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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ravenheart" data-source="post: 5445586" data-attributes="member: 72088">I had an idea in another  <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/300326-heal-check-combat-2.html#post5445192" target="_blank">thread</a>,  thought I'd take it up here as its a sort of a house rule.   Basically, I want to change the naming and effects of some conditions so  that they are more easily concievable from a laymans point of view, and  make it evenly consistent and mechanically sound. I'm aiming for a  clarification of sorts, and have tried concocting a house rule -three  parts mechanics and one part cinematic "realism".   My biggest gripe is the Unconscious and Helpless conditions, although I  do touch on a few others. My arguments are the following:     1) The Unconscious condition is generally applied for two  different reasons; a character is either asleep/comatose (be it by  natural, magical or any other means) or dying (generally by just having  been dropped to or below 0 hp). This, in my opinion, are two strictly  separate events (the second being far more traumatic), and should  therefore be treated as different conditions.     2) Conditions relying on other conditions are not desireable,  and should be avoided if possible (see what they did to Dominated and  Restrained?). Condition dependencies are abusable, although some  dependencies are justified (ex. falling Prone when becoming  Unconscious).     3) A condition should justify its existence (I'm looking at you  Helpless!). If it isn't usable on its own or hard to grasp as a  solitary concept it shouldn't be a condition.     4) Similarly, a condition that only exists for symmetrical  reasons but lacks the mechanical oomph to make it worthwhile (Deafened)  should also be reassessed.   Finally, I have a design goal to add to this:     All conditions should be different enough to warrant their own  existence, but still general enough so that they can be applied to a  wider range of circumstances.   ------------------------------------------------------------- I've been working on solutions to further my goal, and come up with the following (as stated in the other thread, with some added ideas):   1) Change all occurences of Helpess into "grants combat  advantage,  can be subjected to a coup de grace". Change Coup de Grace  to refer to the Unconscious or Incapacitated (see below)  condition instead of a Helpless target.   2) Add the following condition: 3) Change the Dying condition to the following: Change all other occurences of Unconscious in relation to dying to Incapacitated.   4) Change the Unconscious condition to the following:5) Add "and takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls" to the Deafened condition (trauma to the ear could cause coordination issues and pain). ----------------------------------------- What I hope to achieve with this idea is to break some middle ground between dying, being unconscious and merely being incapacitated (but aware of ones surroundings). Drifting in and out of consciousness (falling unconscious on failed death saves) just screams dramatic tension to me, which fits nicely with the games cinematic approach to combat. One idea I had was to allow free actions while being incapacitated, but that might be abusable. What I'm really pleased with is getting rid of helpless and without much trouble. The boost to deafened was well deserved in my opinion, as it is one of the least used conditions - it needs some love. Could be changed to granting combat advantage. What do you guys think? Needless tinkering or am I on to something? EDIT: Added some of my tweaks mentioned in my second post. </blockquote>

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