty ways to duck out of combat so that helps a lot. I put a hurting on my wife's ranger and she still got out fine.

So no, with a good group I don't think its too lethal. It puts a big burden on defenders, though.

 

[Elric]

I've been using this house rule now for three sessions and I'm liking it. Creatures have 3/4 their normal hitpoints and deal +1/2 their level in damage. Crits deal max + 1d10.

This works well primarily at paragon + level where PCs have a lot of ways to mitigate damage. Battles are fast and brutal. Finally a really hard hit can bloody a fighter in one round.

Anyway, its working well for me and I wanted to share.

If you are giving monsters 3/4 of their normal hit points, it would make sense for monsters to do about 4/3 normal damage, assuming that monsters are already balanced in terms of HP/damage combined, and the problem is their relative balance of offense/defense. The actual number should probably be a little less than this, since higher damage relative to hit points gives monsters more of a shot at winning a fight due to a series of rolls going their way.

A 11th level monster is supposed to do 2d6+5, using the DMG’s “normal damage expression” table. For now, I’ll take this table's numbers as appropriately chosen, and I’ll also assume that the monsters in the MM meet this criterion though these are both false to some degree. In this case, +1/3 of 12 damage is +4, so level 11 monsters should get +4 damage.

More generally, +1/3 to damage over the DMG’s normal damage expression guidelines would be approximately Bonus Damage= 2+ Level/5. At high levels, +1/2 level in damage rapidly outstrips this formula (+8 damage at level 30 by the formula).

Brutes, who use the high damage table should get roughly Bonus Damage=3+Level/5 instead, since their base numbers are higher. This number should be lower for attacks that use the low damage table, about (9 + Level)/6 bonus damage.