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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadow145" data-source="post: 1580347" data-attributes="member: 10718">Thanks for the input.  2 points per 10 is what was in Unearthed Arcana I think, and I went with that instead of 1/5 because 2/10 is easier to figure out on the fly.  Some background:  My campaign has 7 players, all about 9th level, and is soon to head for Necropolis.  Last session the massive damage rule came up for the first time in any of the campaigns me and my friends have run, and I didn't like it as is (didn't seem logical or a good representation), so I wanted to fiddle with it.  But I don't want a rule that is too complicated that it slows down combat (with my seven players it is slow enough).  As for the tough tougher and the weak weaker (avoiding wimpier until the vocabulary police show up <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ) , shouldn't that be the case?  Shouldn't a high constitution/HP characters be able to take a bigger hit then a low con/low HP character?  That was my reasoning for making the change.  I don't think the value should be a set number for everyone.  So 1/2 total HP made sense to me.  1/2 max HP is easy to calculate quickly and it represents a large percentage of damage taken that could potentially lead to a shock death.  That is the logic talking.  Unfortunately Logic and game balance don't always agree.  There is such a difference between the potential damage dished out at levels and the HP the characters have that it doesn't work out that simply.  A 9th level fireball does 9d6 (31.5 avg).  But a 9th level wizard's HP may only be 24 HP (avg without con mod).  For a character with a 9d8 HD and a +2 con mod (Average 62 HP) that is still a potentially fatal blow if using the 1/2 rule.  So what I am getting at is one part of me says 1/2 total makes sense, while another part sees this and says it is a little too much when an average fireball can potentially wipe out all but the tanks.  So to reconcile this I tried to add a cap.  So I went back and forth between 25 and 50.  50 seems to protect the weaker guys a little too much, since the 1/2 rule wouldn't apply until a character broke 100 HP.  So I cut it to 25 HP (Honestly, just because it was 1/2 of 50 and an easy number).  Now looking at my math above that seems a little low.  Maybe set it at 30 or 40.  Or maybe I'm completely on the wrong track.  Con+2/HD+size mod?  That's interesting.  I'll have to think about that one.  That's sort of like D20 Modern's version using the con score, with a little more to compensate for D&D's high damage.  What about instead of a static minimum cap, vary it.  Con+2/HD like Kyamsil uses or something like it.  The value would vary as they leveled up, so low level characters aren't necessarily toast since they have a little buffer with the con score.  So con 10 at 9 HD would be around 28, while con 20 would be around 38.  But most likely at con 20 they would be using their 1/2 max HP number anyway.  The only drawback I see is calculating it in combat, but as long as I prep ahead of time I should be okay.  I'll have to check out UA's death and dying variant.  But I don't want to shock the players too much.  I only started with rpg's when 3rd edition came out.  Anyone know where the massive damage rule came from?  Is this a sacred cow or something new the designers did for 3rd ed?</blockquote>

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