Half hp, 2/3 XP

[S'mon]

I'm looking at using "Half hp, 2/3 XP" in my upcoming campaign for a lot of NPCs - I'm hoping it will reduce grind while maintaining play balance - ie 2 regular monsters become 3 with half hp; a solo with 1/2 hp is likely backed up by some minions, etc.

Anyone tried this? Think it's about right?

 

[Starfox]

I tried it and posted about it here: My Grind Fix: Half hp, 2/3 Xp . A new thread is fine; the old one is pretty much dead.

Been using it since new year, approximately, and it worked out fine so far. I did a revert to the old system for a while and found it pretty grindy and combats less than challenging.

What it does is not really to help either side, but to make combat more lethal to both sides. Of course, the PCs are still likely to win, but because the monsters outnumber them more at the beginning of the fight, things get hairier.

My fighter claimed it made defenders less relevant. It might. It also makes controllers more relevant.

 

[S'mon]

Thanks - if it makes combat more lethal; I guess using fewer foes per combat (eg just 5, with 1/2 hp, not 7-8) would be the way to go; plus they take less time so you can have more per session.

 

[S'mon]

My fighter claimed it made defenders less relevant. It might. It also makes controllers more relevant.

I am also using a house rule that a shift away from attacker(s) combined with a ranged or area attack provokes an opportunity attack from them, if they attacked you last round. This will favour defenders and melee strikers.

 

[eriktheguy]

You might also consider this.
3/4 hps, +1/2 level damage working nicely
While your suggestion uses more monsters to increase the damage, this suggestion is a bit less bookkeeping. With the same number of monsters, but more damage, combat will probably be shorter.
I can easily see myself using all three of these: Normal combat, decreased HP/more damage, decreased HP/more monsters. Some fights will seem overwhelming, some will seem more dangerous, some will be more grindy (occasionally a long fight might make the leader feel more useful, moving everyone around and healing them before they get too injured). I think DMG2 should include 'battle templates' such as the one suggested in this thread to improve the flow/variety of combat.

 

[BobTheNob]

Lol.

Since we have started, I havent even looked at XP. Its about as interesting to me as bookkeeping! (Im sure if I was an accountant, allocating XP would be interesting....)

We do level ups at milestones in the core storyline. Thats all. Generally about level and a half every 2 months playing once a week. Actually real quick advancement.