D&D 4E Trauma and damage in 4e

[Nebulous]

I was just thinking about the Descent boardgame. It has great tokens for Threat, and these same tokens would work great in a D&D for whatever you wanted. Death, dying, severe injury that needs medical attention and not "gustiness" to recover from.

 

[SaffroN]

Why are there so many DM's willing to slap on negative effects to their players so liberally?

This doesn't make sense to me... Mostly because if i was in a game where negative 'slap on' effects were common occurrence, i wouldn't be having fun. especially, in this case, if i were the Fighter. As a Fighter it's my job to take damage instead of my friends... I would be very annoyed if i was being penalized for doing my job (ie: taking damage).

As players would you guys really be having fun in your own games?

 

[MaelStorm]

DISCLAIMER: Personally, I would use the normal Core Book rules.


But here's a suggestion for trauma that you can refine to your taste.

76% to 100% HP (Healthy)
No penalty.

51% to 75% HP (Scratched)
You receive -1 penalty.
You receive a small cut or scratch, nothing to worry about.
Arcane or divine healing can remove this penalty.
After a short rest of 6 hours you are back on track.

26% to 50% HP (Bloodied)
You suffer -2 penalty.
You receive a moderate wound, plus you loose 1HP per round until somebody succesfully stabilize you with the Heal skill.
Second wind and healing surge can improve your condition, but you still suffer trauma (-2).
To remove all trauma you have to recuperate for 2 weeks*, arcane or divine healing can completely remove all penalty.

1% to 25% HP (Incapacitated)
You suffer -5 penalty.
You receive a severe wound, plus you continue to loose 1HP per round until somebody succesfully stabilize you with the Heal skill.
Second wind and healing surge can improve your condition, but you still suffer trauma (-5).
To remove all trauma you have to recuperate for 5 weeks*, arcane or divine healing can completely remove all penalty.


0 HP (Between Life and Death)
As incapacitated plus you have to roll a d20 every round, a result of 0-10 you fall unconscious, 11+ you stay awake.


-1 to -100% (You are Dying)
You fall into a coma and use the death and dying rule,
You are in a really bad shape and need to recuperate for 10 weeks*, magical healing can completely remove all penalty.

*Every week you remove -1 penalty.

 

[Nebulous]

Why are there so many DM's willing to slap on negative effects to their players so liberally?

This doesn't make sense to me... Mostly because if i was in a game where negative 'slap on' effects were common occurrence, i wouldn't be having fun. especially, in this case, if i were the Fighter. As a Fighter it's my job to take damage instead of my friends... I would be very annoyed if i was being penalized for doing my job (ie: taking damage).

As players would you guys really be having fun in your own games?

No, not just damage, almost dying. 4e is deliberately like a videogame and some people want to tweak it more lethally. We're just playing around with rules. For fun. And it is fun whether actually used or not. Without playing a lot of 4e i can't say what i would ultimately want to change, if anything.

 

[SaffroN]

No, not just damage, almost dying. 4e is deliberately like a videogame and some people want to tweak it more lethally. We're just playing around with rules. For fun. And it is fun whether actually used or not. Without playing a lot of 4e i can't say what i would ultimately want to change, if anything.

I can understand people using these rules if everyone at the table enjoys it. To each his own.

With that said, I would personally add some kind of mechanic to protect the fighter. Like a feat that allows him to shrug of the effects with a successful save or some other mechanic to that effect. Otherwise, like i said before, your gonna be penalizing the fighter for doing his job.

 

[HeinorNY]

Trauma Points

When you are unconscious and dying and fail a stabilization check you gain a trauma point. Each trauma point you have reduces your total number of healing surge uses by one. When your number of trauma points equals your Constitution score, you die. When you take an extended rest you lose one trauma point and regain one use of your healing surges.


Some healing rituals and special uses of the Heal skill allow you to heal trauma points at a faster rate.

I'm trying to think on a better way to deal Trauma points.
I've been thinking on 1 TP when character receives a critical hit, or when the damage of a hit exceeds his Bloodied values, or everytime the character drops to 0 or lower HP.
Any ideas?

 

[VBMEW-01]

I also dont see trauma as giving a penalty to attacks. If anything, 4th Edition seems to suggest that creatures often capitilize on being bloodied (via immediates and reactions) and it would probably be unfitting to tack on a penalty right after a creature used that ability. This is in no way about reality or any other -ism, just about theme. Additionally, weeks of rest could severely rape the flow of a good dnd session, unless they were specifically accounted for. As an adult gamer, our sessions are limited due to spouse, work, and family priorities, and we have to make the best of our time.

On the other hand, I do like the concept of fights leaving their marks on the characters. Maybe it should somehow tie more to healing surges (as suggested above) or longer rests (of both sorts). Players despise penalties, and usually conveniently forget them, leaving the responsibility for their implementation souly on our shoulders.

In other words, though not well-stated, I think it depends on your particular fellowship of players.

 

[mhensley]

Indeed, this is a good balance between "miraculous recovery" and "instant death." It also uses Action Points in a method i prefer. But you would have to tweak the rules for acquiring and using AP's. No one would waste it on a move action if you needed it to save your life potentially.

Here's a simple crit table to use for this sort of thing. I would probably just let pc's accumulate AP's to use as they wish without them resetting to one every morning.

Classic D&D injury table (Robert Fisher)
http://web.fisher.cx/robert/infogami/Classic_D&D_injury_table

 

[Warbringer]

The DM giveth and the DM taketh away

Bruised - (25%-50% HP - no effect just so players know how wounded enemy is)
Bloodied - (50%-90% -1 to all numbers (may dump this penalty as its small an more annoying than anything)
Critical - (90%-110% -2; d3 hp damage from action)
Dying - (110-150% -5; d6 hp damage from action)

So yeah, mini death spiral, but you're up and fighting/healing/running/making dying breath proclomations fom 100%-150% of hps

And, we have simply used wound markers under the tokens yellow, orange, red, black

 

[WhatGravitas]

Why are there so many DM's willing to slap on negative effects to their players so liberally?

Because we're evil!

No, it's rather the nature of the thread - OP asked for opinions, posters give alternatives (even if they wouldn't use them themselves).

Finally, some are bothered by the fast recovery of PCs in 4e (and to a certain extent in 3e) - DMs are generally more inclined to be interested in the story and the roleplaying - which requires a bit of verisimilitude, because suspension of disbelieve is something strange.

Cheers, LT