Where is unconsciousness
- Thread starter Lord Vangarel
- Start date
Crothian
First Post
I really like that idea, and the next campaign I start I hope to use it.
Side story, just cause I thought of it. I introduced a rule were everyone can go negative HP equal to their con score or 10 whichever was higher. I told the PCs that this applied to everyone, not just them. So, the first battle went like this. A group of friendly clerics is ambushed. The party rushes to the scene. Granted they were very stupid and each person ran at his own speed so no one arrived at same time (different speeds due to armor, race, run feat etc) They do win the fight and heal all the party members. The priests, though all fell in combat. None of the priest were dead, just dieing to the bleeding rules. No one bothered to check the priests. Fiorst thing they do is loot the dead goblins. Next, they argue weather or not they should bury or burn the dead. At the start of the arguemnet they still could have saved many of the priests, but no one has even bothered to look at them. By they time they decide to cremeate the bodies all the priests are dead. So, as they drag the bodies into the firepit they made I tell them they notice lots of blood and it looks like they were bleeding out for a while. They complained a little about how they should have had a chance to notice it. however, all of them were more interested in looting and argueing. They went "Oh". Not the best way for good adventurers to start off.
Side story, just cause I thought of it. I introduced a rule were everyone can go negative HP equal to their con score or 10 whichever was higher. I told the PCs that this applied to everyone, not just them. So, the first battle went like this. A group of friendly clerics is ambushed. The party rushes to the scene. Granted they were very stupid and each person ran at his own speed so no one arrived at same time (different speeds due to armor, race, run feat etc) They do win the fight and heal all the party members. The priests, though all fell in combat. None of the priest were dead, just dieing to the bleeding rules. No one bothered to check the priests. Fiorst thing they do is loot the dead goblins. Next, they argue weather or not they should bury or burn the dead. At the start of the arguemnet they still could have saved many of the priests, but no one has even bothered to look at them. By they time they decide to cremeate the bodies all the priests are dead. So, as they drag the bodies into the firepit they made I tell them they notice lots of blood and it looks like they were bleeding out for a while. They complained a little about how they should have had a chance to notice it. however, all of them were more interested in looting and argueing. They went "Oh". Not the best way for good adventurers to start off.
ragnarok said:
There's a reason your players didn't like it. IT'S VERY VERY BAD AND DOESN'T WORK. That is swayed EXTREMELY badly toward the bad guys. Oh, and there is already a core rule that overrides it: the DMG says that taking half hit points in a single strike causes the victim to be "clobbered", and they may only take a partial action on their next turn. (After that they're back to normal, though, of course.)
And at low levels, that rule could be a killer. A wizard can start with as few as 4 HP, which would make pretty much ANY hit a KO.
That has got to rank amongst the worst house rules I have ever seen. Too lethal. Lethal is bad. You do the math.
I like the armor>subdual thing, and in conjuction with the Con>disabled rule, things could get much LESS lethal.
Frostmarrow
First Post
As much as I like the idea of armor converting damage into subdual it does beg the question: what kinds of damage are excempt?
I guess that gas, disease and venom does real damage as there is no way plate will protect your lungs from the inside, for example.
Moreover would sneak attacks by-pass armor-soak or is that considered to be factored in?
Can this be combined with using Defense instead of AC? (Defense is 10+base ref save + pluses)
Is it necessary to keep the -10 hp rule or would a character die at 0 hp instead?
Will a character who is unconscious due to subdual damage bleed each round?
When you cast cure spells on a person with both kinds of damage which will be healed first?
I guess that gas, disease and venom does real damage as there is no way plate will protect your lungs from the inside, for example.
Moreover would sneak attacks by-pass armor-soak or is that considered to be factored in?
Can this be combined with using Defense instead of AC? (Defense is 10+base ref save + pluses)
Is it necessary to keep the -10 hp rule or would a character die at 0 hp instead?
Will a character who is unconscious due to subdual damage bleed each round?
When you cast cure spells on a person with both kinds of damage which will be healed first?
Lord Vangarel
First Post
Frostmarrow
I've been testing this rule in play for 3 weeks now and here are some of my conclusions.
Damage from sources where armour doesn't apply are counted as real damage. As you say poison gas damage would all be real, venom likewise has already entered the bloodstream.
Sneak attacks should not ignore the armour. The better protected you are the less likely the sneak attack does some permanent harm.
I haven't considered combining the rule with defense yet. If you did I would suggest the better the armour the more it effects the defense rating.
Since starting to use the rule no character has gone below 0 hp. Most drop unconscious with between 10 and 20 hit points remaining. The result of this is death seems to become less of a threat. (Not sure if that's a good thing yet!)
I have had it that a character who is unconscious continues to bleed each round at the rate of 1hp. The normal 10% chance to simply stop bleeding is still checked.
As regards healing I've had it that magical healing affects the real hit points first and then the subdual damage. Although there's no reason for it not to effect both. I might try this next session.
I've been testing this rule in play for 3 weeks now and here are some of my conclusions.
Damage from sources where armour doesn't apply are counted as real damage. As you say poison gas damage would all be real, venom likewise has already entered the bloodstream.
Sneak attacks should not ignore the armour. The better protected you are the less likely the sneak attack does some permanent harm.
I haven't considered combining the rule with defense yet. If you did I would suggest the better the armour the more it effects the defense rating.
Since starting to use the rule no character has gone below 0 hp. Most drop unconscious with between 10 and 20 hit points remaining. The result of this is death seems to become less of a threat. (Not sure if that's a good thing yet!)
I have had it that a character who is unconscious continues to bleed each round at the rate of 1hp. The normal 10% chance to simply stop bleeding is still checked.
As regards healing I've had it that magical healing affects the real hit points first and then the subdual damage. Although there's no reason for it not to effect both. I might try this next session.
Frostmarrow
First Post
Thanks a lot. It seems great.
Strange as it might seem I'm in favor of real damage getting healed first. It gives you a sense of being battered and bruised even though the real damage is gone. Since you heal level subdual damage per hour cheap clerics might want to have you suffer for awhile.
Strange as it might seem I'm in favor of real damage getting healed first. It gives you a sense of being battered and bruised even though the real damage is gone. Since you heal level subdual damage per hour cheap clerics might want to have you suffer for awhile.
