Dear WotC: Please Kill Massive Damage

[Wormwood]

Add me to the 'never used it' chorus.

Can't see any need for such a rule, either.

 

[Banshee16]

I like the idea of massive damage myself. But maybe instead of it being "instant kill", make it more like the Black Company setting, where failing your save drops you to 0....fail the save by 5 or more, and you're at -1 and bleeding. This way, there's still a danger that a powerful character could get taken down by a lucky roll....but they wouldn't necessarily die.

They would have to be dragged out of the fight and patched up by their friends though.

I kind of like that idea, myself.

Banshee

 

[Remathilis]

I like the idea of massive damage myself. But maybe instead of it being "instant kill", make it more like the Black Company setting, where failing your save drops you to 0....fail the save by 5 or more, and you're at -1 and bleeding. This way, there's still a danger that a powerful character could get taken down by a lucky roll....but they wouldn't necessarily die.

They would have to be dragged out of the fight and patched up by their friends though.

I kind of like that idea, myself.

Banshee

Actually, I like that idea. to further complete the scenario.

The amount (50) shouldn't be fixed. Like SAGA a threshold amount that scales would be nicer.

Ditto with the fort save. Setting it at a static 15 is kinda useless as well

I'm not in the mood to balance a formula, but a system where if you have X amount of damage per hit, you have Y chance of being knocked out would be fine, (where X and Y are determined by level of character and damage taken) but the current rule is very lame.

 

[Celebrim]

I believe the massive damage rule is meant to discourage high level characters (with 100's of hitpoints) from doing absolutely insane versimilitude breaking things because they know that the damage they take by doing so will never be enough to kill them.

For example, a high level character can easily choose to jump down a 100' or even 1000' fall on to a hard stone surface because the damage is no real threat.

So you can get rid of the rule, but you have to be ready to deal with the consequences of doing so.

 

[Warbringer]

I used it; caused 1 death in 7 years of playing - though we topped at 15th

However, I expect to see massive damage gone as its is An SoD effect.Now, if their is a Condition Track, expect to see "massive damage or go to 'Dying' on the track"

There needs to be 'drama' for massive damage, but a hand pushing its way through the rubble of a cavern collapse, the hero bleeding profusely as he claws for the light, is more dramatic than "Oops, you're dead"

 

[Vegepygmy]

I, too, hope to see this rule finally disappear. It is inconsistent with the hit point model, for one thing, and nobody I know uses it anyway, for another.

 

[Victim]

In our games, massive damage frequently killed high level foes. IIRC, we had two deaths in one session from it (including a Titan). When there are lots of saves to be rolled, some of them will come up as ones.

 

[Henry]

Our groups use it, though sometimes we forget to use it. I preferred it, because it made high level combats more lethal, and made sure no one got into combat lightly. At high level, it was more an inconvenience than a fun-killer.

 

[Nebulous]

I believe the massive damage rule is meant to discourage high level characters (with 100's of hitpoints) from doing absolutely insane versimilitude breaking things because they know that the damage they take by doing so will never be enough to kill them.

For example, a high level character can easily choose to jump down a 100' or even 1000' fall on to a hard stone surface because the damage is no real threat.

So you can get rid of the rule, but you have to be ready to deal with the consequences of doing so.

Which is why i think high level (15+) is just plain broken. There needs to be something in the rules to discourage this comic-book type of behavior, but the 50 hp rule is a poor idea.

 

[delericho]

The rule as it stands in D&D is almost completely useless. However, what it does provide is a very easy way for the DM to adjust the flavour of his game. By lowering the threshold at which 'massive damage' kicks in and/or increasing the difficulty of the save, the DM can easily ramp up the danger level in his campaign, especially for high-level characters. Or, alternately, the rule can be dropped entirely to make the game slightly less dangerous (or simply to save a bit of time).

So, I'm in two minds about this rule in 4e.