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Falling from Great Heights
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<blockquote data-quote="JamesonCourage" data-source="post: 5892574" data-attributes="member: 6668292"><p><strong>1)</strong> If you ever have damage on you equal to your regular hit points + 10, you're dead.</p><p><strong>2)</strong> In addition to hit points, you also have temporary hit points (THP). THP represent your character’s ability to avoid blows completely, and a sort of in-combat stamina. Whenever you would take any damage, you lose that much THP, and negate that many points of damage. As such, THP are always the first hit points lost. If an attack damages you and does no regular HP damage (it only takes away temporary hit points), then you take no attached ill effect (from status effects, spells, etc.), as you avoid the effect completely.</p><p><strong>3)</strong> All HP at first level at regular HP, and all HP gained afterwards is considered THP.</p><p><strong>4)</strong> You recover 1/10th of your HP per day, minimum of 1. You recover all of your THP after a short rest (a couple minutes of catching your breath). You don't regain THP if you can't rest (you can't breathe, you're vigorously climbing, etc.).</p><p><strong>5)</strong> Certain things bypass THP, and deal damage to your regular HP directly. Such things include falls, coup de graces, being on fire, falling onto lava, etc. You don't get THP or Reflex saves in certain scenarios (you're helpless, etc.).</p><p><strong>6)</strong> If you're attacked multiple times, you take a cumulative -1 penalty to your AC or Reflex save until the beginning of your next turn (when the penalty resets to 0).</p><p><strong>7)</strong> If you want to convert monsters to the THP model as well (for things like orc warriors), they have regular hit points equal to (formula for 1st level HP), and all the rest is considered THP. Oftentimes, monsters have full regular hit points (like dragons).</p><p></p><p>The above changes mean that 12 archers are a problem for things that don't have good damage reduction or a way to surprise/kill them quickly, while things like armored giants and dragons and balors and pit fiends can all remain highly dangerous. So, epic fights for adventurer (or "hero") PCs are reserved.</p><p></p><p>What about things like orcs and goblins? Well, they'd better be equipped well enough (and in great enough numbers) to fight those archers. Maybe the town can only keep them at bay, and need help clearing them out. Maybe the country is busy with its troops, or is politically tied down with infighting, or just doesn't care, and the locals have enough money to scrape together something for the PCs. Definitely ways to make that work.</p><p></p><p>With this method, falling onto lava, off of cliffs, etc. are all just as dangerous at level 10 as they are at level 1 (you never want to let it happen if you can help it). What if you want to be more tough later on? Grab a feat that adds to your regular hit points. That'll add another 6 lines or so onto the above. Still a lot less than a page.</p><p></p><p>Do the changes above alter how the setting is assumed to work? Well, sure they do. Low level guys just got more dangerous in groups. Falling off cliffs or into lava is just as dangerous at all levels. These are things I think that a certain subset (in this thread) <em>want</em> to see changed. And you don't need 20 pages to do it, either.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I addressed that, too. Don't get all hung up on the wording, as context clearly matters more than that. I've expressed <em>why</em> people are getting thrown out of their suspension of disbelief. In standard fantasy genre, you would expect the hero to be able to take on the dragon, and people <em>want</em> mechanics to reflect that reality, especially "at full mojo". What they don't expect is falling onto lava and living at full mojo. That's not the niche they want HP to fill, and it's not what they expect out of the game (falling is in a little bit of a grey area here, but can easily go either way, in my mind).</p><p></p><p>We're still back to fantasy tropes and player expectations. People <em>expect</em> you to be able to take on a dragon in the game. People don't expect you falling onto lava and then jumping out. It's just player expectation. Yes, it's subjective, but is it any wonder that there's a double standard here, when the goal of many is to capture a game feel that adheres to their sense of verisimilitude based on their exposure to the genre the game is based on? As always, play what you like <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JamesonCourage, post: 5892574, member: 6668292"] [B]1)[/B] If you ever have damage on you equal to your regular hit points + 10, you're dead. [B]2)[/B] In addition to hit points, you also have temporary hit points (THP). THP represent your character’s ability to avoid blows completely, and a sort of in-combat stamina. Whenever you would take any damage, you lose that much THP, and negate that many points of damage. As such, THP are always the first hit points lost. If an attack damages you and does no regular HP damage (it only takes away temporary hit points), then you take no attached ill effect (from status effects, spells, etc.), as you avoid the effect completely. [B]3)[/B] All HP at first level at regular HP, and all HP gained afterwards is considered THP. [B]4)[/B] You recover 1/10th of your HP per day, minimum of 1. You recover all of your THP after a short rest (a couple minutes of catching your breath). You don't regain THP if you can't rest (you can't breathe, you're vigorously climbing, etc.). [B]5)[/B] Certain things bypass THP, and deal damage to your regular HP directly. Such things include falls, coup de graces, being on fire, falling onto lava, etc. You don't get THP or Reflex saves in certain scenarios (you're helpless, etc.). [B]6)[/B] If you're attacked multiple times, you take a cumulative -1 penalty to your AC or Reflex save until the beginning of your next turn (when the penalty resets to 0). [B]7)[/B] If you want to convert monsters to the THP model as well (for things like orc warriors), they have regular hit points equal to (formula for 1st level HP), and all the rest is considered THP. Oftentimes, monsters have full regular hit points (like dragons). The above changes mean that 12 archers are a problem for things that don't have good damage reduction or a way to surprise/kill them quickly, while things like armored giants and dragons and balors and pit fiends can all remain highly dangerous. So, epic fights for adventurer (or "hero") PCs are reserved. What about things like orcs and goblins? Well, they'd better be equipped well enough (and in great enough numbers) to fight those archers. Maybe the town can only keep them at bay, and need help clearing them out. Maybe the country is busy with its troops, or is politically tied down with infighting, or just doesn't care, and the locals have enough money to scrape together something for the PCs. Definitely ways to make that work. With this method, falling onto lava, off of cliffs, etc. are all just as dangerous at level 10 as they are at level 1 (you never want to let it happen if you can help it). What if you want to be more tough later on? Grab a feat that adds to your regular hit points. That'll add another 6 lines or so onto the above. Still a lot less than a page. Do the changes above alter how the setting is assumed to work? Well, sure they do. Low level guys just got more dangerous in groups. Falling off cliffs or into lava is just as dangerous at all levels. These are things I think that a certain subset (in this thread) [I]want[/I] to see changed. And you don't need 20 pages to do it, either. I addressed that, too. Don't get all hung up on the wording, as context clearly matters more than that. I've expressed [I]why[/I] people are getting thrown out of their suspension of disbelief. In standard fantasy genre, you would expect the hero to be able to take on the dragon, and people [I]want[/I] mechanics to reflect that reality, especially "at full mojo". What they don't expect is falling onto lava and living at full mojo. That's not the niche they want HP to fill, and it's not what they expect out of the game (falling is in a little bit of a grey area here, but can easily go either way, in my mind). We're still back to fantasy tropes and player expectations. People [I]expect[/I] you to be able to take on a dragon in the game. People don't expect you falling onto lava and then jumping out. It's just player expectation. Yes, it's subjective, but is it any wonder that there's a double standard here, when the goal of many is to capture a game feel that adheres to their sense of verisimilitude based on their exposure to the genre the game is based on? As always, play what you like :) [/QUOTE]
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