D&D 5E Variants I am thinking of trying

[bedir than]

I put a lot of work into my PCs, both fluff and crunch. I hate to see that go to waste on a random roll.

If I want to play a one-armed swordsman, it will be part of my backstory.

The idea is that it isn't just a single random roll. Your PC has made the choice to continue combat while down in HP. They've done so several times and not gotten healing. They then take a blow that a simulationist gamer thinks would kill them. And finally they then lose their arm, or whatever.

The PC made choices to get to that point while knowing the risks. That is role-playing. That is fluff. It all happened at the table and the risks that were chosen had consequences.

This thread has me interested in using Lingering Injuries because I think it makes those choices more interesting. Yes, combat may last longer as there would be more in combat healing and there would be more retreats as well. To this point I've only used a single cosmetic lingering injury for one of my PC's dogs that got smashed. Little Vondal was Revivified, but has a dent in his left shoulder and skull. That player is a bit more weary of using his dogs in every combat now.

 

[Corwin]

We developed an expanded, more comprehensive set of lingering injuries rules. One of these days we will get around to polishing it up and post it on the Guild or something.

 

[Azurewraith]

One variant I enjoyed using was vitality from the UA. Its a tiny bit more book keeping but can give a similar effect, I used both was great

 

[Ath'kethin]

We use speed factors and individual round-by-round initiative in my game. Well, sort of; the PCs all roll each round, and I make a single roll each round for the enemies.

After a couple of sessions we found too many issues popping up with lost actions and the like, so we altered the rule as follows: each PC uses the initiative modifier for their most common action, and if they do something else during the round they go last. We've had one session so far playing with that change, and everything goes much more smoothly.

I should note that I have only 3 PCs in my group, so taking a little more time isn't really an issue for us.

 

[Arial Black]

The idea is that it isn't just a single random roll. Your PC has made the choice to continue combat while down in HP. They've done so several times and not gotten healing. They then take a blow that a simulationist gamer thinks would kill them. And finally they then lose their arm, or whatever.

The PC made choices to get to that point while knowing the risks. That is role-playing. That is fluff. It all happened at the table and the risks that were chosen had consequences.

This thread has me interested in using Lingering Injuries because I think it makes those choices more interesting. Yes, combat may last longer as there would be more in combat healing and there would be more retreats as well. To this point I've only used a single cosmetic lingering injury for one of my PC's dogs that got smashed. Little Vondal was Revivified, but has a dent in his left shoulder and skull. That player is a bit more weary of using his dogs in every combat now.

If my PC has, say, 50 hit points I can play him by the normal rules knowing he has 50 hp. If and when I lose those 50 hp, I'll either die or get better.

All lingering injury rules mean is that I can now either play him to 25 hp or be permanently ruined. I won't get better, so I....don't fight.

I don't play RPGs to not fight!

DM: Okay guys, what are your brave adventures doing today?

Players: They are staying at home where it's safe. Stumpy and Gimpy will retire, and my (now) one-eyed archer will multiclass into Home Care Assistant.

 

[Lanliss]

If my PC has, say, 50 hit points I can play him by the normal rules knowing he has 50 hp. If and when I lose those 50 hp, I'll either die or get better.

All lingering injury rules mean is that I can now either play him to 25 hp or be permanently ruined. I won't get better, so I....don't fight.

I don't play RPGs to not fight!

DM: Okay guys, what are your brave adventures doing today?

Players: They are staying at home where it's safe. Stumpy and Gimpy will retire, and my (now) one-eyed archer will multiclass into Home Care Assistant.

Must be a play style thing (what isn't?). I would be happy to play with injuries as a risk for my characters. Trying to play a one armed archer sounds like fun role playing, as he tries to learn how to handle this life without the bow, or a way to fire the bow one handed. Of course, some characters are bound to be less bothered by some injuries than others. A mage, for instance, hardly needs both arms to throw a spell. Although, I specifically build all of my characters with the goal of them growing and evolving like this, so I am somewhat biased.

 

[Azurewraith]

Must be a play style thing (what isn't?). I would be happy to play with injuries as a risk for my characters. Trying to play a one armed archer sounds like fun role playing, as he tries to learn how to handle this life without the bow, or a way to fire the bow one handed. Of course, some characters are bound to be less bothered by some injuries than others. A mage, for instance, hardly needs both arms to throw a spell. Although, I specifically build all of my characters with the goal of them growing and evolving like this, so I am somewhat biased.

Ye my players loved there injuries I had one player close one eye for the rest if the session when her character lost it.

 

[Spookyboots]

We have played using the lingering injuries, proficiency die and speed factor variants.
My players really like the gritty and high risk style of play so we took the lingering injuries a step farther. We use the 50 uses for the d50 critical hit chart. All of my players are missing body parts such as fingers, toes, eyes, arms and legs. They love retelling their war stories and have actually gone on adventures to get enough gold to pay for restorations. Last session one of them took a head injury and lost 3 points of intelligence. He died later in the session though, unrelated to the head injury.
Some of my players preferred the proficiency die over the static modifier, others the static modifier. We actually haven't used the die since playtest though. But the people that like it like the randomness involved with it.
The speed factor lasted one session. I like it, but my players felt like it slowed everything down too much.

 

[Captain Panda]

I want to add a bit more fun to my games, so I am thinking of trying a few Variants from the DMG. Just let me know if you have tried any of them, and how they worked out.

• Lingering Injuries: I want my players to be a bit more invested in the world and their characters, and I feel like this will help with that. A Kobold Assassin with a spike on his tail is one thing, but a Kobold Assassin who lost his tail to acid? Will be running this by my players first of course, but think it will help to add depth to their characters.
• Healing Surge: none of my players went with healing, and it showed in our last game where two of them went down, and almost the third, from a pair of giant lizards. Will give them some healing to use at will, and see if that helps.
• Proficiency Dice: This seems like a much more interesting way to handle proficiency, and gives both more potential for massive failure, and more chances for truly Epic moments. We will see how it plays out.
• Speed Factor Initiative: This should help break the Monotony of combat, and give my players some more tactical power. I also think I will have them declare their actions in the order of their Intelligence, lowest to highest, to give a bonus to the ones who wanted more tactical characters.
• Spell points: To add some flexibility to the Wizard, hopefully freeing him up to work his spells more. I might also allow a variant where he can spend fewer spell points on the spell than is normally required, and get a lesser effect.

Once again, any thoughts or experience would be nice.

Lingering Injuries: Tried them, love them. One common tactic in Fifth Edition is to have multiple healers in a party and just have a constant stream of healing word to ensure the bad guys are stuck playing an endless game of whack-a-mole with enemies who won't stay down for more than a turn or two. If each time they hit zero it gives them a chance at losing an eye or getting a limp they'll have to be more careful.

Healing Surge: Haven't tried it. Not something I'd want to try. Goes strongly against what I want combat to feel like, personally. Would remove most of the tension added by lingering injuries, so I wouldn't advise adding both.

Proficiency Dice: Sounds like a hassle to me. Could also be fun, though. Hope it works for you.

Speed Factor Initiative: Sounds interesting, haven't tried it.

Spell Points: Tried it. On one hand, it's simpler for everyone. On the other hand, it can be bothersome allowing classes with summons the ability to keep a swarm of minions out indefinitely.

 

[Lanliss]

Lingering Injuries: Tried them, love them. One common tactic in Fifth Edition is to have multiple healers in a party and just have a constant stream of healing word to ensure the bad guys are stuck playing an endless game of whack-a-mole with enemies who won't stay down for more than a turn or two. If each time they hit zero it gives them a chance at losing an eye or getting a limp they'll have to be more careful.

Healing Surge: Haven't tried it. Not something I'd want to try. Goes strongly against what I want combat to feel like, personally. Would remove most of the tension added by lingering injuries, so I wouldn't advise adding both.

I don't think healing surge really contradicts the injuries. It is a small amount of healing, at my point at least, and it should also stop every single fight from leading to the loss of an eye, which might make them less interesting.