Homerule: stun for massive damage.

[Pigkappa]

Is it correct to say "homerule", "houserule", "home rule" or "house rule"? Or maybe something different? Sorry for the probable mistake in the title >_<.

Anyway, what do you think about this rule?


Stun for massive damage:
Whenever a PC or NPC is hit by an attack or spell which deals him more than 50% of his actual hit points, he has to roll a Fort save with DC = damage suffered.
If the roll succeds, nothing happens.
If the roll fails, he will be stunned for the next round. At the end of his next round, he has to roll again (same DC). If he succeds, he isn't stunned anymore. If he fails, he will be stunned for 1d4 (or 1d6? 1d8? 1d10? 1d12 - Con modifier?) additional rounds.
This effect doesn't apply to damage caused by poison or deseases. It doesn't also apply if the hit points are lost because of a loss of Constitution (exception: it applies at the end of the Barbaric Rage, if the Barbarian loses more than half of his HP) or temporary hit points.
It doesn't affect undeads, constructs and similar creatures.
This rule replaces the rule on the Player Handbook (I think it is there, I'm not sure) that tells that when you are dealt more than 50 damage, you should pass a Fortitude save, or die.


I like it, because I can't imagine someone receving a great amount of damage who continues to act as if nothing happened. But I'm not sure if this is balanced. For example, a low-level wizard risks to be stunned time every time he gets hit.

[Ashtagon]

This looks likes a certain death situation for any character who gets stunned in battle.

Not only is he at less than half hp anyway, but there is a hostile creature next to him, and he is unable to retreat or attack for at least one round, and possibly several rounds if he fails the second save. Oh, and he dropped his weapons too.

[shimmercat]

I hate the PH rule about fort-save-or-die for massive damage, and my group doesn't play with it.

I really like the general concept of being stunned when you take massive damage, but I think that this particular way of going about it is just WAY too harsh. My game is currently 15 level, and the barbarian has over 200 hitpoints. So that means that she would have to pass a fort save with a DC OVER 100 in order to not be stunned! And yes, we do sometimes take that sort of damage in a hit. It's rare, but it happens.

What if you handle massive damage just like the PH rule, only it causes the victim to be stunned for one round rather than insta-killed? So if you take more than 50 points of damage in a round, then you have to roll a fort save with DC 15 or be stunned for one round. That way, you don't have to deal with people dying because they rolled a crappy fort save, and it's a little more balanced (and less impossibly difficult for high-level characters) than the rule the OP suggested.

Edit: And I've usually heard it called a "house rule." :D

[Myou]

I hate the PH rule about fort-save-or-die for massive damage, and my group doesn't play with it.

Same here.

[Blue Ghost]

IIRC, there's a variant rule in the DMG that makes a character staggered (only one action in the next round) if they take more than half their current HP in an attack. I think that's a less harsh way to go about this.

[Zeta Kai]

Is it correct to say "homerule", "houserule", "home rule" or "house rule"? Or maybe something different? Sorry for the probable mistake in the title >_<.

The most widely accepted term is "house rule". Other variants exist, of course, but that is the most common. Regardless, use whatever you want; people will get the gist of what you're saying.


Stun for massive damage

From a simulationist standpoint, it makes perfect logical sense.

From a gamist standpoint, it's an unbalanced mess. You get smacked so hard with one hit that you lose your next action, & the enemy that just whacked you gets another chance to take away the other <49% of your HP. It works in videogames, when this only happens to mooks, but if it happened to PCs, the game would grind to a steaming halt. Bad idea.

Also, I like the massive damage rule, but not as written. A flat 50 points of damage is insanely arbitrary in a system where characters have scaling HD. While 50HP is nearly 100% the average 9th level character's health, it's less than 30% of a decently-built 20th-level tank's health. It gets even more ridiculous post-epic (like everything else), where 50HP might be the average damage output of an level-appropriate monster. A percentage system is much more logical. Something like 50% damage to trigger a save vs. death isn't such a bad idea.

[Pigkappa]

IIRC, there's a variant rule in the DMG that makes a character staggered (only one action in the next round) if they take more than half their current HP in an attack. I think that's a less harsh way to go about this.

Mh yes, this seems more appropriate (still allowing the Fort Save). I missed that variant, thank you for your help.



I really like the general concept of being stunned when you take massive damage, but I think that this particular way of going about it is just WAY too harsh. My game is currently 15 level, and the barbarian has over 200 hitpoints. So that means that she would have to pass a fort save with a DC OVER 100 in order to not be stunned! And yes, we do sometimes take that sort of damage in a hit. It's rare, but it happens.

Yes, I thought about that problem. But if I think what's the meaning of taking 100 hitpoints damage (in real-world, that's not far to being in the middle of terrible explosion, maybe: common people have like 5 hit points!), I think that it would be quite normal to be stunned after an event like that.

[PersonMan]

Yes, I thought about that problem. But if I think what's the meaning of taking 100 hitpoints damage (in real-world, that's not far to being in the middle of terrible explosion, maybe: common people have like 5 hit points!), I think that it would be quite normal to be stunned after an event like that.

True. However, it doesn't really help in the 'fun' department of DnD. If you want to simulate people getting killed because they just fell over from taking so much damage, it's fine. But most people prefer to be able to run to avoid getting annihilated by [X monster]. It also makes lucky crits a lot more dangerous if a monster can coup de grace someone it just got a crit on.

Also, the average level 1 commoner would have around 2-3 hit points, IIRC.