D&D 5E Bloodied Condition in 5e:

[Dausuul]

In 4E, bloodied was used as the trigger for various mechanics, but the only effect of the bloodied condition itself was that it was visible to your enemies--once you become bloodied, the enemy knows you are below half hit points, which is valuable tactical information.

I thought it worked quite nicely, and it's a shame they dumped it in 5E. I'd be on board with restoring it. However, I would avoid adding any mechanic that turns it into a "death spiral" where becoming bloodied reduces your ability to bounce back--that sort of thing can make a little bad luck on the dice snowball into a TPK.

Why not do the opposite? You can only spend hit dice when bloodied, and you can only regain hit points up to the bloodied threshold (i.e., hit dice cannot make you un-bloodied). That would turn it into a stabilizing mechanic rather than a destabilizing one.

 

[Gadget]

I understand the desire for more "gritty" style, but I'm not sure I would tie it to the bloodied condition, or rather to a generic bloodied condition. Form me, HPs work best when they are kept abstract, and trying to parse them into "meat points" vs weariness and luck does not really work too well. I would take a page from 4e and attach certain meanings to the condition:

• Other's can see you're somewhat warn down, so it could be an opportunity to unleash a Power Word spell or know that you are running out of gas.
• Certain spells and abilities may key off of it, similar to 4e. Monsters can have certain affects that happen, spells can do different things to targets that are bloodied, Raging Barbarians get an extra boost, etc.
• If I wanted more gritty, I would say Hit Dice and most healing can only get you back up to bloodied, not all the way to full. This way you can get 'patched up' but still not too full strength and avoid returning to the "who's going to play the cleric?" model of earlier editions. Clerics, with a few notable exceptions such as perhaps the Heal spell, will not be able to patch up any more than the other methods available, though they would still be a valuable resource.

 

[jayoungr]

Why not do the opposite? You can only spend hit dice when bloodied, and you can only regain hit points up to the bloodied threshold (i.e., hit dice cannot make you un-bloodied). That would turn it into a stabilizing mechanic rather than a destabilizing one.

I think this could work, but I see it leading to some funny situations where a PC is one point away from bloodied and goes out looking for danger (or even self-inflicts a point or two of damage) in order to be able to spend hit dice!

 

[dave2008]

Why not do the opposite? You can only spend hit dice when bloodied, and you can only regain hit points up to the bloodied threshold (i.e., hit dice cannot make you un-bloodied). That would turn it into a stabilizing mechanic rather than a destabilizing one.

That is pretty much what the kickstartee supplement did

 

[Tony Vargas]

Of course, 5e has bloodied - that bit on narrating damage about 'showing signs of wear' when at half-hit points. It just obliges you to phrase anything that's based on it "...when you are reduced to half or fewer your maximum hps…" Because shortening that to a keyword would increase complexity.

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?

No, not at all.

However, there might be abilities or items that functioned only while bloodied, or until bloodied, or activated upon becoming bloodied the first time - or that only worked on bloodied enemies. Monsters, likewise, would have powers that keyed off bloodied, either for themselves, or vs bloodied targets.

 

[generic]

Of course, 5e has bloodied - that bit on narrating damage about 'showing signs of wear' when at half-hit points. It just obliges you to phrase anything that's based on it "...when you are reduced to half or fewer your maximum hps…" Because shortening that to a keyword would increase complexity.

No, not at all.

However, there might be abilities or items that functioned only while bloodied, or until bloodied, or activated upon becoming bloodied the first time - or that only worked on bloodied enemies. Monsters, likewise, would have powers that keyed off bloodied, either for themselves, or vs bloodied targets.

5E still has the latter, but the term "bloodied" is omitted. There are many monsters with abilities that say "X happens if the target or self has half or fewer hit points".

 

[Dausuul]

I think this could work, but I see it leading to some funny situations where a PC is one point away from bloodied and goes out looking for danger (or even self-inflicts a point or two of damage) in order to be able to spend hit dice!

Part of the rule was "spending hit dice cannot take you above the bloodied threshold." There is never a benefit to damaging yourself under this system.

 

[MarkB]

How about "when you are bloodied, you can only spend hit dice if someone tends your wounds while resting. While tending someone's wounds, you are not considered to be resting."

Makes it tougher to heal up, or potentially requires you to take longer doing it - you may need to effectively take two short rests in succession, alternating between healing duties.

 

[Bacon Bits]

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 other the other things (features, monster traits, etec.) the keyed off of the condition. 5e doesn't have those so adding it back is not simple operation.

The issue is that short rests do a lot more than recover hit points in 5e. Warlocks, Monks, and Fighters in particular heavily rely on short rests being a regular part of a balanced adventuring day. That kind of makes them sound like a breakfast cereal, but it's still true.

I don't think it's going to encourage a gritty style. As written, you're just encouraging long rests in favor of short rests. You're telling the PCs to stop adventuring when they're at half hit points because non-magical recovery isn't possible. It's not going to make the game gritty. It's just going to make the PCs extremely conservative. You won't have more PCs dropping to 0 hit points, you'll have PCs stopping to long rest after dropping below half hit points. If you want to make it grittier, then I would change the timing of long and short rests entirely.

 

[Blue]

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

I do the same and found it useful.

It's an easy way to convey to the players that the creature looks like it's taken a significant beating. Character should be able to see when something looks all beat up, wihtout beign too granular and specific.