codyleaderbrand
2013-08-08, 11:28 AM
I'm trying to come up with some homebrew health rules that compliment other homebrew rules I have in place. My overall goal is to make combat feel more realistic.
First homebrew rule I have in place is that armor provides DR based on the armor bonus it provides. So Full Plate provides DR/9 etc. I also have that armor has a certain amount of hitpoints and when those hitpoints are depleted the armor degrades a tier. The hitpoints per armor tier is (armor bonus * 8) so fully repaired Full Plate would have 72 hit points. When the first tier is depleted it will go down to DR/8 and have 64 hit points and so on. The armor then has to be repaired by NPCS or the player pending on skills.
Second I have where the players health is divided into 4 categories, lets call them: Healthy, Grazed, Injured, Critical.
Heathy Status: No Penalties
Grazed: -1 attack and skill rolls that require str/dex
Injured: -2 attack and skill rolls that require str/dex and a concentration check by wizard (I haven't determined a DC check just yet)
Critical: -2 attack and skill rolls that require str/dex and concentration check, speed also cut in half
I have also been browsing the forums for a parry mechanic to go along with this. I'm trying to make combat feel more realistic and for my players to really feel their characters pain. Too many times I see characters just running into battle when their character probably wouldn't considering the amount of pain they'd be in. The problem I'm having is that with all these ways to avoid taking damage with the DR and the Parry mechanic combat will simply just take too long. I'm looking for a method to nerf my characters health but in a way where they aren't afraid of combat, just wary.
I've considered doing this in several different ways, one way was to provide the players a certain amount of increase depending on their base attack bonus. So high base attack bonus would have (3 + con mod) for health. Medium would have (2 + con mod) and low would have (1 + con mod). I've determined this isn't a good method and ditched the idea.
I've also toyed with the idea of giving players HD determined on their race.
Human = d6
Dwarf = d10
Elf = d4
Gnome = d4
Halfling = d3
Orc = d8
and so on depending on the race.
At this rate I'm really open to any ideas on any of my homebrew rules. I'm trying to tie all this together so that it works well without being too much for my players. My games are usually more roleplay intensive so when combat would come around it would be critical combat only. I don't like random encounters just for xp, I prefer to give xp in the form on Roleplay xp. Anyways, any advice or ideas would be great. I'm open to any!
First homebrew rule I have in place is that armor provides DR based on the armor bonus it provides. So Full Plate provides DR/9 etc. I also have that armor has a certain amount of hitpoints and when those hitpoints are depleted the armor degrades a tier. The hitpoints per armor tier is (armor bonus * 8) so fully repaired Full Plate would have 72 hit points. When the first tier is depleted it will go down to DR/8 and have 64 hit points and so on. The armor then has to be repaired by NPCS or the player pending on skills.
Second I have where the players health is divided into 4 categories, lets call them: Healthy, Grazed, Injured, Critical.
Heathy Status: No Penalties
Grazed: -1 attack and skill rolls that require str/dex
Injured: -2 attack and skill rolls that require str/dex and a concentration check by wizard (I haven't determined a DC check just yet)
Critical: -2 attack and skill rolls that require str/dex and concentration check, speed also cut in half
I have also been browsing the forums for a parry mechanic to go along with this. I'm trying to make combat feel more realistic and for my players to really feel their characters pain. Too many times I see characters just running into battle when their character probably wouldn't considering the amount of pain they'd be in. The problem I'm having is that with all these ways to avoid taking damage with the DR and the Parry mechanic combat will simply just take too long. I'm looking for a method to nerf my characters health but in a way where they aren't afraid of combat, just wary.
I've considered doing this in several different ways, one way was to provide the players a certain amount of increase depending on their base attack bonus. So high base attack bonus would have (3 + con mod) for health. Medium would have (2 + con mod) and low would have (1 + con mod). I've determined this isn't a good method and ditched the idea.
I've also toyed with the idea of giving players HD determined on their race.
Human = d6
Dwarf = d10
Elf = d4
Gnome = d4
Halfling = d3
Orc = d8
and so on depending on the race.
At this rate I'm really open to any ideas on any of my homebrew rules. I'm trying to tie all this together so that it works well without being too much for my players. My games are usually more roleplay intensive so when combat would come around it would be critical combat only. I don't like random encounters just for xp, I prefer to give xp in the form on Roleplay xp. Anyways, any advice or ideas would be great. I'm open to any!