Starfox
Hero
You want a gritty game and they have 3 defenders? Forget about the healer!
Gritty effects from damage
- Thread starter Zaran
- Start date
You want a gritty game and they have 3 defenders? Forget about the healer!
bardolph
First Post
How about this?
Whenever a character drops to 0 hp, let them immediately take an "injury" to recover hp equal to their healing surge value. This would not consume a healing surge.
When injured, the PC immediately becomes Dazed (save ends), and takes an additional adverse effect, determined by the DM:
Also, the PC has their maximum healing surge value reduced by one.
Then treat the injury like a disease, where the "final state" means that the injury doesn't heal properly and the effect becomes permanent.
Of course, the injury can be removed with a "cure injury" ritual or some such.
I think there's a thread somewhere on these boards with a "Wound System" write-up.
Whenever a character drops to 0 hp, let them immediately take an "injury" to recover hp equal to their healing surge value. This would not consume a healing surge.
When injured, the PC immediately becomes Dazed (save ends), and takes an additional adverse effect, determined by the DM:
- Slowed. Appropriate for a leg injury.
- -2 to all attacks. Appropriate for an arm injury.
- -2 to all defenses. Appropriate for a head/vitals injury.
Also, the PC has their maximum healing surge value reduced by one.
Then treat the injury like a disease, where the "final state" means that the injury doesn't heal properly and the effect becomes permanent.
Of course, the injury can be removed with a "cure injury" ritual or some such.
I think there's a thread somewhere on these boards with a "Wound System" write-up.
eriktheguy
First Post
Keep in mind that a fighter with 32HP and 10 surges doesn't have 32 life, she has 112 life, but only access to 32 of it at a time. Think of running. You could probably run for more than an hour a day, but only for 10 minutes at a time.
In my fights, bloodied is what happens when you get hit ONCE, one bludgeon, one gash etc. Any hit points you lose before bloodied are minor scrapes/bruises, lucky or exhausting dodges, all the things you can imagine a player uses to mitigate damage. As the fight goes on you get tired, use up your luck, your adrenaline wears off, this is damage. You get two major hits before you are down (bloodied, then dying).
I would not give out penalties for bloodied, since this heavily nerfs any build that uses bloodied to its advantage. You could implement an injury system for characters that are dying, or if they actually die in a combat (after failing three death saves, they are out of commission for at least an extended rest, and they sustain an injury, instead of death).
Remember that some players do not like injuries, it feels like their characters potential has been permanently lowered!
Either make the injury temporary, give them a way to get rid of it, or get them to agree to accepting the injury (for example, instead of dieing.)
In my fights, bloodied is what happens when you get hit ONCE, one bludgeon, one gash etc. Any hit points you lose before bloodied are minor scrapes/bruises, lucky or exhausting dodges, all the things you can imagine a player uses to mitigate damage. As the fight goes on you get tired, use up your luck, your adrenaline wears off, this is damage. You get two major hits before you are down (bloodied, then dying).
I would not give out penalties for bloodied, since this heavily nerfs any build that uses bloodied to its advantage. You could implement an injury system for characters that are dying, or if they actually die in a combat (after failing three death saves, they are out of commission for at least an extended rest, and they sustain an injury, instead of death).
Remember that some players do not like injuries, it feels like their characters potential has been permanently lowered!
Either make the injury temporary, give them a way to get rid of it, or get them to agree to accepting the injury (for example, instead of dieing.)
Zaran
Adventurer
Yeah I've been convinced that injuries at bloodied is too much. And I wouldn't give any kind of permanent mechanical penalty to the players. This would be something that lasts for amount of time but finally heals . Or be healed faster with a ritual. What I do want to avoid is the effect of players immediately going into an extended rest at 8 oclock in the morning so they can heal away that injury. I'm starting to think along the ideas of a week before the injury goes away. Although character building injuries like losing an eye or getting a nasty scar I wouldn't give any kind of in game penalty past the week.
Just tossed this at my players, Zaran, after narrowly avoiding a TPK.
What I decided to go with was:
- The character who hit exactly zero hit points and made her first save, no lasting effect.
- The character who went negative past his Healing Surge value, I offered a negotiated injury to; he's still debating it.
- The character who actually failed 3 saving throws, I offered the choice of
a.) A negotiated injury, permanent until / unless magically removed
b.) Death followed by Raise Dead and its usual penalties
c.) Death followed by reincarnation with a racial change (undead, deva, etc)
d.) Permanent death
I think she's taking a.), with a Scarred mechanic I offered along the lines of: -2 Bluff, -2 Diplomacy, +2 Intimidate.
Just for your calibration .. not sure how often your characters run to-or-below zero.
I think I'll give her the option of removing the "game mechanic" effects of the scar while keeping the "character" element after a game week has passed.
What I decided to go with was:
- The character who hit exactly zero hit points and made her first save, no lasting effect.
- The character who went negative past his Healing Surge value, I offered a negotiated injury to; he's still debating it.
- The character who actually failed 3 saving throws, I offered the choice of
a.) A negotiated injury, permanent until / unless magically removed
b.) Death followed by Raise Dead and its usual penalties
c.) Death followed by reincarnation with a racial change (undead, deva, etc)
d.) Permanent death
I think she's taking a.), with a Scarred mechanic I offered along the lines of: -2 Bluff, -2 Diplomacy, +2 Intimidate.
Just for your calibration .. not sure how often your characters run to-or-below zero.
I think I'll give her the option of removing the "game mechanic" effects of the scar while keeping the "character" element after a game week has passed.
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