D&D General Dumb Idea: Hit Points As Ablative Plot Armor That Doesn't Regenerate

[Composer99]

Isn't this essentially WHFRP's Fate Points?

Daggerheart has a similar sort of system; whenever a PC looses all their HP, they can choose to not "die" and instead receive a scar. Each scar lowers their maximum Hope by 1, and when they go to down to a maximum of zero, the character must retire. Characters only have 6 Hope to start, so it's a hard lifetime limit on how long a character can go on.

Re: WHFRP - so it is! It's interesting that both systems, despite having very different vibes and indeed design goals, have functionally similar mechanics serving relatively similar purposes.

 

[TwoSix]

Re: WHFRP - so it is! It's interesting that both systems, despite having very different vibes and indeed design goals, have functionally similar mechanics serving relatively similar purposes.

I mean, it makes sense, right?

I think the desire to have a character experience a full narrative arc but not be unlikable or consequence free is pretty common.

 

[GrimCo]

More importantly, in an actual, not-white-room play situation, the PCs would either flee or be murdered. no dragon is going to stand there for 140 rounds.

140 rounds is single lv 1 fighter vs CR 23 dragon. In actual play situation, it would be 4-5 PCs, which drops it down to 35 ish rounds (or about 3.5 minutes of fight). If you bump them to lv5, it gets worse for the dragon. Point is, 1000 HP is a lot and monsters don't dish out that much damage per round. Also, AC is up to wazoo in 5e, that dragon has AC21. Also, no SR in 5e, so targeting AC works. To be fair, i used green dragon cause it was first one i found. Red ones are beefier with more hp, bit more damage and slightly higher AC. Against red one, lv 1 party would probably be wiped. Lv 5 party would have solid challenge. Frightful presence is nuisance, party would probably fail save, flee for 10 rounds, then become immune and return to kick ass.

 

[Reynard]

140 rounds is single lv 1 fighter vs CR 23 dragon. In actual play situation, it would be 4-5 PCs, which drops it down to 35 ish rounds (or about 3.5 minutes of fight). If you bump them to lv5, it gets worse for the dragon. Point is, 1000 HP is a lot and monsters don't dish out that much damage per round. Also, AC is up to wazoo in 5e, that dragon has AC21. Also, no SR in 5e, so targeting AC works. To be fair, i used green dragon cause it was first one i found. Red ones are beefier with more hp, bit more damage and slightly higher AC. Against red one, lv 1 party would probably be wiped. Lv 5 party would have solid challenge. Frightful presence is nuisance, party would probably fail save, flee for 10 rounds, then become immune and return to kick ass.

Right, but the premise was that the level 1 PCs could just rush the BBEG of the campaign and win.

There are lots of weaknesses in this dumb idea, but I don't think that is one of them.

 

[Reynard]

On the subject of what sort of game something like this might work in, I was thinking that a zombie apocalypse (or other similar thig, like The Quiet Place) game would be appropriate. Eventually, you are going to run out of luck. Eventually, everyone dies and this singular pool that never -- or very rarely -- regenerates is going to run out and that's it.

 

[Teemu]

Daggerheart has a similar sort of system; whenever a PC looses all their HP, they can choose to not "die" and instead receive a scar. Each scar lowers their maximum Hope by 1, and when they go to down to a maximum of zero, the character must retire. Characters only have 6 Hope to start, so it's a hard lifetime limit on how long a character can go on.

Although you don't always get a scar when you avoid the death. It's a roll, and at lower levels you're unlikely to get the scar. The automatic scar is part of the Age of Umbra setting.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean, it makes sense, right?

I think the desire to have a character experience a full narrative arc but not be unlikable or consequence free is pretty common.

What do you mean "unlikable"? By the other characters? NPCs? The players and/or the GM?

 

[Micah Sweet]

On the subject of what sort of game something like this might work in, I was thinking that a zombie apocalypse (or other similar thig, like The Quiet Place) game would be appropriate. Eventually, you are going to run out of luck. Eventually, everyone dies and this singular pool that never -- or very rarely -- regenerates is going to run out and that's it.

My issue with it is what happens until then? Do you just keep making up different ways your PC somehow avoids death no matter what happens to them?

 

[GrimCo]

Right, but the premise was that the level 1 PCs could just rush the BBEG of the campaign and win.

There are lots of weaknesses in this dumb idea, but I don't think that is one of them.

Entirely dependent on what your BBEG is, power wise. With bounded accuracy and how armor and attack scales ( one of the reasons why even low CR monsters can still hit high level PC and chip them away over long enough period if you throw enough of them, this is just reversed scenario), PC with that much HP (we are talking 4-5 pc-s, so 4-5000 HP per party) can take down way bigger opponents by death of thousand cuts.

As for idea, personally, i don't find it that dumb. It's great for some type of stories. Mostly about underdog nobodies who bum rushed dragon or by sheer dumb luck defeated great sorcerer. With some comedic twist, that can be made into fun casual mini campaign. For some reason, characters like Joxer from Xena comes to mind like perfect candidate for this kind of game.

 

[Reynard]

My issue with it is what happens until then? Do you just keep making up different ways your PC somehow avoids death no matter what happens to them?

I don't think it is terribly different than any other scenario in which you are fine until suddenly you are not. That's D&D from level 1 to 100.