Making wounds more dangerous...

[DontEatRawHagis]

My players and I recently played Call of Cthulhu and I asked for when we got back into DnD 5e if there was anything I did in CoC that they would like in DnD.

One of the requests was:

i liked the wound quality major v minor v scratch as you get more beat up you lose power

So I am trying to come up with a way to translate that into DnD.


My modified rules:
When a PC reaches 0 hp they are unconcious, but do not have to make death saves. A simple medicine check at DC10 will revive them.

A major wound is when an attack does more damage than it's Maximum amount. When a character takes a major wound:

Tick the Major Wound box.
The character immediately falls prone.
Make a successful CON roll to avoid the character
falling unconscious.
If another Major Wound is dealt while the Major Wound box is ticked, make another CON roll to avoid the character falling unconscious with Disadvantage.
If current hit points fall to zero while the Major
Wound box is ticked, the character is dying (i.e. begins making death saves).
A major wound is healed (erase the major wound marker)
when the character either rolls Critical on their death save, or when their current hit points have recovered to half or more than half of their full hit point total.


So if a Rogue uses Sneak Attack with a dagger and rolls more than 4 on 1d4+2d6 it will do a Major Wound.

The only downside I see is that Magic uses will be at a disadvantage with this. As they could only do more than Max Damage with a Critical.

What do you guys think? Too complicated?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Seems a bit overcomplicated, and your rule on max weapon damage will trigger constantly.

I'd go for something more like:
When you hit 0 HP, or you take more than half your health from a single attack, you're Injured, and suffer Disadvantage on all checks except death saves. Injuries cannot be healed until you reach full health and complete at least a short rest*. If you'd suffer a second Injury, you immediately start dying, and are considered to have already failed a death save. The third time you're considered to have failed two death saves; a fourth Injury is instantly lethal.

Alternately, the Disadvantage only lasts until you get healed, but your Con is reduced by 2 until you complete a Long Rest.


*Or a Long Rest, if you want to be meaner.

[Shaofoo]

The problem with your system is that the lower the damage die the more you will get major wounds, you are more likely to roll wounds with a dagger than a Greatsword regardless of who is behind the dagger

Also you don't take into account ability scores, I just need an 18 Dex and every hit will be a major wound with a dagger since I will be doing more than 4 damage a hit. This system is way too cumbersome for my tastes.

If you want wounds to be more dangerous then do the slow rest variants and add permanent injuries as well, both of them found in the DMG.

[mer.c]

The DM guide actually has some systems that may be to your under the DM's Workshop section. If you have access to it, check it out.

[DontEatRawHagis]

I'll take a look when I get my book.


Seems a bit overcomplicated, and your rule on max weapon damage will trigger constantly.

..


When you hit 0 HP, or you take more than half your health from a single attack, you're Injured, and suffer Disadvantage on all checks except death saves. ...

...

*Or a Long Rest, if you want to be meaner.


The problem with your system is that the lower the damage die the more you will get major wounds, you are more likely to roll wounds with a dagger than a Greatsword regardless of who is behind the dagger

Also you don't take into account ability scores, I just need an 18 Dex and every hit will be a major wound with a dagger since I will be doing more than 4 damage a hit. This system is way too cumbersome for my tastes.

If you want wounds to be more dangerous then do the slow rest variants and add permanent injuries as well, both of them found in the DMG.

Updated rules:
When a PC reaches 0 hp they are unconscious, but do not have to make death saves. A simple medicine check at DC10 will revive them.

A major wound is when an attack inflicts damage more than 1/4 of your Maximum Hit Points. When a character takes a major wound:

Tick the Major Wound box.
The character immediately falls prone.
Make a successful CON roll to avoid the character falling unconscious.
When Major Wound box is ticked, ALL saving throws excluding death saves are done at a disadvantage.
Each additional Major Wound dealt while the Major Wound box is ticked, the player must make a CON roll with disadvantage to avoid the character falling unconscious.
If current hit points fall to zero while the Major Wound box is ticked, the character is dying (i.e. begins making death saves).
A major wound is healed (erase the major wound marker)
when the character either rolls Critical on their death save, when their current hit points have recovered by half or greater of their full hit point total, or if Lesser Restore is used on them.


I don't really want to do permanent injuries. Mainly because I find it difficult for my players to keep track of any negatives I give them. I'm hesitant to make Major Wounds cause disadvantage on all checks because it feels too detrimental.

I want to avoid the short/long rest as a cure, because I feel that it trivializes the damage done. If players want to spend all of their Hit Dice to heal up during a rest I will be fine as they are expending resources to do so.

[Zman]

How about any PC(Major Enemy) takes damage equal to their Con score or higher they take a minor wound, if double a major wound. On basic NPC and mooks 0HP means death described in any fitting way.

[Mellack]

A major wound is when an attack inflicts damage more than 1/4 of your Maximum Hit Points. When a character takes a major wound:


Because many creatures get more attacks at higher levels rather than just stronger attacks this will mean different levels have much different levels of danger. At low levels, almost any attack will cause a major wound. At high levels it will happen rarely to never. For example, a 1/4 CR Skeleton does an average of 5 damage. This would give a wound to even the strongest L1 Barbarian. Compared to a CR 7 Shield Guardian, does an average of 11 damage. That would never wound a L7 Barbarian. If you want to really play up how powerful the characters are getting, this might work. If you are hoping for constant risk, not so much.

[Shaofoo]

I want to avoid the short/long rest as a cure, because I feel that it trivializes the damage done. If players want to spend all of their Hit Dice to heal up during a rest I will be fine as they are expending resources to do so.

I don't get this logic, needing more time to rest makes damage less trivial because you should get less opportunities to actually be able to heal up as time goes on. And this doesn't just apply to damage but also for anything that requires recharge on a short or long rest (including spell slots). Of course if time isn't a factor in your games then it won't matter how long a rest takes but any game should include some form of time pressure.

If players spend all their Hit Dice in a rest then they are either playing bad or you are throwing way harder challenges than necessary.

[JackPhoenix]

How about giving exhaustion levels (possibly with Con save) on critical hits or falling to 0 hp? Simple, takes some time to remove the penalty, one or two wounds aren't as dangerous (If you're uncounscious, the battle is over for you, and the foe can easily finish you off), but you steadily get worse.

It would screw over Frenzy Barbarians, though. And if it's tied to critical hits, advantage/disadvantage on attacks gets even more important.

[mephnick]

I did a custom wounds table and then tied exhaustion to different levels of wounds. Worse wound = more exhaustion.

Then I balanced the harshness of this out by allowing the Medicine skill to alleviate exhaustion over long rests and for lesser and greater restoration to be more powerful in regards to curing exhaustion.

[Mjolnirbear]

I'm thinking of something like...

When you roll a natural 20, in addition to crits and any other effects, roll a d6.

1-2, you have seriously wounded a foot or leg. The creature's movement is halved, and he cannot take the Dash action.
3-4, you have wounded an arm or hand. It drops anything it is holding and becomes useless.
5, you have struck in the torso. It has disadvantage on any physical activity (such as attacks, acrobatics, athletics, etc) and physical saves.
6, you strike it in the head. You stun it for a round, and it has disadvantage on any mental rolls (such as perception checks, Arcana checks, logic, investigation, etc) and mental saves.

These wounds cannot be healed like mere hit point damage. It can be healed by more significant magic, such as a restoration spell; by someone with the Medicine skill succeeding on a DC 15 check after spending a long rest caring for the patient, or the patient succeeding at a DC 20 constitution save after a long rest.


(it seems a bit harsh though... Might consider adding: on a critical, roll a d20 with the same modifiers as your critical had. If the result is sufficient to hit the creature, roll a d6)