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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Daedrova" data-source="post: 6467491" data-attributes="member: 11835">Hit Points and Hit Dice mechanics are so simple I am surprised anyone (especially DM’s) struggle with adjusting healing rates to suit the needs of their preferred play style.I decided to use a simple option for slow healing in my game:   Short rest lets you spend Hit Dice to recover some HP, and a long rest only restores Hit Dice.  You don’t get HP back otherwise without magic.  I wasn’t surprised, but pleased, to see this option appearing in the 5e DMG.  This fits with the narrative that Hit Points usually describe.   You have a chance to catch your breath and tend to non-serious hits during a short rest.  You can only handle so much before our body needs natural reset and healing through sleep (long rest).It also helps to think of Hit Points as a resource a PC can use to avoid serious injury.  We usually like  to describe the manner in which characters SPEND Hit Points – the way a character moves at the last moment in order to turn that would-be-fatal blow into a glancing hit.  Only when a PC can no longer spend enough points does a serious injury occur.We also use a variant others mentioned earlier in this thread, inspired by Unearthed Arcana 3e: Vitality & Wounds.  In my current game, for simplicity, I am just calling these “Hit Points & Body.”     This makes it so that the first serious injury inflicted doesn’t necessarily mean the character is immediately, automatically unconscious (0 hp).  It leads to more interesting combats.Serious injuries go to Body, when a creature reaches 0 HP or on a critical hit.  (Body points = Constitution score).  Body heals at a rate of 1 point per 1d4 days. Injuries last until body damage is healed.   (If it is ever relevant, non-heroic characters make a Con check to try to recover without Medicine. Any serious injury can be fatal.)We also use “lasting injuries” and roll whenever there is damage to Body.   This works fantastic for a gritty/realistic game.I really cannot recommend these options enough for anyone that wants to run a grittier game.(I should also mention I am running Dark Sun, and there is next to NO magic healing.  It is extremely gritty and any small healing makes a huge difference.  Our group has really come to enjoy that magic stands out as rare and special.)If I wanted the grittiness without Vitality & Wounds, I would probably just treat Hit Dice like 3e: they are simply background to determine total HP and aren’t used for healing.   Then characters recover 1 hp x level per day (to not run into the ridiculous situation where it takes a high level fighter 10x longer to heal after a battle).</blockquote>

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