Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="dkyle" data-source="post: 5880039" data-attributes="member: 70707">An idea for some subtle changes from the 4E mechanics, that I think could lend a bit more concreteness, without significantly changing how the game plays:At Half, Quarter, and Zero HP, if a character is not already Wounded, he becomes Wounded.  Wounded would be a lot like Bloodied, and by default, would have no inherent effects.  But many other things could trigger off it.  However, the big difference from Bloodied would be that simply raising HP would not remove Wounded.  An effect would have to specifically state that it removes Wounded, for it to go away.  For example, Cure Light Wounds would remove Wounded, in addition to healing, while a Cleric might have a more frequently usable Healing Word that is solely HP recovery.  A Warlord might have just as much HP recovery as a Cleric, but have better party buffs, in place of being able to remove Wounded.In addition, at Zero HP, a character becomes Incapacitated.  An Incapacitated character takes no actions, cannot regain HP, and makes 4E-style death saving throws unless stabilized as a Standard Action.  It would require specific effects to remove that status, and get them back on their feet.  For example, Cure Critical Wounds might remove Incapacitated, Wounded, and heal some HP.  A high level Warlord might get a "Walking Wounded" ability that removes Incapacitated and recovers some HP, but imposes some penalties.This way, the game can be clear in describing that HP are mostly intangible, and do not, themselves, represent injuries any more serious than some minor cuts and bruises (and HP recovery does not necessarily represent actual healing of injuries; "healing" a scrape could just be ignoring the pain).  Wounded and Incapacitated would represent serious injuries, and act like it.  They would take a while to recover from, unless magic is used.  But, it shouldn't be such a major change that combat works a lot differently.There could be some options to accommodate different styles:1. For grittier games, Wounded might have inherent penalties (say, -1 to attacks and skill checks).  Grittier still, the wounds taken at half, quarter, and zero might be tracked individually, and stack up.2. For looser games, just use the 4E Blooded/negative-HP rules, and effects that deal with Wounded creatures would just apply to Bloodied creatures instead.</blockquote>

Verification