Grim Tales + VP/WP, do they play well together?

[GlassJaw]

I posted about this in the main forum but I figure it's more directed to Grim Tales so I figured I'd post here.

I've been reading some things from various sources and trying to decide on a hit point/injury system for the low-magic campaign I'm working on. I've never used a VP/WP system before.

Basically, I'm looking for a system that is fast and easy to use, allows for no or very little magical healing, uses a massive damage rule, and doesn't make crits too powerful.

My main concern with the VP/WP system is that it adds more complexity than I want (fatigue after taking WP dmg, changing of the crit system, two types of dmg to heal, etc) and it also makes crits very deadly. While I want a gritty system, I also want the PC's to be somewhat heroic and not fear combat completely.

For massive damage, I was thinking of using the Unearthed Arcana variant of Con + 2 per HD.

I was also tossing around the idea of armor converting some damage to subdual but wearing armor puts a limit on your defense bonus equal to the max Dex. So wearing hide armor would give a +3 AC bonus and convert 3 points of lethal damage to nonlethal but it would also cap your defense bonus at +4.

Thoughts?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I was also tossing around the idea of armor converting some damage to subdual but wearing armor puts a limit on your defense bonus equal to the max Dex. So wearing hide armor would give a +3 AC bonus and convert 3 points of lethal damage to nonlethal but it would also cap your defense bonus at +4.

Sounds reasonable to me.

From a designer's perspective, with a focus on playability, I think hit points do the job better than VP/WP; they just play faster and better overall if it's a pulpy (as opposed to realistic) feel you're gaming for.

Wulf

 

[GlassJaw]

just play faster and better overall

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Plus, the armor rules I'm thinking about will add enough "complexity" and I don't think I want to slow down combat anymore.

By the way Wulf, on an unrelated note, in the Action Points section, it refers to a "strike true" combat action that you can execture with an AP. I can't find the rules for it in the Combat chapter.

 

[Zoatebix]

That refers to "Heroic Strike" on page 110 - second column.