Hit points as Action point currency?

[Naszir]

Wouldn't that be... when you ran out of hit points?

The hit points already impose a limit - if you run out of those, you *die* - not too many hard stops you can come up with than that. If you need a second limit, that suggests the first one is largely inoperative, and probably should be chucked.

Nope. I've seen a lot of people lift weights and not be able to lift one more time and not die.

If hit points are supposed to represent several different things then why couldn't this be one of them? Instead of only losing hit points because someone else does something to you why couldn't you lose hit points because of the amount of exertion you place on yourself?

 

[alms66]

You'd have to equalize hit points across all classes to make this work, no? Otherwise the Barbarian with his uber-hp total will be doing all the bad-ass stuff while the wizard sits down by a tree and reads a book for the duration of combat. It would also seem kind of "odd" IMO to still call them hit points if they can be used to do other "augmented" stuff...
Almost want to say call them Hero Points or something like that.

 

[Yesway Jose]

You'd have to equalize hit points across all classes to make this work, no? Otherwise the Barbarian with his uber-hp total will be doing all the bad-ass stuff while the wizard sits down by a tree and reads a book for the duration of combat.

I also wondered about that, and as Craaaaaazy Jerome suggested, either have a separate track of Hero Points which is equal for every class per level...

Or.... physical/martial actions require more hit points than magical actions. So a barbarian uses up 20 hit points to do a bad-ass maneuver. A wizard could spend 20 hp to do a bad-ass maneuver, but is more likely to spend 10 hit points to bolster a fireball. 10 hit points is nothing to a barbarian except he doesn't have magic. But a barbarian-mage gets tricky.

Or... you calculate 10% of the PC's hit points every time your PC gains a level and that's your hit point cost for that level.

 

[Naszir]

Not necessarily. The barbarians and the fighters are already getting dinged while they are in the thick of combat. The spellcasters should be trying to stay out of the thick of combat and hang back using some of their "hit points" to push their limits when the opportunity presents itself.

 

[Yesway Jose]

Not necessarily. The barbarians and the fighters are already getting dinged while they are in the thick of combat. The spellcasters should be trying to stay out of the thick of combat and hang back using some of their "hit points" to push their limits when the opportunity presents itself.

That would get rid of the predictable slow end of 4E combat. Instead of slowly chipping away at the last hit points of the enemies, you fuel up on hit point reserve and hit hard to finish the fight.

 

[TwoSix]

I'd rather play with a version that granted extra action points as hit points were reduced by damage. Something like . . . one at 1/4, another a 1/2, another at 3/4, another while stabilizing at under 0-hp but not dead yet.

Would incentivize playing without healing to full after every combat.
Would give melee types coolio things just for being the meet shield sucking up damage.
Would offer instant backup for spellcasters caught from behind.

Yep, I've been advocating a system like that for a while in 4e. Spend a healing surge, gain an action point. Stronger abilities are powered by action points.

I think it's fun to have a system that promotes the big stuff at the end of combat, rather than an Alpha Strike.

 

[frankthedm]

I'm curious.. why did that play out badly?

Thing is people sometimes have to be protected from themselves and When ALL resources get mixed into one pool, HP, there are fewer safety measures. Players who don't like endangering their characters / don't like their characters being 'flawed' don't use their powers and those who fling their powers recklessly get killed & blame the system or the GM. Also GM's can't reduce lethality levels without making things too easy because those lethality levels are what keep powers in check.

 

[CuRoi]

I've been toying with a similar idea for HPs. I agree with many posters that it would be a very bad idea to tie HPs to powers you might use on a regular basis. Kill your PC to use your special abilities is just a dumb idea. In my version, I'm considering granting Fighters an ability to burn some hit points to shake off a condition (like Fatigue, Blindness, Entangled, etc. etc.). Makes fighters less suceptible to those save or suck effects where say some Wizard casts fear and they spend 5 rounds running full speed away from the fight, but they still have to pay a price to be free of it.