Drop abstract hit points in favor of something more realistic?

[Sylrae]

d20: Lose the Abstract Hit Points system?

Based on Constitution Score and Size Modifier somehow

Hit Points per Body Part & Bringing back called shot: Or
Health Levels like in WhiteWolf (and probably still using called shot).

Something else based on level instead of Hitpoints. Maybe some form of Damage Reduction or armor bonus or something to deal with the damage numbers staying the same?

cause the idea of when i hit someone it doesn't always do ACTUAL damage and often just tires them out drives me crazy, plus I love called shot and want it back. and a level 10 character isn't more durable than a level 1 (talkin logic, not rules), so if he stands still and lets me stab him he won't take much less damage than the level one doing the same.

 

[Vymair]

Check out the True20 damage tracks if you're looking for something like this.

 

[Starman]

Have you looked at Ken Hood's Grim 'n Gritty system? It lives up to its name.

 

[Sylrae]

you guys wanna give me links? (if theyre homebrew)

as for the book, I dont have it nor do I know somewhere i can get it to look at so see if i wanna buy it.

 

[Starman]

It's a homebrew free for the downloading. Here is a recent thread discussing it as well as having the pdf attached.

 

[SSquirrel]

Especially the revised version. Much simpler and just as nasty.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=82837&highlight=revised+grim

 

[Sylrae]

The Grim n' Gritty idea is neat, but it makes you much more likely to die, particularly at later levels, and doesn't take parts into effect in any way that promotes the bringing back of called shot.

Everyone has the same amount of health, which I think should be altered, and your level doesn't affect your defense OR soak.

hmm.

with some modifications I think I could use it, but what about damage tracks?

and wouldn't giving everyone damage reduction eventually make them impervious to standard weapons? how do you compensate for that?

 

[joela]

chaos theory

Something else based on level instead of Hitpoints. Maybe some form of Damage Reduction or armor bonus or something to deal with the damage numbers staying the same?

my gawd. the amount of work involved to modify every NPC/monster, etc., to be "balanced". Then update all the healing stuff like regeneration, spells, etc!

 

[Sylrae]

nah you wouldnt have to modify anything but healing spells. i figure health will be determined by creature size and con score. I just have to come up with a system for limb hitpoints. we shall see. as for damage, the hit point system needs to compensate for damage in a way that doesnt change the actual damage values. perhaps via some new sort of dr like in the grim n' gritty. all that will actually need fixing are healing abilities, and maybe they can be converted on the fly too.

 

[Aus_Snow]

You might like Torn Asunder: Critical Hits, by Bastion Press. It's now published by DragonWing Games, however, IIRC.

It has rules for hit locations, called shots, critical effects w/ some rather unpleasant consequences at times, and some other accompanying rules. There are even hit location tables (small ones, thankfully) for each type of being - each broad type, that is, not each specific monster - which is something most similar efforts haven't bothered to provide, across most applicable game systems that I've seen.

It doesn't replace HPs, but it adds quite a bit of grim 'n gritty nonetheless. I found using HPs was fine (and a whole lot easier in terms of using D&D material in general) if I added some kind of lethality and 'realism' in, overlaid, as it were.