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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GMMichael" data-source="post: 9762460" data-attributes="member: 6685730">Reading the Hit Points Are a Great Mechanic thread, I'm struck by one of the simplest implications of the mechanism: you either have hit points, or you don't.  You're alive or dead.  Some games don't buy into this dichotomy, introducing stages of injury, and that's when the "death spiral" arguments kick up: if a character gets weaker as she runs out of hit points, the only outcome is spiraling into death.  I've suggested that this is not the case, that there is a "death tree" that presents many branches of outcomes, only one of which is character death.  But trees are complex, and they need nutrients/ideas to help them grow.  Is there a spiral alternative that's simple, but doesn't force a character down the spiral?  Can an injured character below full HP continue fighting, and win!?Enter the Death Curve.  If you will, picture it as the descending half of a bell curve.  It's a useful visual reference for anyone who's looked at the possible outcomes of three or more dice (or who's been to Philadelphia too many times).  There are two important aspects of the death curve: 1) It begins by tapering off gently, like the death whirlpool, but unlike the death spinning top.2) It flattens out at the bottom, postponing zero hit points as long as possible.In a death curve system, injury comes on gradually, so an injured character has worse odds of winning instead of no odds.  If, as unlikely as it is, you went into a fight with 50% odds of winning, the first party to be injured might still have 40-45% odds of winning if the first clash didn't go well.  At the bottom of the death curve, every possible bad thing can happen except death.  Death is last, the end of the curve.  It's what happens when you've run out of options.  It's the Gondor warrior who's been clubbed, breathed-on, and finally sat-on by the witch-king, but his heart still beats after the ring wraith walks off to destroy other fools.Is the death curve a better alternative to the death spiral?Does it address the problems with incremental injury?Should a character be allowed to survive with multiple injuries, on death's door?What games already have death curves, though they're often called death spirals?</blockquote>

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