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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5834438" data-attributes="member: 40177">After two or so years of 4e, I decided there was a lot about it that I didn't like, and went back to 3.5E/Pathfinder.  One of the things I kept from 4e, though, was the hit point system - namely, the higher hit points at first level, and the fact that constitution does not affect hit points beyond first level.  That system was genius.I didn't bring over bloodied, however.  I wasn't a fan of the extra bookkeeping, and while it may be flavourful, because there was a mechanic side of things, it became the GM's duty to say when a creature was "bloodied".  And what that meant, in play, was that you would interrupt a narrative with mechanical information.  Since there is already so much of that going on in play, I decided I didn't want more of it - the less intrusive the rules are, the better, in my opinion.Now, the argument could be that you don't actually tell the players the monster is bloodied, instead describing it.  And this is all well and good, but if you muddy up the mechanics a bit too much, you don't give the players a whole helluva lot to go on.  For example, let's say you have a scene described where being on certain terrain makes you unsteady on your feet if you get hit, and a second hit will send you falling to your death.  You describe this to the players, a monster wobbling on his feet on a wet log after hit with a crossbow bolt. Your players say "Well, we hit him for ten points, and he's already bloodied.  Let's not bother with this guy, and shoot at the mage, instead".  Essentially, players are misreading narrative cues to form wrong mechanical information, even though their characters would know full well that he's unbalanced and another shot will send him over the edge.  In short, for mechanical states to work and to be fair, you have to explicitly state when they are in effect.  And it is my experience that too much mechanical information takes away from the narrative of the game.So bloodied went.  My Players like to announce when they're bloodied, though - more for healing purposes than anything else.</blockquote>

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