VP/WP in D&D?

[hong]

I'll preface this by saying I have no problem with D&D hit points as such. They're great for a heroic game featuring larger-than-life characters. In fact, if anything, they're not heroic enough; if you're down a lot of hp, you need to rest for a long time to get them back, which isn't conducive to the pacing of an adventure. Hence the topic of this thread.

To those who have tried using the Star Wars VP/WP system in D&D: how did it fare? From what I've heard, things tend to become a lot deadlier than they used to be. This strikes me as odd, because 90-95% of the time, VP work just like hit points; it's only when a crit is scored that the two systems diverge.

Would it be correct to say that treating crits like in Star Wars (apply damage directly to WP, armour acts as DR) doesn't work as well in D&D, which features heavier damage totals and no DR?

 

[Genysys]

I wouldn't say that it was worse, just different. Critical hits are a lot more dangerous. My group and I switched over a little more than two months ago, and it is working fine for us. Though when I announce that I rolled a threat, it makes them pay attention. They have also been burning feats on Toughness and anything else that improves your WP. All in all, it's not really worse, just a lot more... random.

 

[hong]

I wouldn't say that it was worse, just different. Critical hits are a lot more dangerous. My group and I switched over a little more than two months ago, and it is working fine for us. Though when I announce that I rolled a threat, it makes them pay attention. They have also been burning feats on Toughness and anything else that improves your WP. All in all, it's not really worse, just a lot more... random.

Well, given that added randomness in a combat system is a Bad Thing as far as I'm concerned, I guess this does make it worse. Although I don't see why you _have_ to treat crits the way it's done in the SW rules. You could continue to treat them in the usual D&D fashion (multiplied damage taken off VP) and this feature/bug would be eliminated.

I've been thinking along the lines of using a quasi-WP/VP system for my game, actually:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?postid=252131#post252131

The attraction is that you don't have to spend days healing to recover VP, unlike hit points. This would reduce (although probably not eliminate) the need for a party medic, which is a role that tends to be difficult to fill.

 

[Desdichado]

It's not a lot more deadly, it just makes critical hits more dangerous. Seriously, how often are you taking critical hits anway? In my games, we don't even average a single critical hit (on either side) per game it seems.

And the recovery from VP/WP is quicker and works better for the pacing, which as you say, is a concern of HP as written.

But I don't know what I'd agree with what you want them for, so maybe my advice isn't worth much to you. I don't want HP to be even more over the top heroic, I want them to be less. I'd like the fact that critical hits are now much more deadly.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

My group would never survive. They way I roll 20's the whole party would be dead very quickly. I don't see why they wouldn't work fine, but they aren't what we are looking for in D&D.

 

[Hand of Evil]

It's not a lot more deadly, it just makes critical hits more dangerous. Seriously, how often are you taking critical hits anway? In my games, we don't even average a single critical hit (on either side) per game it seems.

Maybe it is time to look for some new dice.


My group averages about 3 criticals a session. Maybe I have too much combat in my game.

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

Not even one crit in a game? That's just plain crazy! Among my players and I we have at LEAST 3 crits per game. Or maybe we just have good dice. We've all got various methods of cleansing the dice, some working better than others. LOL

Though my initiative dice for the baddies ALWAYS suck. It's a miracle when I roll above a 10.

 

[Quickbeam]

For those unaware of the Star Wars VP/WP system, how does it work? The only version of the Star Wars RPG I play, is a completely House Ruled version between my six year-old son and I. We've never read the game rules, and simply use our own "To Hit" and "Damage" system .

 

[Desdichado]

We get plenty of critical threats (depending on what you mean by plenty) but not many that actually translate into crits.

The VP/WP system works as described on the d20 ME page. They've converted it to D&D since Star Wars doesn't have crit ranges for it's weapons the way D&D does.

Someone (RangerWickett perhaps?) also converted them in one of the Asgard issues.

 

[Genysys]

I usually end up with anywhere between five to ten critical successes during a game session that is mostly combat. My baddies are just lucky, i guess.


Or maybe it's those weighted dice...