Lets talk Massive Damage

[vrock]

I'm going to be starting up a new game soon, Red Hand of Doom to be specific and there has been a call from my players for some sort of massive damage rule to add to the realism. I know d20 has a 50hp threshold and d20 Modern has your Con score as the threshold, I'm looking for something in between. We've tossed around a few ideas like Con+level (or HD), 20+con bonus with a save of DC10+damage over threshold, and a few others. All have their drawbacks, and the possibility of a quick TPK, with the upside of quickly laying waste to high HP monsters. But none of us have used anything like this in a mid to high level game.

I know some of you have house rules for massive damage, so I'm just looking for rules that have worked, and what hasn't worked. The goal here is to add a touch of realism to the game so that there is a possibility of going down from a 50ft fall, getting crushed by a boulder, or torched by a dragon.

 

[EricNoah]

In my AU game I did CON as the threshold, with a Fort save = to damage dealt. However, crossing that threshold caused a Mobility Injury (1/2 movement rate, -2 to attacks, concentration check to cast spells), not death. Was nice to see hurt PCs limping around the battlefield once in a while.

 

[Deekin]

Read this, from the hypertext srd

 

[Mark CMG]

Double the Con or Double the Con plus level should keep everyone below the massive damage 50hp threshold but would be considerably better than just Con. Plus, it's simple enough to handle quickly.

 

[el-remmen]

This looks like a house rule discussion. . .

/waves magic mod wand. .

 

[Pbartender]

I'm going to be starting up a new game soon, Red Hand of Doom to be specific and there has been a call from my players for some sort of massive damage rule to add to the realism. I know d20 has a 50hp threshold and d20 Modern has your Con score as the threshold, I'm looking for something in between. We've tossed around a few ideas like Con+level (or HD), 20+con bonus with a save of DC10+damage over threshold, and a few others. All have their drawbacks, and the possibility of a quick TPK, with the upside of quickly laying waste to high HP monsters. But none of us have used anything like this in a mid to high level game.

I know some of you have house rules for massive damage, so I'm just looking for rules that have worked, and what hasn't worked. The goal here is to add a touch of realism to the game so that there is a possibility of going down from a 50ft fall, getting crushed by a boulder, or torched by a dragon.

A word of advice from someone who is currently playing in RHoD, and is about halfway through it (or so our DM says)...

The adventure is deadly enough as is. Changing the massive damage rules to be more "realistic" (read: deadlier), will hurt the players in this advanture far more than it will hurt the bad guys.

As is, we've had one character death, and several close calls (one close call was, in fact, from falling down a 200 ft. gorge into a river). If we'd been using any of the massive damage houserules you suggest, it's very likely that would have had a dozen or more characters deaths by now. No joke. This module does not go easy on players, and it's already deadly to those who aren't paying attention. With house rules like this your players are likely to be making massive damage saves multiple times in every combat.

Just thought I'd give you fair warning.

 

[Master of the Game]

We use Con as the threshold, with the Fort save at 10+1/2 damage. Fail that and you're injured (-2 to attacks and skill rolls or -10' to movement). Fail by 5 and you are seriously injured (broken arm/leg). Fail by 10 and you are mortally injured (reduced to -1 and bleeding to death).

It works great for us, but we tend to discourage random violence and attacking when we don't have the edge. Our characters also started off pretty powerful.

Oh, and we use armor as DR, so most damage doesn't actually hit the threshold in the first place.

 

[Pyrex]

Instead of MassiveDamage=Death, why not a penalty?

Say something like WoundThreshold=ConMod+(Level*2); each Wound inflicts a cumulative -1 penalty to checks (similar to a negative level).

 

[Flynn]

I use GT's standard: Massive Damage Threshold = Con, and you must make a Fort Save (DC 15) or you are Dying (not Dead).

It works great,
Flynn

 

[DungeonMaester]

I use Half the character's hp (single blow) as massive damage and changed the static 15 to 10+ 14/ hp (rounded up) which makes saves always hard but never impossible.

---Rusty