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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5959267" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>[MENTION=11300]Herremann the Wise[/MENTION], that's a nicely detailed wound/vitality system. I think you're right that by separating the two pools, and not treating them as layers, you get a degree of flexibility that a "tiers" system lacks.</p><p></p><p>I don't know how Star Wars d20 handled it, but in Roger Musson's original version, if you were at x% wound points, you couldn't have more than x% hit points. Your system doesn't have that linkage, which let's you handle cases like hit point heals even after suffering a wound.</p><p></p><p>I think it's interesting that the two places where I think I can apply the greatest pressure involve death/dying - the second example, where you suggest the "three saves" technique as the basis for a dial, and the third example, where you suggest inspiration "healing" used to raise the incapacitated limit, and even temporarily raise the dead limit.</p><p></p><p>Would it support my preferred style? It's hard to say. It's not fatal to it, but there are things I think it can't do. For example, if a PC falls, and is making death saves, currently in 4e the participants at the table don't know what will happen. There is suspense for them, just as there is suspense for the PCs in the fiction, who don't know yet what their comrade's fate is. And the players also have resources - healing powers, potions, etc - that they can expend to resolve the issue one particular way - so resolution is connected to the exercise of player agency.</p><p></p><p>In your system it seems we do know what's happening, don't we? The PC is badly wounded (this is what "incapacitated" means in your system - you can't be incapacitated just by psychic damage or exhaustion). Mere inspiration can't revive him/her (because s/he has to be conscious to be inspired - no Inspiring Word narrated as a memory or dream). The suspense is operational suspense - will/won't we save the PC - but not plot suspense - what has happened to him/her?</p><p></p><p>More generally, I guess I feel - if you're going to have this level of detail in your wound system, why not go to active defence (a la RQ, RM or BW) and then use fate points etc to faciliate that? Or to put it another way - I'm not sure I get the rationale for keeping such a non-simulationist mechanic as hit points around, once you've gone for this level of simulation on the wounds side.</p><p></p><p>If the answer is "because we want to keep D&D more or less as it is, but add in more precision on the wounds side", that's fine, but then I'm not sure why we want precise wounds. And if we are to have them, I'm not sure that I'd do them as points - maybe they'd work better as effects/conditions.</p><p></p><p>I guess the short version is: if D&Dnext worked like this, I wouldn't be sure what it was offering me that I can't get either from 4e (for gonzo, including the inpsirational recovery from apparent death stuff) or Burning Wheel (for gritty with Fate Points to mitigate). That's not a criticism of your system, which is nicely worked out. It's just a reflection of where I'm at with my RPGing preferences.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5959267, member: 42582"] [MENTION=11300]Herremann the Wise[/MENTION], that's a nicely detailed wound/vitality system. I think you're right that by separating the two pools, and not treating them as layers, you get a degree of flexibility that a "tiers" system lacks. I don't know how Star Wars d20 handled it, but in Roger Musson's original version, if you were at x% wound points, you couldn't have more than x% hit points. Your system doesn't have that linkage, which let's you handle cases like hit point heals even after suffering a wound. I think it's interesting that the two places where I think I can apply the greatest pressure involve death/dying - the second example, where you suggest the "three saves" technique as the basis for a dial, and the third example, where you suggest inspiration "healing" used to raise the incapacitated limit, and even temporarily raise the dead limit. Would it support my preferred style? It's hard to say. It's not fatal to it, but there are things I think it can't do. For example, if a PC falls, and is making death saves, currently in 4e the participants at the table don't know what will happen. There is suspense for them, just as there is suspense for the PCs in the fiction, who don't know yet what their comrade's fate is. And the players also have resources - healing powers, potions, etc - that they can expend to resolve the issue one particular way - so resolution is connected to the exercise of player agency. In your system it seems we do know what's happening, don't we? The PC is badly wounded (this is what "incapacitated" means in your system - you can't be incapacitated just by psychic damage or exhaustion). Mere inspiration can't revive him/her (because s/he has to be conscious to be inspired - no Inspiring Word narrated as a memory or dream). The suspense is operational suspense - will/won't we save the PC - but not plot suspense - what has happened to him/her? More generally, I guess I feel - if you're going to have this level of detail in your wound system, why not go to active defence (a la RQ, RM or BW) and then use fate points etc to faciliate that? Or to put it another way - I'm not sure I get the rationale for keeping such a non-simulationist mechanic as hit points around, once you've gone for this level of simulation on the wounds side. If the answer is "because we want to keep D&D more or less as it is, but add in more precision on the wounds side", that's fine, but then I'm not sure why we want precise wounds. And if we are to have them, I'm not sure that I'd do them as points - maybe they'd work better as effects/conditions. I guess the short version is: if D&Dnext worked like this, I wouldn't be sure what it was offering me that I can't get either from 4e (for gonzo, including the inpsirational recovery from apparent death stuff) or Burning Wheel (for gritty with Fate Points to mitigate). That's not a criticism of your system, which is nicely worked out. It's just a reflection of where I'm at with my RPGing preferences. [/QUOTE]
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