Non-Linear Wound System

[tomBitonti]

Not sure if you're looking for this but try Ars Magica. It has 5 wound levels Light, Medium, Heavy, Incapacitated, and Dead. Depending on how much your to hit is over the defender's defense you'll inflict a wound level but a person can have any number of wounds. Each wound category gives a negative to totals so unless you're killed outright you'll just rack up tons of negatives to rolls. Only later when you do recovery rolls do they get better or worse and you die of gangrene or something.

Hi,

This scheme would qualify as non-linear.

As mentioned earlier, a schema where each hit has a chance (the same for each hit) to knock a target out is still linear.

As an example, if each hit has a 1/4 chance of knocking the target out, that maps to a hit point scheme where the target has 4 hit points and each hit removes 1 hit point. That is, for a geometric distribution with parameter (1/4), the expected number of hits is 4, and that is the same expected number of hits with the hit point scheme. Using finer numbers, the result doesn't change if the number of hit points is 40 and each hit removes 10 hit points.

What is important is whether successive hits are more likely to inflict a result (more hit point damage, or a greater chance to knock out the opponent, or do extra "critical" damage).

Note that the "chance to knock out a target" scheme provides a unification of 4E minion mechanics with other systems, and provides a quick way to add minions, or to add detail to the 4E system: Instead tracking hit points for minions, give a hit a chance of taking out a minion equal to the percentage of hit points removed by the attack.

Thx!

TomB

 

[alms66]

Anyone know of a non-linear wound system?
...
What I'm looking for is a non-determined progress toward death. A player doesn't know before hand whether any particular hit will be the final blow. While in most systems damage is random, it is still usually a known how many hits or how much damage will dispatch the character.

As others have stated, Rolemaster and it's derivatives (MERP) sort of have this. While you do have HP and you might die by hitting 0HP, it's more likely some sort of critical roll will take you out.

The Riddle of Steel (which you can get a pdf copy for easily, btw, at TRoS fansite) is similar to Rolemaster in it's charts. Each hit produces real and tangible results (broken bones, gaping cuts, etc.), though the most likely outcome is death, whether immediate or through slowly bleeding out.

Might I ask why you ask?

 

[sheadunne]

As others have stated, Rolemaster and it's derivatives (MERP) sort of have this. While you do have HP and you might die by hitting 0HP, it's more likely some sort of critical roll will take you out.

The Riddle of Steel (which you can get a pdf copy for easily, btw, at TRoS fansite) is similar to Rolemaster in it's charts. Each hit produces real and tangible results (broken bones, gaping cuts, etc.), though the most likely outcome is death, whether immediate or through slowly bleeding out.

Might I ask why you ask?

I'm not a fan of cumulative injury. While I accept that there is some logic to it, and it's certainly easier to keep track of, I would just rather injury be sometime in and of itself.

That said, I'm not big on critical hits and charts either. Trying to find a more intuitive system that doesn't require looking at a book. It's challenging to say the least but of enough interest that I'm enjoying the search.

 

[alms66]

I forgot to mention The One Ring. It also has a system where you have hp, called Endurance, that can be whittled down to 0 and thus death, but like Rolemaster, you might die another way. Unlike Rolemaster, there's no charts involved, and it's much, much simpler. You can get what's called a Piercing Blow by rolling a Sauron on the Feat Die (a 11 on a d12, IIRC) during your attack roll. If a character is hit by 1 such blow, he's wounded, 2, he's dead (again, IIRC, and I think some really tough monsters have more wounds). Ultimately though, it's really just two hp tracks, one long, one short...

Keep us up to date on what you find, I'd like to see such systems myself.