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jjordan
2019-07-31, 01:27 PM
Self-scrubbing for reasons.

foobar1969
2019-08-08, 07:23 AM
I like the lingering injuries rules, mostly, but I felt they were a little lacking. It's easy to make up those perceived lacks with on the spot DM decisions. But I like to have a reference so I'm being consistent across the board. So I'm putting all my thoughts on 'paper'.

The Narrative Damage Table (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ciSZIYRLk-eccgY-h4B4ktew37PUEPsipxHHP0pOOw4/edit?usp=sharing) is here. This table provides guidelines for me when I'm narrating damage during conflict. You can see that it's geared towards a gritty gameplay style.
Do you have an ongoing campaign using these rules? I don't think I'd enjoy that table.
Have you considered switching to a simulationist RPG like GURPS?



Why? The Lord of the Rings. I've forgotten a lot of that story since I last read it over thirty years ago. Among the things that stick with me are the lingering effects of the ring upon Bilbo and Frodo and how Eowyn was affected. And I remember the Vietnam vets and now the vets coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 5E terms, I'd say Eowyn got hit with 4 or 5 levels of exhaustion.
I don't understand what you mean about veterans. Are you saying that your PCs take psychic damage when they observe gruesome combat, causing PTSD?

redwizard007
2019-08-08, 05:39 PM
I read this as lingerie injuries. Was expecting detailed stories of debauchery.

Since I'm already here, I may as well point out that d&d has never done lingering injuries well, and that is ok. It doesn't fit the design goals for a generally high fantasy campaign. If I was going to play a grittier type of game I would look for a system designed for that type of play.

Tvtyrant
2019-08-08, 06:19 PM
I'm not sure when these come into play. Like we have a table to roll on but no idea when we would be called on to do so.

Personally the way I did lingering wounds was to have them occur whenever you are struck with a crit or drop below 0 HP (death requires an intentional coup de grace.) Crits cause minor wounds, dropping below 0 causes major wounds. Combat can be made more vicious because dropping below 0 no longer has a chance of killing you, but also has more long term consequences as you can't just make a new character.

As for a chart of which types of wounds, why not just have minor and major wounds be categories and then let the actual physical wound and scar be up to the player? Like minor you gain two points of fatigue and a small scar of the players choice, major they get disadvantage on all rolls for 3-4 sessions and describe a really big scar or maiming.

Zhorn
2019-08-08, 07:06 PM
As someone who ran weekly games for several months using a lingering injuries system, here's my experience based advice:

Avoid using individual damage thresholds that need to be calculated per player (% of max hp).
It becomes tedious very fast and a pain.

If you are running this online and can get a computer to manage the calculations and prompts when it happens; go nuts.
But for the manual old fashion pen&paper games, you'll come to despise the method.

Similar to what Tvtyrant suggests, I've switched over to just doing mine on crits.
Score a crit, roll a d100 for any additional injury, no fussing about with any special threshold based on different hp levels, be they current or max.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?591859-Making-a-new-crit-table-outcome-farming&highlight=crit

Zhorn
2019-08-09, 12:17 AM
That's one of the reasons why I switched to the d100 roll on a crit, it enables you to weight the values of the really dangerous stuff to a narrow range.
Plus by not tying everything into damage thresholds, you can maintain the threat of low CR creatures without needing to buff their statblocks. 5 kobolds is barely a threat after a few levels even with pack tactics, but if a crit still has a chance to gouge an eye or slice a tendon, then ALL combats pose some real danger at any level.

Also importantly, not all the consequences need to be equally detrimental to all character types.
A wizard with a broken arm can still make their somatic gestures using their other hand, and a barbarian is still going to be a raging machine with that disfiguring scar across their face.
But give that broken arm to a fighter and they'll really need to adjust their battle tactics till they can get it healed, and that bard is going to have a crisis of identity if their beautiful face has been tarnished in any way that will prevent them from swooning the noble's servants into divulging information.

Bjarkmundur
2019-08-09, 11:37 AM
I'm going to subscribe to this thread, just so I can come back with some better insight after playtesting my personal choice of a Lingering Injury system.