D&D 4E Life Points - 4E Mechanic?

[reezel]

If you're talking about the demo at the grid (and I am guessing you are since I was there) I know the volunteer personally and am certain he was just misinformed.

 

[TerraDave]

My XP demo also had "life points". The DM pretty much ran things straight out of the rules set he had been given (though he made some small mistakes).

I am guessing Blackstaphs DM had the same ruleset.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Amen to that. When I hear about some of the different rules they had thought of for 3.0 and chose to discard, I was hoping for much the same thing back in those days.

--Steve

Yes, please. Would be great to get another UA-like tome.

Cheers, LT.

 

[MindWanderer]

One of my DDXP DMs did the same thing. Mechanically, the rule was identical to the final one, except that life points weren't recovered when you got healed. We got a lot closer to dying than we should have (I was one shot away from death by kobold minion).

I second the comment about delegates, though; I was at a demo on Saturday, and the DM made mistakes that any of use with the preview rules sheet could use to prove him wrong. It was horrible--I could have DMed that game much better than he did.

 

[Xethreau]

Honestly, to me Life Points sound almost identical to Negative HP, except less explanation needed and more usability. If this is in the final rule-set, that's fine by me, but if not, that's cool too.

 

[AZRogue]

I don't think I would necessarily like the Life Point mechanic as presented, but I sure would like SOME kind of variant in there. I like the more cinematic feel healing in 4E but I still want SOME way to cause wounding, long-lasting damage now and then. I really would have been all over a vitality/wound point system, but you can't have it all. Damn it, give me SOMETHING to lay a PC out for a month or two. Throw me a bone!

 

[deathdonut]

The idea seems actually pretty solid even if it's no longer in the rules.

I played a game with TWO healers and the potential for punching-bag-style tanking was definately there. A system like this is obviously meant to prevent exactly this where the fighter drops unconscious and is healed multiple times in the fight.

I'd assume that part of the reason life points were removed was for bookkeeping, but then...no one likes death or a technicality-style mechanic that causes it.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

It is my fervent hope that a few years down the road, we'll see a Fourth Edition version of Unearthed Arcana with all of the variant rules they considered. And with any luck, they'll only release the ones that worked, but changed the "feel" of the game in ways that made it not feel like D&D.

I hope so too. Or, if they make a 4e-ish version of d20 Modern, or some other non-D&D game based on 4e rules.

One of the podcasts (or maybe it was a blog) mentioned that they used on draft of non-random damage. The designers said that it worked great, and was really quick, but it didn't feel like D&D so they changed it. I'd love to see that rule.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I kind of like the mechanic described. I may give it a try.

 

[Khaalis]

I too would like to see some of the rules that got dropped from the "finalized" rule-set, if they make for an decent "alternative" for a specific type or feel of game. I am sure that the Core rules will have been tweaked for the most generally appealing rule-set. however, this Life Point mechanic sounds like it might actually be a solid rule for those that want a more grim & gritty type game. I hope they take the hint and do a 4E Unearthed Arcana.