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Message: <blockquote data-quote="touc" data-source="post: 7875708" data-attributes="member: 19270">I'm bumping my own post back up for an update and attaching a <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yCSOSFBI5b2Bq0x_0qEXuLcwEa5kn_BV/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">GM Binder version of the Vitality system.</a> More feedback:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Seeing that having even 1 Death Point to begin with is changing player choices on resting and conservation of healing options. Players are acting much more cautious about finding safe spots than before, and they spend more time talking about it, planning for it, and planning on protecting anyone who has a Death Point. Those people don't look so good...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Changed 1d4 vitality damage when going unconscious to 1. If the death save is failed, they take another 1 and, like normal, are "bleeding out" until stabilized or dead. This discourages "whack-a-mole" as designed, but the 1d4 was too brutal given a wizard might only have 6-8 vitality to start with. <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">And we had our wizard drop unconscious to hammer in this point. This parallels the original "down and dying" rules from AD&D 2E (optional) and 3rd edition. </li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Not having death saves "soak" up any amount of damage has boosted the drama. The last 2 sessions have been combat heavy, and we've had Vitality come into play a few times.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cleric player took 7/10 vitality damage when she opted to stay on her feet and take 1 death point. If she went down again, it's virtually assured the next hit will kill her, and the party was facing enemies that exploded into acid upon death. Rather than risk her getting hit in a subsequent battle, the Druid player (bear) "shoved" the foe away from her. Had we been relying on death saves, we would've lost this tension and that heroic gesture.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Under the normal rules, we could see: cleric goes down, goblin slits her throat (2 death failures), healing word  from druid gets her back up. Cleric again goes down, goblin slits her throat (2 death failures), healing word from druid gets her back up. We could keep this up all day until the spells ran out. It was a silly design that I saw with an old group when we began 5E. It removed the tension that the party was facing above. You know that the next hit won't kill you. </li> </ul></li> </ul></blockquote>

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