Frostmarrow
First Post
I've mentioned earlier in a couple of threads an idea I've had. Now I've had another idea that ties in with the first.
Idea 1 (recap):
What if all attacks have a rider attached such as slashing, fire, disarming or whatever and that rider comes into effect if a target is reduced to 0 hp?
If you are hit with petrifying gaze, that attack does damage just like any old weapon attack, i.e. you lose a random amount of hit points. If you are reduced to 0 hit points you become victim of the rider effect. In this case you are turned to stone.
If you are hit with a disarming attack and reduced to 0 hit points you drop your weapon. A fire attack sets you ablaze. Different riders affect you in different ways. Some leave you otherwised unscathed. A sleep spell would put you to sleep but physically you'd be in fine shape.
Idea 2
What if the rider also comes into effect when you score a critical hit? A slashing attack simply doubles the damage (as always) but a fire attach sets you a light and continues to damage you from round to round. A petrifying attack could make you lose a rounds worth of actions.
Point being
This system rhymes well with core D&D and carries the internal logic of the core game into the rules space of conditions. Also it keeps conditions in the game yet still make them far less common which is good for speed of play. It makes really powerful attacks balanced with traditionally less powerful attacks. In this way we can keep save or die spells because they only come into effect partly or wholly at 0 hit points. Finger of Death, for instance, could do a high amount of random damage with death being the rider. I.e. At 0 hit points you suffer permanent death. What the lesser critical hit effect of the death rider might be I leave for the discussion.
Can this work?
Idea 1 (recap):
What if all attacks have a rider attached such as slashing, fire, disarming or whatever and that rider comes into effect if a target is reduced to 0 hp?
If you are hit with petrifying gaze, that attack does damage just like any old weapon attack, i.e. you lose a random amount of hit points. If you are reduced to 0 hit points you become victim of the rider effect. In this case you are turned to stone.
If you are hit with a disarming attack and reduced to 0 hit points you drop your weapon. A fire attack sets you ablaze. Different riders affect you in different ways. Some leave you otherwised unscathed. A sleep spell would put you to sleep but physically you'd be in fine shape.
Idea 2
What if the rider also comes into effect when you score a critical hit? A slashing attack simply doubles the damage (as always) but a fire attach sets you a light and continues to damage you from round to round. A petrifying attack could make you lose a rounds worth of actions.
Point being
This system rhymes well with core D&D and carries the internal logic of the core game into the rules space of conditions. Also it keeps conditions in the game yet still make them far less common which is good for speed of play. It makes really powerful attacks balanced with traditionally less powerful attacks. In this way we can keep save or die spells because they only come into effect partly or wholly at 0 hit points. Finger of Death, for instance, could do a high amount of random damage with death being the rider. I.e. At 0 hit points you suffer permanent death. What the lesser critical hit effect of the death rider might be I leave for the discussion.
Can this work?
