Bloodied means down

[DanmarLOK]

Simply halving HP's, which is essentially doing, doesn't necessarily make combats more exciting if that's what you're looking for, at best it just cuts the number of hits required to kill something.

If you want more drama then increasing damage is the way to go I think. Add 1/2 level damage to all critters and pc powers/attacks and see if that doesn't liven things up, get rid of some of the perceived grind and make things more gritty. It has a less noted effect of also increasing the value of things that increase your to-hit chance and reduces the value of stat bonuses to an attack making it less 'mandatory' to have high stats. (example: That +4 damage from a stat is matched at level 8 by the 1/2 level damage and surpassed at level 10).

This also increases the risk of fighting monsters above your level but that certainly makes things more exciting.

 

[Omnifarious Grey]

Simply halving HP's, which is essentially doing, doesn't necessarily make combats more exciting if that's what you're looking for, at best it just cuts the number of hits required to kill something.

If you want more drama then increasing damage is the way to go I think. Add 1/2 level damage to all critters and pc powers/attacks and see if that doesn't liven things up, get rid of some of the perceived grind and make things more gritty. It has a less noted effect of also increasing the value of things that increase your to-hit chance and reduces the value of stat bonuses to an attack making it less 'mandatory' to have high stats. (example: That +4 damage from a stat is matched at level 8 by the 1/2 level damage and surpassed at level 10).

This also increases the risk of fighting monsters above your level but that certainly makes things more exciting.

This is a very valid point. A lot of battles only can appear to take forever due to the party's build. A party of tanks makes combat similar to a game of chess, often times when you play with a 4y/o and have to keep explaining the rules each time. A party of strikers ends up nova-ing everything in their path, similar to a drunk frat boy who just makes things happen way too quickly and the next thing you know the police are beating down your down (start next encounter).

Rather than hampering the HP, try DanmarLOK's approach, as well as trying to get your players to become a more balanced team (at least one striker, leader, defender, controller[maybe]). These options may help.

 

[Sadrik]

This is a very valid point. A lot of battles only can appear to take forever due to the party's build. A party of tanks makes combat similar to a game of chess, often times when you play with a 4y/o and have to keep explaining the rules each time. A party of strikers ends up nova-ing everything in their path, similar to a drunk frat boy who just makes things happen way too quickly and the next thing you know the police are beating down your down (start next encounter).

Rather than hampering the HP, try DanmarLOK's approach, as well as trying to get your players to become a more balanced team (at least one striker, leader, defender, controller[maybe]). These options may help.

Going the bonus route may be a better approach. The +1/2 level to damage was the first house rule we experimented with in our 4e game. The problem with it was we were low enough level where you did not feel the effects of it. Low level is also where you will experience the most grind. So we began looking for more additions.

tidbit-
A nice thing about increasing damage flatly across all characters and creatures is that it increases the effectiveness of the low damage classes disproportionately to the high damage classes - wizard I am looking at you.

Anyway, we later came up with +1d6 per tier, and this would seem to work but I have not played it yet. We switched to another system at that point.

I also saw a +3 damage per tier house rule that essentially gets rid of the 1d6 die roll for a more flat damage. This could work too.

They just don't feel like enough. When I start my game I think I am going to er on the side of overkill and then ease back rather than the other way around. I want combats to be short. I could have 6+ players and I want them to be fast. Half HP may be the answer but I can always pull back.