D&D 5E Lingering Wounds

[bleezy]

Has anyone used the lingering wounds rules from the DMG? I wanted to use this for an upcoming campaign, but I can't decide when to call for a roll on the lingering wounds table. If players roll when they drop to zero HP, most of the lingering wounds won't matter because they disappear after magical healing is received (which is what usually brings character back to 1 HP). If players roll when they take a critical hit, I feel like it would feel arbitrary and there would be nothing a PC could do to prevent getting his arm chopped off. Plus, crits would bias lingering wounds towards fighting large numbers of enemies. The alternative would be to roll for wounds when a PC takes more than half his health in damage, but that would bias fighting single powerful enemies over mobs of weaker enemies, and would also limit players ability to keep their characters safe from dismemberment.


As anyone used these rules and had any success?

 

[Inchoroi]

I use them. Love them, but I do tweak the times that they come up.

After talking to a doctor friend of mine, I settled on the following:

* When a creature takes a critical hit, the attacking creature rolls 1d20; on an 11-20, the target takes a lingering injury.

* When a creature drops to 0 hit points but isn't killed outright, the attacking creature rolls 1d20; on an 11-20, the target takes a lingering injury.

* When a creature rolls a natural 1 on a saving throw against a trap or magical effect, the DM rolls 1d20; on an 11-20, the triggering creature or creatures take a lingering injury.

* When a creature fails a death saving throw by 5 or more, or automatically fails a death saving throw for any reason, they take a lingering injury.


The above means that they don't come up very often; only twice so far to PCs, and once to a monster. One PC got hit in the lung by a spear and the lung collapsed (internal injury), and the other was permanently disfigured. However, in a moment that made the party shout with glee, the barbarian lopped off the leg of the boss they were fighting. He said he was going for the leg, and fate decided that the leg was going to go away. That was the turning point in the fight, which they were losing.



I will say that not all DMs and, especially important, players like lingering injuries--I've got a few players that are like that, and my DM (#ohgodi'maplayerforonce) hates them. It's important to ask your players if they're comfortable with them, because you don't want a player to get angry and ragequit when your monster inevitably lops off the PC's arm, rendering their pet character mostly ineffective.

 

[Geoarrge]

Those are good rules. The system I've considered is very simplified: If you're dropped to zero HP, roll your first death saving throw immediately rather than at the start of your turn (it still counts for your whole turn so it does not shorten the time frame for death saves). If you fail, roll for a lingering injury.

 

[solabusca]

I use something similar to Fatigue from Savage Worlds - we have a built in mechanism with Exhaustion. So every time you take a crit OR drop to zero, you have to make a Con saving throw of 10 (or half the damage from the blow, whichever is higher) or take a level of Exhaustion. After consulting with the players, I chose to let it be recovered through the normal means (rest, primarily).

 

[darius0]

I use them but tweak them in 2 ways: 1) I have them roll 2d20 and take the higest, making the most severe effects only happening like 1% of the time instead of like 5%. 2) If they are wearing armor; I let them take a point off the armor temporarily to negate the lingering wound effect.

 

[werecorpse]

I use a homebrew version that doesn't take effect during combat (to avoid a death spiral) and represents ongoing issues of sustained combat wearing the players down (especially as hp and spells etc replenish so easily and quickly)

 

[LapBandit]

If you are reduced to 0 HP you take a level of Exhaustion. The damage roll that dropped you to zero determines how severe your Injury is. Less than one HD no injury, each successive HD worth of damage moves you to a new more brutal Injury table.

 

[bleezy]

I use them but tweak them in 2 ways: 1) I have them roll 2d20 and take the higest, making the most severe effects only happening like 1% of the time instead of like 5%. 2) If they are wearing armor; I let them take a point off the armor temporarily to negate the lingering wound effect.

I like this idea. I might have them roll 1d20 when they are dropped to 0 hp and 2d20 when they take a critical hit.

 

[darjr]

I've used them as is. And it does sometimes seem like a waste with magical healing. But the chance of getting something worse is cool. One PCs face was horribly scarred and it wasn't easily fixed. The players character used a mask so he could hide it.

 

[LarryD]

I've tweaked them - added a Concussion injury, primarily - and we enjoy using them. It's added a lot of flavor to the game. The table works both ways.

(we also use a Fumble table for critical misses. One player runs a Ranger who always seems to break a bowstring every other session. Got to the point where she carries a spare bow)