Ilbranteloth
Explorer
So I've been kind of going back and forth with the new healing rules. Originally I was thinking that the healing was too much. And for many campaigns it might be. But I came to the conclusion that whatever level of healing that wasn't 'too much' just set a new level of standard hit points. For example, let's say that you decide a long rest heals 1/2 max hit points. OK, so the first day of the adventure the PCs have a bunch of bonus hit points. Otherwise, you've essentially just redesigned the character classes with 1/2 the hp.
So, maximum hit points is the new 'standard' and the PCs start each day fresh. I can come to terms with that. But next I had an issue with the party stopping everything and saying, 'we take a short rest' after every combat. To say that they just find a place to heal for an hour all the time was annoying. So my first reaction was to limit them to 1 short rest every 4 or 6 hours. But that's just as contrived. Then I realized that what I was really annoyed with was the intrusion of the rules on the story. Combat - rest for an hour - wander for a little bit - combat - rest for an hour - ran out of hit dice? Time for a long rest.
So I shortened a short rest to at least 10 minutes. I was also going to change the name to Recover, but decided there wasn't much point. Instead, the assumption is that after every combat the characters will take a few minutes to catch their breath, tend to their wounds, and (in game terms) recover hit points. This makes sense if hit points represent a mix of health, endurance, and skill in combat. I've even added additional healing with healing kits so the Hit Dice last a little longer and the adventuring day can revolve around, well, a day instead of how many hit points the party has.
I've used (and designed) several wound and vitality systems in the past, and it sounds like there will be an option in the DMG. Even Lost Mine of Phandelver has NPCs who are injured. One states he's too injured to help the characters, and the implication is that the PCs can't just cast a healing spell and have him come along.
Enter the critical hit, and injuries. Here's what I've come up with and it seems to be working fairly well. More importantly it uses existing mechanics and retains the abstract nature of D&D combat and hit points. Anything that adds additional randomness to combat will impact the PCs more than the monsters. But that's the purpose of these rules, to introduce more serious results from combat that have a more lasting effect than loss of hit points.
For a critical hit you deal double damage, as noted in the PHB.
Just for fun we've also added some additional effects based on the weapon type if the target's Con save is a critical fail:
We originally eliminated the double damage, but found that it actually made criticals too weak. The problem is that the exhaustion penalties didn't really impact the monsters much because they didn't live long enough for it to make a difference. On the other hand, while the characters haven't suffered an injury yet, knowing the risk has really made combat more exciting.
If we get to the point where they seem to be too much of an issue, then I might make only one or two death saves reduce an injury, or I might allow advantage on the death save if a 3rd level healing spell or lesser restoration is cast on the character just prior to the death save.
If a character is suffering from exhaustion, and suffers an injury, the effects stack. But the exhaustion is recovered separately from the injuries. So the exhaustion itself is reduced by one level each Long Rest regardless of whether the effects of the injury is.
I have a minor concern that since there are only 6 levels of exhaustion that as we get to higher levels that there may be more criticals against the PCs. Of course they'll have access to better healing as well. But I might opt to treat each injury independently. In that case, instead of a new injury increasing the level of exhaustion, it has its own measure. If you have 3 injuries with a level one exhaustion, you'd have to heal all three to eliminate the effects. I thought about rolling a d6 to determine the severity of each injury, and if we switch to this variant we may try the potential of more severe injuries from each hit.
Another alternative is to give them a CON save during the Short Rest immediately following the combat to escape the injury altogether. We'll just have to see. So far the PCs haven't suffered their first injury. If they start to occur too frequently then we'll tweak it a bit more.
I'm curious as to what others think, and if you're using anything different.
Randy
So, maximum hit points is the new 'standard' and the PCs start each day fresh. I can come to terms with that. But next I had an issue with the party stopping everything and saying, 'we take a short rest' after every combat. To say that they just find a place to heal for an hour all the time was annoying. So my first reaction was to limit them to 1 short rest every 4 or 6 hours. But that's just as contrived. Then I realized that what I was really annoyed with was the intrusion of the rules on the story. Combat - rest for an hour - wander for a little bit - combat - rest for an hour - ran out of hit dice? Time for a long rest.
So I shortened a short rest to at least 10 minutes. I was also going to change the name to Recover, but decided there wasn't much point. Instead, the assumption is that after every combat the characters will take a few minutes to catch their breath, tend to their wounds, and (in game terms) recover hit points. This makes sense if hit points represent a mix of health, endurance, and skill in combat. I've even added additional healing with healing kits so the Hit Dice last a little longer and the adventuring day can revolve around, well, a day instead of how many hit points the party has.
I've used (and designed) several wound and vitality systems in the past, and it sounds like there will be an option in the DMG. Even Lost Mine of Phandelver has NPCs who are injured. One states he's too injured to help the characters, and the implication is that the PCs can't just cast a healing spell and have him come along.
Enter the critical hit, and injuries. Here's what I've come up with and it seems to be working fairly well. More importantly it uses existing mechanics and retains the abstract nature of D&D combat and hit points. Anything that adds additional randomness to combat will impact the PCs more than the monsters. But that's the purpose of these rules, to introduce more serious results from combat that have a more lasting effect than loss of hit points.
For a critical hit you deal double damage, as noted in the PHB.
In addition, the target makes a Constitution save (DC 8 + your attack bonus) or suffers an injury.
An injury imposes one level of exhaustion. Multiple injuries impose additional levels. To recover from an injury, after a Long Rest you make a death save. You need to make 3 nonconsecutive successful saves to regain one level, so a minimum of 3 days. If you get 3 failures first, it worsens by one level.
You can heal an injury with a cure wounds spell cast as a 6th level spell, or a heal spell.
If you'd like, if the injury worsens to a level 6 exhaustion (0 hit points and dying), then after recovery you suffer some permanent effect (such as the loss of a Constitution point, a limp and reduction in speed by 5, or whatever the DM and player come up with as appropriate for the character and the story).
You can heal an injury with a cure wounds spell cast as a 6th level spell, or a heal spell.
If you'd like, if the injury worsens to a level 6 exhaustion (0 hit points and dying), then after recovery you suffer some permanent effect (such as the loss of a Constitution point, a limp and reduction in speed by 5, or whatever the DM and player come up with as appropriate for the character and the story).
Just for fun we've also added some additional effects based on the weapon type if the target's Con save is a critical fail:
For a bludgeoning attack, the target is knocked Unconscious. (Death save each round, 3 successes means you're conscious, failures mean nothing).
For a slashing attack, at the beginning of each turn the target must make a CON save (DC 10 + your attack bonus) or roll additional damage for bleeding. A successful save, or taking an action to apply a healing kit or any kind of magical healing stanches the bleeding.
For a piercing attack, the target is stunned; at the beginning of each turn the target must make a CON save (DC 10 + your attack bonus). A successful save, or taking an action to apply a healing kit or any kind of magical healing ends the condition.
For a slashing attack, at the beginning of each turn the target must make a CON save (DC 10 + your attack bonus) or roll additional damage for bleeding. A successful save, or taking an action to apply a healing kit or any kind of magical healing stanches the bleeding.
For a piercing attack, the target is stunned; at the beginning of each turn the target must make a CON save (DC 10 + your attack bonus). A successful save, or taking an action to apply a healing kit or any kind of magical healing ends the condition.
We originally eliminated the double damage, but found that it actually made criticals too weak. The problem is that the exhaustion penalties didn't really impact the monsters much because they didn't live long enough for it to make a difference. On the other hand, while the characters haven't suffered an injury yet, knowing the risk has really made combat more exciting.
If we get to the point where they seem to be too much of an issue, then I might make only one or two death saves reduce an injury, or I might allow advantage on the death save if a 3rd level healing spell or lesser restoration is cast on the character just prior to the death save.
If a character is suffering from exhaustion, and suffers an injury, the effects stack. But the exhaustion is recovered separately from the injuries. So the exhaustion itself is reduced by one level each Long Rest regardless of whether the effects of the injury is.
I have a minor concern that since there are only 6 levels of exhaustion that as we get to higher levels that there may be more criticals against the PCs. Of course they'll have access to better healing as well. But I might opt to treat each injury independently. In that case, instead of a new injury increasing the level of exhaustion, it has its own measure. If you have 3 injuries with a level one exhaustion, you'd have to heal all three to eliminate the effects. I thought about rolling a d6 to determine the severity of each injury, and if we switch to this variant we may try the potential of more severe injuries from each hit.
Another alternative is to give them a CON save during the Short Rest immediately following the combat to escape the injury altogether. We'll just have to see. So far the PCs haven't suffered their first injury. If they start to occur too frequently then we'll tweak it a bit more.
I'm curious as to what others think, and if you're using anything different.
Randy
That's a pretty cool critical effects chart. That must make for some suspenseful and hilarious dice rolling. In a way it reminds me of the critical charts in Dark Heresy only your's goes deeper with the possibility of continued rolls. While this may be a little more than I'd be comfortable using, how does it work out for you? Does it take a long time to sort out critical hits? By the end of the night does everyone still get excited using the charts? I am becoming more of a fan of extra effects based on a critical hit. For D&D I'd probably prefer a simpler system like Ilbranteloth's where it is based on weapon type, but a critical effect chart does open possibilities for some fun and exciting rolls.
