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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Fighting Spirit (An Unoriginal Idea For HP)



JNAProductions
2017-07-28, 11:36 PM
HP is replaced by Fighting Spirit (or Will to Live, or Heroic Effort, or whatever you feel like calling it). HP is now PURELY meat.

Gain Fighting Spirit like you would normally-Barbarians get 1d12+Con mod, Fighters get 1d10 base, Wizards d6, etc. This represents dodging, magical barriers, armor tankiness, etc. You might take flesh wounds, but no serious damage is dealt while you still have Fighting Spirit left. Healing Magic works normally, as do Hit Dice, on Fighting Spirit.

Then, you gain HP at levels 1, 5, 11, and 17. Gain these normally-Class Hit Die+Constitution Modifier (max at level 1). This is only depleted when you are out of Fighting Spirit. Taking damage to HP represents actual, serious wounds, and as such, for every 25% of your HP that are depleted, you are considered to have one level exhaustion (this does not stack with actual exhaustion). Excess damage from Fighting Spirit does NOT spill over to HP-if you have 5 Fighting Spirit left and take 10 damage, you simply lose all your Spirit. You take no HP damage. (So you can never be one-shot, excepting a few things like Power Word Kill.)

So, if you had 16 HP, at 12 HP, you would have disadvantage on ability checks, at 8, you'd halve your speed, and at 4, you'd have disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws.

If you drop to 0 HP, start making death saving throws as normal. In addition, the DM can rule that certain attacks that drop you to 0 HP may have additional effects-such as severing a limb, breaking a collarbone, or either grievous injuries. (At a minimum, you've probably got a nasty scar.)

Temporary HP goes on top of Fighting Spirit, and is depleted first. Do note that overkill from THP can hurt Fighting Spirit or even HP. (So, if you have 5 THP, and 5 Fighting Spirit, then take 10 points of damage, you now have 0 of both. If you have 5 THP and NO Fighting Spirit, then taking 10 damage will knock 5 HP off.)

Critical hits are especially lethal-the basic attack (and basic attack ONLY-e.g., 1d8+Strength Mod for a longsword in one hand, or 1d12+Strength mod for a greataxe) cuts through all Fighting Spirit or THP and hits your HP directly.

Spells are changed as follows:

Aid affects Fighting Spirit only
Aura of Life affects Fighting Spirit only. In addition, you automatically pass Death Saving throws inside the aura
Aura of Vitality affects Fighting Spirit only
Cure Wounds affects Fighting Spirit only, unless upcast to level 6 or higher, in which case it affects one or the other
Death Ward can be chosen to affect Fighting Spirit or HP
Disintegrate murders you dead if you drop to 0 Fighting Spirit
Finger Of Death kills you dead if you drop to 0 Fighting Spirit
Goodberry affects Fighting Spirit only
Heal affects Fighting Spirit and HP
Healing Word affects Fighting Spirit only, unless upcast to level 6 or higher, in which case it affects one or the other
Mass Cure Wounds affects Fighting Spirit only, unless upcast to level 6 or higher, in which case it affects one or the other
Mass Heal affects Fighting Spirit and HP
Power Word Heal affects Fighting Spirit and HP
Power Word Kill and Stun are based on Fighting Spirit, not HP
Prayer of Healing affects Fighting Spirit only, unless upcast to level 6 or higher, in which case it affects one or the other
Regenerate affects both Fighting Spirit and HP

Note that most monsters will not use Fighting Spirit-use HP as normal. Save this for important NPCs, like allies to the players or the BBEG. HOWEVER! Each critical hit should inflict at least one level of Exhaustion on a monster, to represent what would happen if they were actually using Fighting Spirit. This keeps crits good for players.

You heal 1 hit point per long rest (double that if at least one person in your party has Medicine proficiency (triple if they have Expertise), and double if you have a healer's kit) per tier. (1-4 is Tier 1, 5-10 is Tier 2, 11-16 is Tier 3, 17-20 is Tier 4.) If you would regain at least 5 HP on a long rest, you regain one-fifth (rounding down) that many HP on a short rest.

JBPuffin
2017-07-29, 12:50 AM
This does roughly double the amount of damage a character can take, if not more because of the lack of spillover. Admittedly, that only is true at the start of the campaign and doesn't stick after a few closer calls...not sure what to think of this, as I've yet to have a problem with 5e's numbers in this regard.

JNAProductions
2017-07-29, 12:53 AM
It doubles it at level 1, but you start taking penalties early on due to the pseudo exhaustion mechanic.

And it falls off pretty quickly-you have +25% HP, about, at level 4, for instance. And +20% at level 10.

JBPuffin
2017-07-29, 12:58 AM
It doubles it at level 1, but you start taking penalties early on due to the pseudo exhaustion mechanic.

And it falls off pretty quickly-you have +25% HP, about, at level 4, for instance. And +20% at level 10.

Oh, right, less HP growth. That does change things somewhat.

Abjurer Wizard's feature seems like it'd work quite well as Fighting Spirit if that didn't sound like it defeated the point of the original distinction...something to consider, though? I think there are a couple of other features that use temp HP that could be changed to Fighting Spirit.