D&D 5E Bloodied Condition in 5e:

[dave2008]

I just looked at a kickstarter preview that included new conditions. One of the conditions was the bloodied condition. Very 4e and I like the idea. I already have the conditions in my games, but the mechanics are different and they are very tied into my other house rules. However, the kickstarter made me think of a more generic option (even though the KS went the opposite direction). So, what do think of this:

Bloodied

• When your current hit points drop below half your hit point total you are bloodied.
• When you are bloodied you cannot regain hit points by spending your Hit Dice.

 

[Bacon Bits]

When you are bloodied you cannot regain hit points by spending your Hit Dice.

I don't mean to sound rude, but this sounds like the worst possible consequence of being low on hit points that I could possibly imagine. This rule would require PCs to stop and short rest when they don't need to regain hit points? It completely subverts the purpose of having short rests and Hit Dice in the game. The whole point is so that you can heal during the adventuring day without magic. Who is going to burn an hour to heal when either you don't need healing or when the most injured party members can't benefit?

I have no problem with using the bloodied descriptor in 5e. It's one of the handiest and best design ideas to come out of 4e, and I'm genuinely sorry that it didn't survive intact in 5e. But this isn't really a good idea.

 

[jayoungr]

Thanks for bringing that Kickstarter to my attention. I've backed it.

Did the original 4E version of bloodied prevent you from using healing surges, or use up a healing surge, or something? What is the reason for the "no hit dice" part? Maybe a cap on the number of hit dice you could spend in a single short rest would be a better way of modeling this.

 

[dave2008]

Thanks for bringing that Kickstarter to my attention. I've backed it.

Your Welcome!

Did the original 4E version of bloodied prevent you from using healing surges, or use up a healing surge, or something?

No it did not.

What is the reason for the "no hit dice" part? Maybe a cap on the number of hit dice you could spend in a single short rest would be a better way of modeling this.

It is the idea once your bloodied your actually taking real damage and simple resting for an hour or overnight will not help. It would be a "grittier" approach to D&D

 

[jayoungr]

It is the idea once your bloodied your actually taking real damage and simple resting for an hour or overnight will not help. It would be a "grittier" approach to D&D

Gotcha. But I don't think adding a death spiral to 5E (where, once you get "in a hole," it's very difficult to climb out) is a good idea. Maybe for an AiME-type variant where it's gritty all the way around, but one "gritty" rule tacked onto the base game is, IMHO, not going to mesh well.

What if you say something like you can only spend half your hit dice in a single short rest, potentially requiring multiple short rests to get back to full health?

Or that hit dice can only heal you for a value up to half your hit points, no matter how many you spend? (So for example, if you have 40 HP and you get down to 10, you can never regain more than 20 HP by spending hit dice, until you have a long rest.)

 

[generic]

I use the term "bloodied" in my games, but it has no mechanics attached to it, other than "half" HP or lower.

 

[dave2008]

I don't mean to sound rude, but this sounds like the worst possible consequence of being low on hit points that I could possibly imagine.

Thank you! That is basically the idea.

This rule would require PCs to stop and short rest when they don't need to regain hit points? It completely subverts the purpose of having short rests and Hit Dice in the game. The whole point is so that you can heal during the adventuring day without magic. Who is going to burn an hour to heal when either you don't need healing or when the most injured party members can't benefit?

No, short rest and hit dice work just the same up until the point your bloodied. This inflection point could be controlled by changing the definition of bloodied (maybe bloodied = STR mod + CON Mod). That would allow you to customize to your group. The half HP total was just a carry over from 4e.

The benefit is a delineation of meat points (bloodied). This method would require acknowledge that you can't just sleep off a sword to the chest.

FYI, the variant in the KS only allow you to use HD to regain hit points up to half your total. The might be more your style. It keeps you up, but can't take you to max. health.

I have no problem with using the bloodied descriptor in 5e. It's one of the handiest and best design ideas to come out of 4e, and I'm genuinely sorry that it didn't survive intact in 5e. But this isn't really a good idea.

Maybe not a good idea for the general ethos of 5e, but that is why it would be a variant for a "grittier" style of play. The problem with the 4e style bloodied in 5e, at this point, is that the value was the other things (features, monster traits, etec.) that keyed off of the condition. 5e doesn't have those so adding it back is not simple operation.

 

[dave2008]

Gotcha. But I don't think adding a death spiral to 5E (where, once you get "in a hole," it's very difficult to climb out) is a good idea. Maybe for an AiME-type variant where it's gritty all the way around, but one "gritty" rule tacked onto the base game is, IMHO, not going to mesh well.

I think it does instantly add some grit, but yes a suite of gritty variants would be best.

Or that hit dice can only heal you for a value up to half your hit points, no matter how many you spend? (So for example, if you have 40 HP and you get down to 10, you can never regain more than 20 HP by spending hit dice, until you have a long rest.)

That is basically the condition offered in the kick starter.

 

[dave2008]

I use the term "bloodied" in my games, but it has no mechanics attached to it, other than "half" HP or lower.

What is the point then, just a shorthand?

FYI, we use it too, but it is a separate pool. Bloodied Hit Points (BHP) = [STR mod + CON mod] x Size. Once your bloodied BHP go to 0, your dead.

 

[generic]

What is the point then, just a shorthand?

FYI, we use it too, but it is a separate pool. Bloodied Hit Points (BHP) = [STR mod + CON mod] x Size. Once your bloodied BHP go to 0, your dead.

Yep, we just use it as shorthand. It helps when running combats