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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hautamaki" data-source="post: 6036101" data-attributes="member: 42219">Here's an idea I've been experimenting with for different types of attacks (like ED)Instead of 0 HP being the death threshold, after which your character is likely to die, I could 0 HP as the serious injury threshold, after which your character is likely to suffer some kind of serious injury (but probably not death right away).  For most normal attacks there is a wound table you roll on; however special attacks that reduce you below 0 have their own unique effects.  For example, poison just causes normal HP damage unless it's the factor that drops you below 0, in which case poison takes its over more interesting effects like Strength reduction or whatever.  ED would be the same thing--just cause normal damage unless it's the attack that drops you below 0, in which case you'd really lose a level.  Also feats/special attacks like 'Wounding Blow' might allow you to choose which wound you deal if you drop the enemy below 0 HP, instead of rolling up a random one.  An Ice attack that reduces you to 0 might paralyze you with cold or encase you in solid ice.  Sonic attacks might render your character deaf.  And of course regular healing doesn't work normally on negative HP--in that case you need more than a simple healing surge or a word of encouragement from the bard or whatever; you need some serious magical remedy or some serious rest time.This works because according to these rules, a character is not actually struck by anything except a bruising or glancing hit until they get to 0 HP.  So a poison attack might just be a tiny scratch with very little poison actually getting into your bloodstream unless it's the attack that drops you below 0.The actual death threshold is negative your max HP; so there's plenty of time to accumulate serious injuries between 0 HP and actual definite death.I've been running this system for a few months now and I'm pretty happy with how it works.  The common complaint is that it leads to the unstoppable cycle of death; but what I've found is that when a character gets to below 0 and takes a serious wound, he just wants to get the heck out of there and this is rarely actually a problem.  Instead it just gives a unique flavor to different kinds of wounds or effects and makes certain things (like ED) scary, but not to the point that it makes the game frustrating for the players.</blockquote>

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