D&D 5E Less killing

[Shiroiken]

What if

• most enemies stopped attacking after half damage, and tried to reach safety instead
• most opponents swoon or cower after 3/4 damage

This is why 5E needs functional morale rules. The simple one from BECMI (2d6) or the more complicated one from 2E (2d10) would work great. Morale checks allow a reasonable chance for enemies, and NPC allies, to break from combat and either flee or surrender. Almost nothing should fight to the death, and PCs generally only do it because there's so many ways for them to either avoid death, or come back from it.

 

[Rune]

The body count in D&D really bums me out, especially when it comes to my players (my kids).

The kill count of an adventurer who makes it to level 20 is only one seen by a small number of machine gun operators in modern times. Soldiers who kill in war have high incidence of PTSD and other mental illness. I have a hard time getting away from that idea that this Robocop II level bodycount really makes the game bleak and sad.

What if

• most enemies stopped attacking after half damage, and tried to reach safety instead

In my experience, fleeing enemies are usually dead enemies. It still happens from time to time, but not if they know and understand the PCs’ reputation.

• when you take half your hit points worth of damage you get a level of exhaustion
• when you come back from zero hit points you have a level of exhaustion

If these are meant to disincentivize fighting it might work, but I recommend incentives, instead. Or at least additionally.

First of all, most enemies must be willing to work things out non- (or less-) violently with the PCs. And this needs to be telegraphed to the players. If they don’t know it’s the case, it might as well not be.

Second, the enemies have to offer the PCs (or players) something of value through their existence.

This need not be tangible. For instance, if the PCs initially fight them, they could visibly gain respect for the PCs during fight and may even become friendly by the end. Future interactions would likely not involve any fighting at all, except for fun.

• most opponents swoon or cower after 3/4 damage

Much easier to just make damage non-lethal. Saturday morning cartoon conventions.

• if you have killed a person, on a long rest you had to make a flat d20 roll and beat 10+ the number of people you killed or your rest doesn't clear any exhaustion

I don’t see why you should only be bothered by the kills of the day. Or is that meant to be cumulative over a lifetime? In which case, the campaign will probably end pretty quickly. Exhaustion gets pretty bad as it stacks up.

Also, what counts as a person?

question: does that just ruin D&D or could it still be fun?

My experience is that punitive measures usually do bend the game toward unfun, but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case, perhaps.

If I were trying to steer players away from (lethal) violence, I’d prefer to look for carrots to offer (as indicated above), but I might also keep a stick in my back pocket.

For me, that stick would probably be in the form of an uncontrollable growing bad reputation that is rooted in the truth of the PCs’ actions (but need not adhere to truth, of course).

 

[Eltab]

The original Pokemon games came as a pleasant surprise in my house when we clobbered a wild Pokemon and the screen said "Enemy fainted" instead of "Enemy died". Come up with a simple mechanic to give NPCs "Death Saves" and 0 HP turns into 'fainted' or 'knocked out' or 'surrenders' not 'dead'.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Yeah, make it mean “defeated” instead.

That's how I play RPGs with my children, who are 5 and 8. Even with spiders and skeletons and the like, we say "defeated" not "killed". And I'll make human opponents run off into the night, or surrender and promise to leave.

 

[ad_hoc]

Do you have the Wild Beyond the Witchlight adventure?

Apparently it was written to be able to be completed without combat if that is what the players want.

Even if you don't want to run it I'm sure there are ideas in it you could use.

 

[Tonguez]

The body count in D&D really bums me out, especially when it comes to my players (my kids).

The kill count of an adventurer who makes it to level 20 is only one seen by a small number of machine gun operators in modern times. Soldiers who kill in war have high incidence of PTSD and other mental illness. I have a hard time getting away from that idea that this Robocop II level bodycount really makes the game bleak and sad.

What if

• most enemies stopped attacking after half damage, and tried to reach safety instead
• when you take half your hit points worth of damage you get a level of exhaustion
• when you come back from zero hit points you have a level of exhaustion
• most opponents swoon or cower after 3/4 damage
• if you have killed a person, on a long rest you had to make a flat d20 roll and beat 10+ the number of people you killed or your rest doesn't clear any exhaustion

?

question: does that just ruin D&D or could it still be fun?

I always assume that most monsters want to live - and thus choose to run away rather than fight
0 HP means defeated, it doesnt need to mean dead

beating a challenge doesnt always require combat - allowing PCs do overcome opponents via skills (stealth, persuasion etc) should be encouraged too

 

[Malmuria]

In No Thank You Evil, going to 0hp just means your are "conked out."
You could also use some morale rules. Enemies have a morale score between 2-12, you roll 2d6 and if you roll higher than their score they flee.
Maybe you could play up the combat mini-game as part of the narrative? Like, combat would essentially be a kind of dance-off and whoever wins gets to decide what happens next

 

[Ancalagon]

Yes, I agree 100%, morale rules should be brought back. Apart from mindless creatures, and perhaps undead who don't fear death (and may desire it), the great majority of being will not fight to the death in most circumstances.

It particularly bothers me when the monster is a predator looking for food - they don't want to get injured, they want to eat.

 

[TarionzCousin]

The body count in D&D really bums me out, especially when it comes to my players (my kids).

Supposedly The Wild Beyond the Witchlight can be run entirely without combat. See ENWorld's review here: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: An In-Depth Review

 

[Raith5]

I dont know - my kids destroyed a lot of skeletons, creepers etc when they play minecraft! They know that is not real and its escapism - but man I would like see their enthusiasm for dispatching those critters translate into other things like homework.

But I certainly agree that I like gaming with creative non combat options, things like puzzles and social encounters. I think the 1e adventure UK1 Beyond the Crystal Cave was a good option back in the day.