Reading the D&D Next Blog - A Close Call with Negative Hit Points thread, I came upon talk about the bloodied condition and realized it would be a great way to easily introduce attrition to D&D in a modular fashion and element of danger.
Basic Module - Bloodied: When a character goes below halve their maximum hit points, they are considered bloodied. Many attacks become more effective when a character is bloodied and they take additional damage from critical hits.
Advanced Module 1 - Bloodied: When a character goes below halve their maximum hit points, they are considered bloodied. The character remains bloodied until they take an extended rest. The bloodied condition does not go away if a character is healed to more than half their maximum hit points. Many attacks become more effective when a character is bloodied and they take additional damage from critical hits.
Advanced Module 2 - Bloodied: When a character goes below halve their maximum hit points, they are considered bloodied. The character remains bloodied until they take an extended rest. The bloodied condition does not go away if a character is healed to more than half their maximum hit points. Many attacks become more effective when a character is bloodied and they take additional damage from critical hits. When a characters hits 0 hit points and begins dying, after they are stabilized, the character will have the bloodied condition until they beat a DC 15 constitution check at the beginning of each new day.
The advanced version of the bloodied would be the replacement to a wound module. Its advantage over wounds is that there are no numbers to track, you are either bloodied or you are not. Once a character is bloodied, they are in obvious more danger; enemies hit harder and a critical hit becomes a bigger concern. The party has an incentive to avoid taking large amounts of damage and healing become more important in combat, but this system allows for the party to go back to full health (like they can in 4e using healing surges) after each encounter (which can be another module).
Since the bloodied condition is relatively straightforward mechanic, the basic module can be considered to be part of the 5e core which would make the advanced modules easy to integrate. Many of the monsters will have a way to take advantage of bloodied characters and vica versa. Someone like a fighter would suffer more from the advanced modules since I can't imagine them being able to walk out of an encounter without being bloodied. A feat or class feature that allows them to do the DC 15 constitution check after each encounter to remove the bloodied condition could be one way of handling that problem.
Basic Module - Bloodied: When a character goes below halve their maximum hit points, they are considered bloodied. Many attacks become more effective when a character is bloodied and they take additional damage from critical hits.
Advanced Module 1 - Bloodied: When a character goes below halve their maximum hit points, they are considered bloodied. The character remains bloodied until they take an extended rest. The bloodied condition does not go away if a character is healed to more than half their maximum hit points. Many attacks become more effective when a character is bloodied and they take additional damage from critical hits.
Advanced Module 2 - Bloodied: When a character goes below halve their maximum hit points, they are considered bloodied. The character remains bloodied until they take an extended rest. The bloodied condition does not go away if a character is healed to more than half their maximum hit points. Many attacks become more effective when a character is bloodied and they take additional damage from critical hits. When a characters hits 0 hit points and begins dying, after they are stabilized, the character will have the bloodied condition until they beat a DC 15 constitution check at the beginning of each new day.
The advanced version of the bloodied would be the replacement to a wound module. Its advantage over wounds is that there are no numbers to track, you are either bloodied or you are not. Once a character is bloodied, they are in obvious more danger; enemies hit harder and a critical hit becomes a bigger concern. The party has an incentive to avoid taking large amounts of damage and healing become more important in combat, but this system allows for the party to go back to full health (like they can in 4e using healing surges) after each encounter (which can be another module).
Since the bloodied condition is relatively straightforward mechanic, the basic module can be considered to be part of the 5e core which would make the advanced modules easy to integrate. Many of the monsters will have a way to take advantage of bloodied characters and vica versa. Someone like a fighter would suffer more from the advanced modules since I can't imagine them being able to walk out of an encounter without being bloodied. A feat or class feature that allows them to do the DC 15 constitution check after each encounter to remove the bloodied condition could be one way of handling that problem.
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