what if hits drained stats

[Riley]

ah? thanks for the info

Sure! Stat damage seemed to me a fabulous idea when I read 3e, but in practice it was ugly.

 

[le Redoutable]

Sure! Stat damage seemed to me a fabulous idea when I read 3e, but in practice it was ugly.

obviously !

 

[Stalker0]

The Cypher System uses this, but in that game stats don't really power anything in an automatic way. Instead you spend from your stat "pools" to power abilities. So wounds effectively reduce your power until you get to 0s, in which case you start taking some real pains.

I think the main issue in dnd is that so much is tied to stats, that requiring constant recalculation is just not an optimal way to play.


There is a middle ground option. You can have attacks drain stats, but the stat effects are not noted until after the battle is over (unless you get to 0 or something). This both removes the death spiral concern and the heavy math adjustment, as now you only recalculate once the fight is oover.

 

[le Redoutable]

ok.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

like in, on a hit you drop weapon dX to a random stat ( or a chosen stat if you find weakness on the stat )
( far too heavy to get support, so )
say you have a 8 in Int;
it would require 8hp dmg to drop Int to 7;
if you deal 15hp from a 8 Int it drops to 6 etc

Traveller does something like this. Works well there, but that's not a game about grinding through 6-8 fights per day.

 

[le Redoutable]

ok, so there is need for only one stat ( to generate Damage Reduction ) : hp
hp ------- dr
1 ---- 1
3 ---- 2
6 ---- 3
10 ---- 4
15 ---- 5
21 ---- 6
28 ---- 7
...
105 -- 14
120 -- 15
etc

 

[Staffan]

Mutant Year Zero does this, but it is also intended to be a far more lethal game than D&D, and the effects of stats are much more direct so there's less recalculation. MYZ has four stats, each with its corresponding type of trauma that reduces it:

Strength: reduced by Damage.
Cool/Dexterity: reduced by Stress.
Smarts: reduced by Confusion.
Empathy: reduced by Doubt.

Each stat is rated 1-5 for people. When you roll for something, you roll d6es equal to stat + skill (0 to 5) + gear (0 to 3), and 6es are successes. If you're not happy with your roll, you can push the roll and reroll every skill die that isn't a 6, and every stat + gear die that isn't either a 1 or a 6. But if you push, any 1s rolled on stat dice translate to trauma of the appropriate sort, and any 1s on gear dice reduce the effectiveness of that piece of gear.

But that kind of stuff would be hard to translate into D&D.

 

[aramis erak]

like in, on a hit you drop weapon dX to a random stat ( or a chosen stat if you find weakness on the stat )
( far too heavy to get support, so )
say you have a 8 in Int;
it would require 8hp dmg to drop Int to 7;
if you deal 15hp from a 8 Int it drops to 6 etc

Traveller does this.
Some Year Zero Engine games do this.

It's quite fun to watch a player start counting mods, add the high dex mod, and then collapse when the GM says, "No, use the current value..."

 

[Fenris-77]

This is actually how a game I'm going to play tonight works. Dust Devils, a western RPG. When you take damage it comes off your stats. It works.

 

[reelo]

This is how "Crypts & Things" does it:

Player Characters’ Hit Points represent only ‘superficial’ damage (i.e. exhaustion, light bruises, minor scrapes, and so forth). Because of this, all lost Hit Points may be recovered by sleeping without interruption for eight full hours. Resting (not sleeping), or sleeping for less than eight hours, will enable a Player Character to recover one Hit Point per full hour of rest or sleep.
Cure Wounds spells and potions of Healing do not heal Hit Points, but only lost points of Constitution (as explained below). However, a draught of ‘strong drink’ (ale, wine, liquor) can ‘invigorate’ a Character, enabling him/her to immediately recover 1D4 Hit Points. Crypt Keepers may also want to allow alchemists to sell ‘Elixirs of Invigoration’ for 200 to 300 gold pieces. Drinking such an elixir might enable a player Character to recover 1D6 + 2 Hit Points. Only one such draught, whether of strong
drink or an elixir, will have this effect per day.
Once a Player Character’s Hit Points are gone, any further damage suffered by the Character is deducted from the Character’s Constitution score. Damage taken to Constitution is permanent and represents ‘serious’ injury.
Every time a Character takes damage to their Constitution, they must pass a Luck Test or fall unconscious. In addition, a Character that has taken damage to their Constitution suffers a -2 penalty to all attack rolls and Skill Tests. If a Character’s Constitution score is reduced to 0 or lower that Character is dead.
Characters who have suffered damage to their Constitution and have fallen unconscious regain consciousness after eight hours of rest. If that Character’s Constitution is still reduced, they continue to have 0 Hit Points and suffer the -2 penalty to all Skill Tests and Attack Rolls until they can rest and recover. Characters can subsequently recover one Constitution point for every two days of complete rest (i.e. no travelling or adventuring). The care of a doctor or other non-magical healer can improve the rate of healing to one Constitution point per day of rest. A Character cannot recover any Hit Points until all Constitution points have been recovered.