Dear WotC: Please Kill Massive Damage

[Banshee16]

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.

The save DC was flexible. I think it was DC 10 + 1 per 5 points of damage in the hit that triggered the massive damage save.

So let's say at lvl 1, you've got a fighter with 14 CON. He's going to have 12 HP. He is triggered for a massive damage save if he gets hit for one blow that does 12 hp of damage or more. In this case, his save would be DC 12. So a lvl 1 fighter with 14 CON has a save of what....+5 Fort? So he'd pass on a 7. If he fails, he goes to 0.....well, he's going to 0 anyways. If he rolls a 1 or 2, then he drops to -1.

Look at a higher level character. Let's say a lvl 10 fighter, with 16 CON and 84 hp. In his case, a hit for 26 damage will trigger a massive damage roll. His save against that hit will be DC 15. His save at that point will be something like +9. So he has to roll a 6 or higher. If he rolls a 5, he's dropped to 0. Not dead, but incapacitated for the fight. If he rolls a 1, he drops to -1. So it makes a certain amount of risk in a fight, but statistically, it's still not likely he's going to die. And it really means the characters need to take care of each other.

Going with another example....a lvl 10 wizard with 10 CON and 27 hp. In his case, a hit for over 20 dmg will trigger the save. And his save DC would be 14. He probably has to roll a 10 to pass. If he rolls between 4 and 9, he drops to 0 (which is costing him 7 hp to the massive damage effect). If he rolls between 1 and 3, he drops to -1.

I think the system works pretty fairly. Introduces more risk, without it leading to characters dying on a 1.

Banshee

 

[FireLance]

Actually, I kind of like the way that the Star Wars Saga Edition handles it. Every character has a Damage Threshold based on (and usually equal to) his Fortitude Defence. Every time you take damage equal to or greater than your Damage Threshold, you move -1 step on a condition track. Each negative step on the condition track imposes an increasing penalty on your actions and defences (0 to -1 to -2 to -5 to -10 to unconscious and helpless).

What prevents this from becoming a one-way death spiral is that most of the time, you can gradually recover over a few rounds or by spending a round effectively doing nothing (in game terms, you spend three swift actions) to catch your breath and move +1 step on the condition track. However, some things (e.g. poison and disease) cause "persistent" conditions, which can only be removed if the underlying problem is dealt with (e.g. the poison is neutralized, or the disease is cured).

In SWSE, instead of falling damage being a flat xd6, the ground "attacks" you and if its attack roll (1d20+20) is greater than or equal to your Fortitude Defence, you take 1d6 points of damage per 3 meters (10 feet) fallen. If it "misses", you take half damage, but if it "crits" (natural 20), you take double damage.

Now, if you wanted to make falling even more scary, you could also do the following:

1. Falling damage moves you -1 step on the condition track for each multiple that it exceeds your Damage Threshold. So, if your Damage Threshold was 20, and you sustained 64 points of damage from a fall, you'd move -3 steps on the condition track in addition to the hit point damage.

2. If the ground succeeds on another attack roll (1d20+20) against your Reflex Defence, the condition is persistent until removed by surgery (DC 20). This represents the effect of broken bones or a bad dislocation.