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D&D 4E first 4e house rule

well maybe it will be in dmg or maybe not but for those who want more long lasting damage I tought that a neat mechanic could be

if you go to 0 hp or less
and get back w/out worsening: 1 wound (describe or -1 general penalty)
and get back w 1 worsening: 1 critical wound (describe or -2 general penalty)
and get back w 2 worsening: 1 grievous wound (describe or -3 general penalty)

obviously you can get multiple wounds of each level if you go multiple times to 0 or less

I really don't think it a necessity but some friends keep saying that there should be some long lasting wound....

what do you think?
 

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You might want to check out the wound mechanic from Earthdawn. There should be a free copy of the first edition rules floating around the internet.

Essentially, each wound is a -1 penalty. Characters receive wounds when they take more damage that their "wound threshold" or as a result of certain spells or other effects. (You could assign the wound threshold to be either the same amount as the character heals from a healing surge or the character's fortitude defence. Playtesting will determine.) Wounds heal at about one per day, unless magic is applied IIRC, but that costs a recovery test (essentially a daily use of healing surge).
 

Personally I am interested in some way of indicating actual wounds. This was yoinked from http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=4077110#post4077110 and looks good.
Mustrum_Ridcully said:
Addendum:
I can see as a possible house-rule for the more simulationist inclined that not all Healing Surges return each day, but instead only one per day. "Healing Surges left" now represent your lasting injuries. It's off course grittier, and you might want magical effects that replenish the "lost" surges.

Then added too
Jeff Wilder said:
Wow, I like that much better than my idea. Each critical hit you take and each hit you take that takes you below 0 subtracts 1 from your max number of healing surges. You can recover one of those for every X days of real rest.

This seems a good way in having a limited resource that can be drained by wounds with an in game disadvantage while at the same time not adding more modifiers to track.
 

Don't houserule until you know all rules. Otherwise its very likely that your houserule will somehow affect the system in a non intended (most of the time bad) way.
 

Derren said:
Don't houserule until you know all rules. Otherwise its very likely that your houserule will somehow affect the system in a non intended (most of the time bad) way.
I'm with Derren. Even though I myself proposed exactly that system, I think waiting to houserule even this seems wise; it may be that one can spend an action point to maim (instead of kill) a foe who would otherwise be sent into dying; in such a system, this houserule would be unnecessary and unwelcome.

However, I very rarely in 3e ran into players who spent more than 2 days injured, as they had enough per-day healing in the party to heal up to full on the first day and regain spells. The difference between regaining everything overnight and this is minor enough for my purposes that I'm willing to ignore the difference, cartoony as it may seem :)
 

Derren said:
Don't houserule until you know all rules. Otherwise its very likely that your houserule will somehow affect the system in a non intended (most of the time bad) way.

Hell just froze over (I agree with Derren) ;)
 

thank to all

I am not going to houserule if not after a lot of play, but I was addressing the fear of some friends about how bad was that character got perfectly well each day

I think that hp are a poor representation of ongoing wounds (or other long term illness) and I think this new edition will be very easy on adding such simple system to the core system :)

ps: by the way I got both 1st and 2nd edition earthdawn game in print :)
with well a gazzillion other rpg ;)

thanks again for the feedback!
 


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