One Hit Die per Character. Ever.

[Bluenose]

So how do you run an encounter, much less a campaign, when the characters have only one hit die? Is it plausible? What does character progression look like, if you take extra hit dice out of the question?

Why would it be difficult? Games that operate like that have been around for nearly as long as there have been RPGs. Traveller and Runequest are the two I probably play most, though there's many other (newer) ones. If there's one thing I've noticed, it's that players are less inclined to start fights. As characters get more skilled, they become harder to hit rather than carrying on taking hits at the same rate but being less affected by them.

As for how things work, Runequest has parry and dodge skills, and armour that acts as DR, and gives starting characters a fair number of hit points (both overall and location specific). It also makes the point that you are allowed to surrender, and many enemies will accept this and then ransom you back to your "group" (clan, family, military unit, cult, etc.) Traveller varies slightly by edition, but a simple assumption is that firefights are lethal for anyone in the open and it's therefore a good idea not to be there. Yes, that applies even to Imperial Marines in high-tech battle dress, if the opposition has effective weaponry. It also has advanced medical technology, not that that helps when the equivalent to starting hit points might average 21, and weapons doing 10d6 damage are available as hand weapons - don't even think about surviving vehicle fire.

 

[ExploderWizard]

If you want to only give one hit die to everyone then the combat system needs to focus on avoiding damage (I.e. Dodges and parties).

Parties are a great way to avoid combat altogether. Just keep an eye out for angry drunks and keep the mood lively.

Seriously though, if health/vitality doesn't scale with level then armor needs to provide DR, and more importantly, there needs to be active defense. GURPS models this style of combat very well. It could be adapted to a class/level system. You would need to assign weapon skills (and associated active defense values) to the classes in the game, increasing them with level.

This is a major change to the abstact HP system. A "hit" in this system is certainly a wound, not just wearing away at luck/magical protections. Good active defenses are also limited so taking on large numbers of mooks become much more dangerous. Such a system has its strengths and weaknesses depending on what you want to model.

 

[Celebrim]

I'm reading Clash of Kings, and poor Jon Snow is about to surprise some wildlings on a mountain. At night, in the cold. WITHOUT ARMOR.

Now this is no big deal for a D&D character. "Hmmph. I have 37 hit points, I can take a hit or two." But Jon Snow (and his buddy Stonesnake) has one hit die. If he gets stabbed, it could be curtains.

I didn't really focus on this in my first response, but now that the conversation is drifting along certain lines I feel I ought to mention it now, and that's your assumptions about the playability of the setting using D&D are I think wrong. Carefully constructed, D&D works just fine for the setting.

Return to your example. The assumption that a PC has 37 hitpoints assumes that Jon Snow is about sixth level. But if Jon Snow and most of the main characters are 2nd level, the assumption that he can simply shrug off the possibility of wounds is invalidated. Jon might have say 13 h.p. While Jon can probably survive having his former lover shoot him with a couple of arrows, he won't be looking too good afterwards. And if Jon has to fight multiple first level warriors without wearing armor - the key advantage a second level fighter usually has in a fight - then he must take the fight very seriously indeed. One or two blows and Jon could be looking at his death scene. A critical hit, and Jon might not even have time to look ruefully at the camera. And without armor, he's looking at his foes having a 50% chance of hitting him with each attack. So if the fight goes more than a couple of rounds of intense combat, Jon is almost certainly dead.

I think my impression of what little I know of the story, is that the assumption that most characters are introduced as 1st level characters and slowly grow in power at the rate of about 1 level per dozen violent encounters works pretty darn well. Most characters are introduced young and inexperienced and with the stories many points of view and slow facing most characters remain low level. And the death toll could be seen as the natural expectation of what happens to 1st level characters in a conflict. I'm sure I could run 'Song of Ice and Fire' as a gritty very low magic 1e campaign, or even using my 3.X inspired house rules with a less heroic less high magic setting than my homebrew.

 

[Kinak]

If you wanted to make D&D a "one hit and you're done" system, my suggestion would be making hit dice be actual dice that you roll to dodge or parry, reducing damage from incoming attacks. Then, you have a static amount of meat hit points, probably your Constitution score, that take a long time to heal.

As an added bonus, it makes ambushes pretty scary (assuming you can't spend hit dice while flat-footed).

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If it's a D&D system and characters have 1 hit die, I'd see a lot of running away.

 

[GMMichael]

Lots of good ideas guys.
[MENTION=1122]Frostmarrow[/MENTION]: good point about the nature of hit points. A "hit" doesn't have to be an injury. However, having 37 hit points will make someone much more courageous in combat than having 5 hit points. (And as we've recently seen on Enworld, a "miss" can be a hit too. But I'll hold off on that for now...)

Further, you're right about Martin killing off his characters. Ideally, a DM doesn't have this mission. The tough part is making PCs fear for their lives, even while they know the DM is on their side.
[MENTION=23935]Nagol[/MENTION]: the table's options you listed are all very pertinent, yet something I rarely see PCs do (unless you twist their arms).
[MENTION=4937]Celebrim[/MENTION]: I have yet to read about the unrealistic fighters you mention, possibly with the exceptions of Bronn and the Mountain that Rides (?). Also, one hit die doesn't have to mean one level...

Curse you (and ExploderWizard) for bringing up GURPS. I looked up the "lite" rules again, and my head is still spinning.
[MENTION=6693129]Severed[/MENTION]Head and [MENTION=22260]TerraDave[/MENTION]: it sounds like ASoIaF RPG isn't modeling its namesake very well. D&D could do it, but would also need some major tweaks.

I think you need to keep hit points low to keep players respecting the fragility of their characters. And like in the books, players should keep negotiation, fleeing, deception, greater numbers, and magic trick options on the table. (Literally, if need be).

We'd need to use both AC improvement and Damage Reduction, especially if anything bigger than a brigand is going to be attacked. Which begs the question: exactly what to AC and DR represent?

Further (and mentioned above), what exactly are the (very few) hit points representing? Can you lose hit points on a miss? Is blood always drawn on a hit?

And as we learned from dear little Bran, a fall from 30+ feet doesn't always mean death. Sometimes it means a coma, and dreams of a three-eyed crow. With only one hit die, everyone's going to hit zero HP sooner or later. What happens at that point?
[MENTION=6694112]Kinak[/MENTION]: cool idea. Why not turn Hit Dice into tools, instead of a number? Maybe all characters have only three hit points, and each hit die is a daily (encounter?) chance to roll damage reduction against a hit of your choice. So, fighters have better damage reduction than wizards?

 

[Celebrim]

[MENTION=4937]Which begs the question: exactly what to AC and DR represent?

All my interpretation; YMMV.

AC represents any of a number of factors that make attacks against you relatively unlikely to succeed - armor, evasive ability, parries, blocked by a shield, etc. DR represents having flesh with actual immunity to damage compared to normal flesh. For example, flesh so hard a knife literally can't cut it, even if you allowed someone to stab you.

Further (and mentioned above), what exactly are the (very few) hit points representing?

In a medium sized character with low hit points, almost all of it represents health and integrity of the body. In a higher HD medium sized character, most of it represents luck, destiny, and skill which thwarts otherwise successful attacks and causes them to do only minimal damage flesh damage instead. So a thrust that skewers a low hit dice creature, is mostly dodged and rendered a minor flesh wound if made against a higher HD character. An arrow that kills a low HD character is dodged at the last moment and only grazes the cheek of a higher HD character. Eventually, the character runs out of luck, stamina, destiny and everything else as a result of his many wounds and is no longer able to avoid a lethal thrust.

Can you lose hit points on a miss?

No.

Is blood always drawn on a hit?

Some sort of traumatic tissue damage, yes. One 'proof' is that a poisoned blade or bite transfers its poison on a hit. Merely swinging in the air near the character might cause them to become tired eventually, but we know they don't lose hit points for otherwise not every hit would have an attendant consequence. Eventually after say 20 rounds of fighting, the characters might become fatigued, but still have lost no hit points. All damage leaves its mark - scratches, bruises, whelps. A high level fighter is a mass of minor injuries when near zero hit points.

And as we learned from dear little Bran, a fall from 30+ feet doesn't always mean death.

Simplified, my falling rules are 1d20/10' divided by the result of a 1d6. Average damage is around 3.5 for 10' of fall, so a 30' fall might well do 10 damage. However, the deviation is massive, because a 30' fall can also do zero damage or 60 (sufficient to provoke a traumatic damage save even in a hero). This is somewhat realistic. A 10' fall can kill, but people have also survived falls from amazing heights. Dear Bran, having the youth template and therefore being a small sized creature would have done even better, with the fall doing 3d20/1d6+1. There are some other complexities but the point is that realisticly 30' falls are usually deadly but not always so.

With only one hit die, everyone's going to hit zero HP sooner or later. What happens at that point?

In my game as you absorb wounds, eventually they begin to take a toll. If you are reduced to 10% of your maximum hit points or less, you are staggered and can take only partial actions. When you hit zero, you begin dying. Dying characters begin 'bleeding out', losing 1 hit point per round. They must also pass a DC 15 fortitude save or fall unconscious, and must make an additional save whenever they take damage - which as I've said they do every round. If they fall unconscious, they remain unconscious until they return to positive hit points (but they would still be staggered). A dying character can stabilize on their own by rolling their CON or less on a d%. They can also stabilize from emergency first aid or magical healing. Stabilized characters are no longer dying, but begin dying again as soon as they take damage. At -10 hit points, a medium sized creature normally dies, though they can be resuscitated by heroic acts of the Heal skill if you act within the first few rounds.

Certain events have a chance to instantly kill or maim you. Traumatic damage threshold for a medium character is 50 hit points. Additionally, any critical hit that drops you to 0 or less, provokes a traumatic damage save. Failed saves means anything from broken legs to decapitation, so a critical can really mess you up. If you are attacked while helpless or if you forgo defense and allow yourself to be struck, the enemy may both call his shot and you automatically take a traumatic damage save.

A character can have various traits and feats that make them significantly harder to kill - 'Hard to Kill' for instance doubles your chance of stabilizing on your own and increases the number of negative hit points before you are dead by your character level. If you want to play the sort of character that is left for dead, and recovers to wreck his revenge, 'Hard to Kill' is the trait for you.

 

[Warbringer]

Use an idea I floated a while ago.

You hit dice are your "defense pool". Every time you take damage, say 6 from an attack, you take dice from your pool (hit dice) and roll them to absorb the attack. If there is any left over damage you suffer a wound, the higher the damage the worse the wound.

So Jon (6d10 hit dice, Con +2), attacked in the storm, and unarmored is easily "hit". To wildlings attack him; the first swings and misses, the second hits for 11 points of damage. Jon's player uses two dice (rolling 4 and 7, for 11+2), reducing his pool to 4. He takes no damage as he turns the blow aside. He swings and cuts a wildling with Longclaw, a bloody gash down his opponents arm.

The wildlings attack again, this time both hitting for 8 and 12 respectively; Jons player rolls 1 die for the first hit, 2 for the second, getting 6 and 11. Jon takes 3 actual damage this time ... and then some table.

This is actually grittier as rolling to absorb damage has a risk that checking of hit points doesn't, and it seems to fit the flavor better. (under this, give AC damage reduction equal to the AC bonus)

 

[GSHamster]

Use an idea I floated a while ago.

You hit dice are your "defense pool". Every time you take damage, say 6 from an attack, you take dice from your pool (hit dice) and roll them to absorb the attack. If there is any left over damage you suffer a wound, the higher the damage the worse the wound.

So Jon (6d10 hit dice, Con +2), attacked in the storm, and unarmored is easily "hit". To wildlings attack him; the first swings and misses, the second hits for 11 points of damage. Jon's player uses two dice (rolling 4 and 7, for 11+2), reducing his pool to 4. He takes no damage as he turns the blow aside. He swings and cuts a wildling with Longclaw, a bloody gash down his opponents arm.

The wildlings attack again, this time both hitting for 8 and 12 respectively; Jons player rolls 1 die for the first hit, 2 for the second, getting 6 and 11. Jon takes 3 actual damage this time ... and then some table.

This is actually grittier as rolling to absorb damage has a risk that checking of hit points doesn't, and it seems to fit the flavor better. (under this, give AC damage reduction equal to the AC bonus)

Very neat. It's essentially hit points, skinned in a manner that encourages viewing attacks as deflections rather than direct strikes. If you called them "defense dice" that might break the link even further.

 

[Li Shenron]

So how do you run an encounter, much less a campaign, when the characters have only one hit die? Is it plausible? What does character progression look like, if you take extra hit dice out of the question?

- you don't run dungeon crawls

- you use lower level monsters

- you often replace "dead" with "captured", "forced to flee", "seriously wounded" or "unconscious"