D&D General Gritty: A Simple Wounds & Death Houserule

[FitzTheRuke]

Then make it a damage threshold. As an example, 30+ damage from a crit and you get a wound. By specifying that it has to be a crit, it keeps high, but normal damage rolls from causing it.

@FitzTheRuke, does magical healing remove wounds? Regeneration?

I've waffled on that a bit. I've got one version where Cure Wounds does what's on the tin: It cures a single Wound (but doesn't give any HP at all). I've got one where it does both.*

I haven't fully decided what I prefer yet - though I'm leaning toward bandages and the medicine skill, as I mentioned above, which perhaps magic enhancing natural skills, but not replacing them. But that's for a much bigger project than this. I really want to try to keep each piece that I'm playing around with require as little as possible from other pieces, so that you could adopt one at a time (such as just my equipment or just my skills list) without changing D&D by much, or you could take 'em all, at which point it would look like a different game.

'* Certainly, I think at least the Wounded condition (if not the Wound itself) should be removed with 5 points worth of Lay on Hands.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I had one that involved crits as well, but it was more loss of limbs and bleeding than anything. You rolled a d20 and if you got a 18-20 then you rolled again and got an injury and a scar. The worst was the internal bleed if you got a 20. You had to have a medic heal it and it did 1d4 of bleed dmg per round, and it scaled with their levels. Outside of my sadist player, no one liked it and I had to scrap it after a few sessions. I was sad. Anyway, I like what you have there. It looks like it would work well.

I like that sort of stuff, too - but I find that it's not popular. One of the things I was trying for is to find something that players could live with (by which I mean, accept and carry on adventuring). I found in 5.0e that anything more than a single level of Exhaustion usually had players giving up moving forward. I certainly never saw anyone get too far down the Exhaustion track without quitting for the day.

It's one of the reasons that I didn't tie it to Exhaustion. 5.5 Exhaustion is better (-2 to d20 Tests per Exhaustion Level). But they still gotta do two things: Remember to apply it, AND be willing to play with -4 or more to every check. I honestly don't know too many people who will. I mean, look at some of the push-back I get for a chance that you don't get to move as well as act in a turn (Okay, I posted that as the default, but I really meant for the Save to be involved, I just left that as optional for those that don't think it's otherwise enough).

 

[Stalker0]

My thoughts:

Overall I like a lot of what you have here, but just a few areas I have concerns on.

1) Crit = Wound. So in the d20 star wars they had a mechanism like this where you could bypass the standard hitpoints and get right to the wounds on a critical hit. It is by far the WORST part of that system, as you got to the point where damage stopped mattering as much as just getting critical hits.

Hitpoints exist for a reason, being able to just bypass that mechanic has to be taken with the utmost care. I have zero issues with these notions of wounds at 0 hp. I can also respect it with like a coup de grace when your paralyzed. But just any old crit...its too much.

2) Wounded = No movement. Others have already pointed this out but you are penalizing melee characters or spellcaster/ranged characters much more. Even if they can pass the save easier (which is no guarrantee plenty of spellcasters have excellent con saves), its just not great to introduce that imbalance.

Further, one of the major improvements in 5e to me was the ability to move and attack and move again. The flexibility of movement hugely increased the flow of the game. I might recommend a half speed kind of thing or something, but I wouldn't remove movement entirely.

 

[Lanefan]

My thoughts:

Overall I like a lot of what you have here, but just a few areas I have concerns on.

1) Crit = Wound. So in the d20 star wars they had a mechanism like this where you could bypass the standard hitpoints and get right to the wounds on a critical hit. It is by far the WORST part of that system, as you got to the point where damage stopped mattering as much as just getting critical hits.

Hitpoints exist for a reason, being able to just bypass that mechanic has to be taken with the utmost care. I have zero issues with these notions of wounds at 0 hp. I can also respect it with like a coup de grace when your paralyzed. But just any old crit...its too much.

One of the problems with 5e is that there's just not enough of anything that can bypass all those bags of hit points. If there were more things that directly bypassed hit points (e.g. save or die, save or suck, etc.), then your points here would hold water. As it stands, though, this is much needed. One way to mitigate it, though, might be that on a potential crit you roll to confirm: if the confirm roll succeeds only then does a Wound occur, and if it fails it's a crit as normal.

The Star Wars system overdid it on effects that bypassed Vitality Points and went straight to Wound Points.

2) Wounded = No movement. Others have already pointed this out but you are penalizing melee characters or spellcaster/ranged characters much more. Even if they can pass the save easier (which is no guarrantee plenty of spellcasters have excellent con saves), its just not great to introduce that imbalance.

Further, one of the major improvements in 5e to me was the ability to move and attack and move again. The flexibility of movement hugely increased the flow of the game. I might recommend a half speed kind of thing or something, but I wouldn't remove movement entirely.

To the bolded: if that's the characters you're penalizing then who aren't you penalizing? Or are there some words missing in that sentence?

The whole idea of being Wounded, I think, is that you're well on your way to dead. You're not going anywhere without help. I'd have it that you're not casting spells either, and firing/throwing missiles would be done at a massive penalty - if doable at all - and high risk of self-damaging fumble.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Maybe just reduce movement by half or by 10 feet when wounded. There are a lot of effects that already do this.

 

[Stalker0]

One of the problems with 5e is that there's just not enough of anything that can bypass all those bags of hit points. If there were more things that directly bypassed hit points (e.g. save or die, save or suck, etc.), then your points here would hold water.

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There are plenty of conditions and spells that carry them as well as far juicier things: From mind control to paralysis to being banished to another plane. Take your pick.

 

[Scott Christian]

I find the problem with all of this is it seems like a good idea until there are three hours left in the session and half the party is wounded, but the PCs still have a couple of battles left before long resting. I can see it working fine if you only have one or two encounters per long rest. But, as fun as what it all sounds, and as "gritty" as what it all seems, I have found players want to be able to do all their cool stuff during a fight. This is especially true when everyone else is already doing their cool stuff.

 

[Lanefan]

I find the problem with all of this is it seems like a good idea until there are three hours left in the session and half the party is wounded, but the PCs still have a couple of battles left before long resting.

Which leaves them with a choice: risk resting now and leave those battles until tomorrow when the foes have had time to prepare, or push on at less than full strength in hopes of catching them unprepared now.

Forcing tough choices like this is exactly what I want from a grittier system.

I have found players want to be able to do all their cool stuff during a fight. This is especially true when everyone else is already doing their cool stuff.

Yeah, sorry, no sympathy from here. Sometimes you're the star, other times you're a sidekick and someone else is the star.

 

[Li Shenron]

Being Wounded: When a creature scores a critical hit against you, or you drop to zero hit points, you gain 1 Wound and the Wounded condition. You also gain a Wound each time you take damage while at zero hit points. (Optional: You are also Wounded when you roll a 1 on a saving throw against a source of damage).

Wounded condition: While wounded, you can take an Action or a Bonus Action on your turn, not both, and you cannot move unless you use your Action to Dash. You cannot take Reactions. (Optional: You can roll a dc15 CON Save at the start o your turn to ignore this condition.)

Dying: You die when you have 5 Wounds. (Optional: When you receive a Wound, roll 1d6: 1) Leg, either. 2) "Sword" Arm. 3) "Shield" Arm. 4) Torso. 5) Groin. 6) Head. Roleplay the result.) Note: Sword & Shield are just a fancy way of saying Left & Right, or Dominate & Non-dominate.

Falling Unconscious: While Wounded, you can choose to fall Unconscious. If you do, you are generally expected to be "Left for Dead" by hostile creatures. You cannot be woken by healing (though it may still save your life) for at least 1 minute. If nothing wakes you after 1 minute, you awaken after 1 hour. Note: You are meant to be simply "out of the fight", and the DM should "leave you alone", except in situations where it makes dramatic sense not to, such as hungry zombies or a burning building. Getting your body out can be fun for the other players.

A creature can tend to their own or another creature's wounds by using a Healer's Kit and making a dc10 WIS Medicine check as an Action. This removes the Wounded condition caused by the current wounds but not the accumulated Wounds themselves. (Optional: Working on yourself is harder. It's a dc15 WIS Medicine check).

Rest: You remove 1 Wound on a Long Rest. (Optional: You remove 2 Wounds if you are under the care of a creature proficient in the Medicine Skill, or if you Convalesce for 24 hours along with your Long Rest).

Feel free to hit me with questions or condemnations!

I would only remove the "wounds on a critical" (or natural 1 on ST) part, so that this system would be relevant only to when dropping below 0 hit points.

Because otherwise it kicks in too often against the players, and criticals are already strong enough.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I would only remove the "wounds on a critical" (or natural 1 on ST) part, so that this system would be relevant only to when dropping below 0 hit points.

Because otherwise it kicks in too often against the players, and criticals are already strong enough.

Man, I swear all of you who've mentioned it must roll a lot more criticals than I do while DMing, or take more while playing. I would expect it to come up now and then, but hardly to be "punishing".

Of course, I will take your suggestion to heart anyhow, and I'll see if you're right while testing it.