Counting blows instead of HP

[MarkB]

My worry about such a system is actually differentiating among damage dealt. Do a frail wizard with a club and a half-orc barbarian with a great axe both inflict one body blow?

How about this: On a successful attack, the target can make a saving throw (4e-style, against a DC of 10) to avoid taking a hit. The d20 roll is affected by two fixed modifiers - a bonus derived from the target's CON modifier and maybe a couple of other things such as feats or armour, and a penalty derived from the attacker's STR (or other primary attack stat) modifier plus a modifier derived from the weapon type.

That does add an extra layer of complexity, but it allows for extra game-mechanical effects such as weapon modifiers without affecting the number of blows dealt.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Doesn't the Star Wars RPG by Wizards of the Coast use Wounds in a similar way?

... No?

It does have a Condition Track, however, with a Damage Threshold (roughly equal to 4E's Fortitude defense).

Any single source of damage greater than your DT moves you 1 step down the track. The track has the following steps: +0 / -1 / -2 / -5 / -10 / Unconscious (+0)

You take the appropriate penalty to all defenses, attack rolls, and skill checks. You can move 1 step up the track by spending 3 swift actions (in a single or multiple consecutive rounds).

Certain effects - stun weapons, character abilities, etc. - can make you move multiple steps down the track at once (and stacking a bunch of these can lead to "1-shot" builds, those capable of inflicting 5 or more steps in a single attack).

Some conditions are persistent, which means you cannot move back up the CT normally (by spending the three swift actions) until the condition is healed.

 

[mmadsen]

Here is a different idea, which simulates potential lethality:
every body gets 36 hit points.
Weapon hits do 6d6 damage.

The result is taking damage in the range of a nick (6dam) or a lethal blow (36dam). It's probable that 2 hits will kill you.

If an ordinary man has 36 hit points, and a typical weapon does 6d6 damage, then the chance of the first shot taking someone down is infinitesimal: 1-in-46,656.

Meanwhile, the chance of a second hit taking him out is very, very high: 86%. A third hit effectively guarantees it (100%).

If instead an ordinary man has 6 hit points, and a typical weapon does 1d6 damage, then the chance of the first shot taking someone down is 1-in-6, and the chance that the first two shots take him down is 72%. A third hit almost guarantees it (95%).

That's the nature of hit points. If an attack averages half the target's hit points, then the target survives almost exactly two hits -- rarely one, sometimes three. If an attack averages one-sixth of the target's hit points, then the target survives almost exactly six hits -- sometimes four or five, sometimes seven or eight.

 

[Janx]

If an ordinary man has 36 hit points, and a typical weapon does 6d6 damage, then the chance of the first shot taking someone down is infinitesimal: 1-in-46,656.

Meanwhile, the chance of a second hit taking him out is very, very high: 86%. A third hit effectively guarantees it (100%).

If instead an ordinary man has 6 hit points, and a typical weapon does 1d6 damage, then the chance of the first shot taking someone down is 1-in-6, and the chance that the first two shots take him down is 72%. A third hit almost guarantees it (95%).

That's the nature of hit points. If an attack averages half the target's hit points, then the target survives almost exactly two hits -- rarely one, sometimes three. If an attack averages one-sixth of the target's hit points, then the target survives almost exactly six hits -- sometimes four or five, sometimes seven or eight.

Something seems off with your math. 6d6 yields 36 combinations. It should be 1 in 36 chance for max or minimum damage. Which would be a 2% chance.

 

[JamesonCourage]

Something seems off with your math. 6d6 yields 36 combinations. It should be 1 in 36 chance for max or minimum damage. Which would be a 2% chance.

Now, I might be off on this, but I think it works differently. If anyone here knows how I'm wrong, please correct me. (As a side note, 6d6 has a range of 6-36, which is only 31 different combinations)

Let's say you have 6 dice. All 6 dice need to come up as a 6 to achieve a result of 36 total. We're good so far.

Now, the first die is rolled. You must roll a 6 on it (no other number will do, or you'll fall short of your goal of 36). That means you have a 1 in 6 chance of this. If you don't get a 6, you cannot hit a 36 total. So, if you roll a 6 (on your 1 in 6 chance), and only if you roll a 6, do you roll the next die.

So, now you roll your second die, and it too needs to be a 6 (anything else and you fall short of your goal of a 36 total). That's another 1 in 6 chance. That means it looks like this, now:

1 X 1 = 1_
6 X 6 = 36

So, you have a 1 in 36 chance of rolling two 6's on 2d6.

This will continue, giving you the following:

1 X 1 X 1 X 1 X 1 X 1 = __1___
6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 X 6 = 46,656

 

[BryonD]

Something seems off with your math. 6d6 yields 36 combinations. It should be 1 in 36 chance for max or minimum damage. Which would be a 2% chance.

Nd6 yeilds 6^N combinations. 2d6 has 36 combinations, only one of which is 12.

6d6 has 6^6 combinations (46,656) only one of which is 36.

Doubt it? Go grab 6d6 and start rolling. Let us know when you get six 6s.

 

[jonesy]

6d6

6 or 36 = 0.0021%
7 or 35 = 0.0129%
8 or 34 = 0.0450%
9 or 33 = 0.1200%
10 or 32 = 0.2701%
11 or 31 = 0.5401%
12 or 30 = 0.9774%
13 or 29 = 1.6204%
14 or 28 = 2.4884%
15 or 27 = 3.5708%
16 or 26 = 4.8161%
17 or 25 = 6.1214%
18 or 24 = 7.3538%
19 or 23 = 8.3719%
20 or 22 = 9.0471%
21 = 9.2850%

 

[Water Bob]

I worked on an idea one time... It was for another game, but the basic idea could be used with D&D easily.

I'll give you the broad strokes.

Basically, you set up a Threshold for a character. You decide how best to come up with this number. It could be a percentage of hit points, or it could be some function of stats or stat bonuses. Maybe character level will be addressed, too. You decide.

Whatever it is, it's a single number. And, you want to keep in the low range. I'd suggest keeping it in the 1-10 range or so. Or, you could look at the Threshold like a stat, and keep it in the 3-18 range...or, so.

Anyway....

Once you've established the character's Threshold, you measure all wounds he takes by that number.

For example, let's say a character's Threshold is calculated by taking 10% of his hit points, rounding up. Let's say we have a character with 63 hit points. That would mean his Threshold is 6.

Any damage that is 6 or less would indicate contact but nothing more damaging than a scratch. The character will not be hampered.

Damage in the 7-11 range (over the Threshold but less than twice its value) would indicate a minor wound that will heal quickly it attended to. A minor wound might be a bad bruise or scrape--something that may hinder the character a bit. Stun him for a round. Give him a -1 to hit when using that arm. Something like that.

Damage in the 12-17 range is progressively worse. (2x Threshold)

Damage in the 18-23 range is progressively worse. (3x Threshold)

Damage in the 24-30 range is progressively worse. (4x Threshold)

And so on.

Until....you get to a point where a multiple of the Threshold in damage will flat out deliver a mortal wound.



I say "progressively worse" because I haven't fully fleshed out the idea. It's just a skeleton of mechanics. But, you get the idea: 1 - You determine a Threshold number for a character based on the character's stats, then, 2 - you measure the damage done in blows by the multiples of that threshold.

So, if our character with a Threshold 6 is hit by a warrior with a battleaxe and gets 14 points of damage placed on him, you don't do any bookeeping with the hit points. You simply look at the total damage and see what multiple of the Threshold it is. 14 is more than twice a Threshold of 6, so the GM might put a non-lethal, bleeding wound on the victim--something that won't hinder the character immediately but will need to be looked at after the fight (because it's only twice the Threshold).

Don't worry about stacking. Each hit is its own wound. Two hits that do minor damage do not make the character suffer from worse damage. He simply has two minor wounds (maybe two scrapes).

Now, if that battleaxe enemy rolls a critical and does 37 points of damage, now, we're talking a pretty grevious wound has been landed. That's over 6x the Threashold.

Here's where saves come in. The victim gets a Saving throw, or he's losing an arm, or maybe the battleaxe has just been implanted in his chest. Something nasty like that.

Adjust the lethality of your game by how hard the save is. Making the save reduces any wound to a Minor Wound, and the hero keeps on fighting.



That's the broad strokes. No ticking off hit points. Wounds are applied to the character to hinder him--the more damage taken, the worse it is for the victim. But, we're dealing with heroes, so any serious wound gets a save to reduce the wound to something minor.

This system would focus on the fighting, description of what is happening, and not the numbers (well, after everyone got used to it, that is).

 

[Janx]

Nd6 yeilds 6^N combinations. 2d6 has 36 combinations, only one of which is 12.

6d6 has 6^6 combinations (46,656) only one of which is 36.

Doubt it? Go grab 6d6 and start rolling. Let us know when you get six 6s.

there it is, I was thinking wrong.

Anyway, use 2d6 and give 12 HP. The point is, generate a bell curve so the instakill is rarer than the middle.

 

[Nagol]

Nd6 yeilds 6^N combinations. 2d6 has 36 combinations, only one of which is 12.

6d6 has 6^6 combinations (46,656) only one of which is 36.

Doubt it? Go grab 6d6 and start rolling. Let us know when you get six 6s.

As an aside, Nd6 yields 6^N permutations which have 31 combinations ranging from 6 - 36.