Snarfmite
2011-02-21, 08:29 PM
I want to houserule some slight changes to health, hp, and death, and was hoping to get some help from this forum. The system must be simple so as to not bog anything down, and integrate well with existing 3.5 rule set.
My idea: Hit points represent ability to shrug off wounds and keep going in combat, and can be mostly regained with a short rest after combat. There's a new action called "Catch your breath" which can be taken as a full-round action in combat or out, that heals 1d4+con mod HP. This means after a combat encounter, HP essentially returns to full after a few minutes.
Each character can also sustain a certain number of "serious wounds," which take more time, or magic, to heal. A character takes a serious wound when:
-Someone rolls a 20 to hit them (regardless of whether it ends up being a crit)
-They receive a critical hit
-Their HP drops below 0
-They take more than x damage in a single hit (unsure of this one)
-(need more ideas!)
If the amount of serious wounds exceeds half a character's con score, they drop to -1 HP, go unconscious, and make stability checks as usual. Cure Light Wounds can cure 1 wound, moderate 2, etc. Wounds can also heal through time.
When a character is unstable (below 0 HP, or has too many serious wounds), they make a DC (19 + # of wounds) Fortitude save each round to become stable; failure loses 1 hp. Death occurs at -(Con score) HP (a Roll of 20 on these saves always succeeds regardless of DC).
Obviously these ideas aren't worked through very much, but I'd appreciate any input that would flesh out these ideas and keep them balanced.
My idea: Hit points represent ability to shrug off wounds and keep going in combat, and can be mostly regained with a short rest after combat. There's a new action called "Catch your breath" which can be taken as a full-round action in combat or out, that heals 1d4+con mod HP. This means after a combat encounter, HP essentially returns to full after a few minutes.
Each character can also sustain a certain number of "serious wounds," which take more time, or magic, to heal. A character takes a serious wound when:
-Someone rolls a 20 to hit them (regardless of whether it ends up being a crit)
-They receive a critical hit
-Their HP drops below 0
-They take more than x damage in a single hit (unsure of this one)
-(need more ideas!)
If the amount of serious wounds exceeds half a character's con score, they drop to -1 HP, go unconscious, and make stability checks as usual. Cure Light Wounds can cure 1 wound, moderate 2, etc. Wounds can also heal through time.
When a character is unstable (below 0 HP, or has too many serious wounds), they make a DC (19 + # of wounds) Fortitude save each round to become stable; failure loses 1 hp. Death occurs at -(Con score) HP (a Roll of 20 on these saves always succeeds regardless of DC).
Obviously these ideas aren't worked through very much, but I'd appreciate any input that would flesh out these ideas and keep them balanced.