Favorite Non-HP Health/Damage System?

[doctorbadwolf]

From Alternity's wound track, to Apocolypse World and it's derivitives' Harm, to many other systems, there are a decent number of ways to model getting hurt in a TTRPG.

One thing I admire about Harm is that it more smoothly allows modeling things like psychological strain using the same model and getting stabbed.

Alternity, on the other hand, complicates HP by turning it into two separate values, one more vital than the other.

My own TTRPG is currently getting a new iteration playtested soon, after I finish working on a sort of damage threshold health system where you have Stress and Trauma, and both build up over time and threaten to take you out of the fight, but Trauma lingers while Stress is much easier to "heal". It is also a system in which meeting a god can cause the same level of Trauma as getting stabbed, but with differing specific effects if the Trauma gets to be too much. We'll see how well it works during playtesting. It's possible we will go back to HP style health. Well, much less bloated than any dnd's HP has ever been, but whatever.

What are some other systems? What are your favorites?

 

[Umbran]

Fate's Stress and Consequences are kind of fun. Getting badly hurt is a problem, but one that doesn't impact you all the time in a huge death spiral.

My group hasn't gotten to work with it yet, but Sentinels Comics RPG has a damage system with hit points BUT, as you lose hit points, you get access to more character abilities, which is cool.

 

[AOieiosle]

"Pulls" and the increasing .... dread of the Dread RPG.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Fate's Stress and Consequences are kind of fun. Getting badly hurt is a problem, but one that doesn't impact you all the time in a huge death spiral.

I haven’t played Fate in a long time, but I do seem to recall it being pretty interesting in this regard.

My group hasn't gotten to work with it yet, but Sentinels Comics RPG has a damage system with hit points BUT, as you lose hit points, you get access to more character abilities, which is cool.

Oooo. One more reason to check Sentinels out. I love in 4e when a character or enemy gets Bloodied and unlocks new abilities.

"Pulls" and the increasing .... dread of the Dread RPG.

Someday I’ll check out Dread. What is it you like about it’s system?

 

[MGibster]

Fate's Stress and Consequences are kind of fun. Getting badly hurt is a problem, but one that doesn't impact you all the time in a huge death spiral.

Fate is a good one. I tend to favor Savage Worlds in large part because it's extremely easy and I don't have to keep track of a lot of numbers.

 

[Umbran]

I haven’t played Fate in a long time, but I do seem to recall it being pretty interesting in this regard.

Quick overview - for the rusty, or those who haven't seen it before.
A character has two or more Stress boxes. Your first box can absorb one stress, the second up to two stress, the third will absorb three stress, and so on. When you take a hit, you can check off only one box, and it will absorb that much of the hit. All Stress boxes clear at the end of a Scene.

If you don't have a box, want to save what box(es) you have, or have leftover stress after checking the box, you may take a Consequence. A consequence can be Mild, Moderate, or Severe. A mild consequence will take up to two stress, Moderate will take four, and Severe will take up to six stress for you. Consequences are named, (like, "Broken Ankle" or "Bruised Ego"), and are Aspects that opponents can invoke for bonuses against you. Depending on which Fate game you are playing, they generally take longer to clear than Stress.

If combining Stress and Consequence, you cannot absorb the hit, you are Taken Out - not necessarily dead, but effectively removed from the current scene. The player (or the GM) who took you out gets to decide your fate.

In Fate Accelerated, you have one set of stress boxes, that take any kind of incoming stress. In Fate Core, you have separate Physical and Mental stress. In other variants you may have other stress tracks (like, Physical, Mental, and Social, or whatever)

But you only ever have one set of Consequences.

Oooo. One more reason to check Sentinels out. I love in 4e when a character or enemy gets Bloodied and unlocks new abilities.

Yes, in Sentinels, you have statuses - Green, Yellow, Red, Out (GYRO). You get access to more abilities as you go towards Out, and the dice you are using may change (like, some characters use shift up in dice as they get closer to out, others shift to smaller dice).

It is important to note that. being Silver Age comic book characters, in Sentinels, a character can be taken Out of the scene, but they CANNOT die, unless the player decides that it is appropriate.

The GYRO status also moves along during a scene - the scene may be Green for two rounds, Yellow for four, and then Red for two - the character gets access to powers and dice by whichever is more severe - their hit points of the scene. If the characters don't resolve the scene before the tracker is Out, the scene ends, and is reframed with the consequences of whatever they didn't resolve. If you don't finish off Baron Blade by the end of the scene, he switches on his Machine of Doom! and the next scene is dealing with the machine, for example.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Fate is a good one. I tend to favor Savage Worlds in large part because it's extremely easy and I don't have to keep track of a lot of numbers.

Savage Worlds is one of my biggest blind spots. There are just too many games!

Quick overview - for the rusty, or those who haven't seen it before.
A character has two or more Stress boxes. Your first box can absorb one stress, the second up to two stress, the third will absorb three stress, and so on. When you take a hit, you can check off only one box, and it will absorb that much of the hit. All Stress boxes clear at the end of a Scene.

If you don't have a box, want to save what box(es) you have, or have leftover stress after checking the box, you may take a Consequence. A consequence can be Mild, Moderate, or Severe. A mild consequence will take up to two stress, Moderate will take four, and Severe will take up to six stress for you. Consequences are named, (like, "Broken Ankle" or "Bruised Ego"), and are Aspects that opponents can invoke for bonuses against you. Depending on which Fate game you are playing, they generally take longer to clear than Stress.

If combining Stress and Consequence, you cannot absorb the hit, you are Taken Out - not necessarily dead, but effectively removed from the current scene. The player (or the GM) who took you out gets to decide your fate.

In Fate Accelerated, you have one set of stress boxes, that take any kind of incoming stress. In Fate Core, you have separate Physical and Mental stress. In other variants you may have other stress tracks (like, Physical, Mental, and Social, or whatever)

But you only ever have one set of Consequences.

There’s stuff I dislike about fate, but the health/damage system is pretty sweet.

Yes, in Sentinels, you have statuses - Green, Yellow, Red, Out (GYRO). You get access to more abilities as you go towards Out, and the dice you are using may change (like, some characters use shift up in dice as they get closer to out, others shift to smaller dice).

It is important to note that. being Silver Age comic book characters, in Sentinels, a character can be taken Out of the scene, but they CANNOT die, unless the player decides that it is appropriate.

The GYRO status also moves along during a scene - the scene may be Green for two rounds, Yellow for four, and then Red for two - the character gets access to powers and dice by whichever is more severe - their hit points of the scene. If the characters don't resolve the scene before the tracker is Out, the scene ends, and is reframed with the consequences of whatever they didn't resolve. If you don't finish off Baron Blade by the end of the scene, he switches on his Machine of Doom! and the next scene is dealing with the machine, for example.

That is extremely cool.

 

[RobJN]

Alternity, on the other hand, complicates HP by turning it into two separate values, one more vital than the other.

What are some other systems? What are your favorites?

I rather liked the durability tracks in Alternity (the old one, not the new one). Stun and Wound tracks based on your hero's CON score, Mortal and Fatigue tracks half that. I like that durability was grounded in your hero's stats, rather than decided by career choice, and then further modified by a stat.

It side-stepped the "well, see, you track subdual damage like your hp, but they're not really your hp, and then if they exceed your current hp -- not your total hp, mind you, but your current hp -- then...."

Accumulating damage actually wore down your hero. Armor actually worked like armor: sure, it might stop a bullet, but your hero is still going to feel the mule-kick of it. Pile on enough bruises/scrapes/grazes, and that stun damage cascades over into the wound track.

Barring a few "buy an extra stun/wound/mortal" achievements, or raising your hero's CON stat.... that was all the HP your hero was ever going to get. No Endlessly Escalating HP. A knife was just as (or maybe only slightly less) dangerous at tenth level as it was at first.

 

[Dragonsbane]

Cypher System and their ability pools!

 

[AOieiosle]

I haven’t played Fate in a long time, but I do seem to recall it being pretty interesting in this regard.

Oooo. One more reason to check Sentinels out. I love in 4e when a character or enemy gets Bloodied and unlocks new abilities.

Someday I’ll check out Dread. What is it you like about it’s system?

Dread couples the physical anxiety of having to pull jenga blocks instead of rolling dice to see if something succeeds. A conflict can be one or multiple pulls by a player to get what they want. All that matters if the tower falls, either the player is removed or effected in some dramatic fashion. Since it's best for one-shots, injuries are just recorded and enforced by the GM/group (affecting pulls, etc).