Erk
2008-07-08, 07:55 PM
Advice Please, Really It's Cool, OK? Thoughts?
Or maybe "Add, Please, Really Interesting Critiques On Topic", thanks mikeejimbo.
I like 4e HP so far. I like that they are abstract, a rule I always implemented but had trouble getting some players to recognise. I don't quite care for how easy they are to get back, though. I don't want them to be like 2e, but I do want at least some mechanic in place to grit things up when the fighting gets dirty.
Fluffy handwave: Until a character is Bloodied, he or she has not yet been hit, or not hard enough to draw blood/create a meaningful wound. Hit points pre-Bloodied can be cured normally and easily.
Post-bloodying, any attack that does more than 10% of the character's HP in damage (call this the Wound Threshold and write it down) does 1/2 of its damage (min 1) in wounds. Wounds take time to heal: in one day the character will heal CON bonus in wounds after a full rest period. Until this time the character's HP maximum is lessened.
Using the Heal skill on an injured character before he or she rests will increase the number of wounds healed. The healer makes a check, DC=the value of the wounds. If the check exceeds the wound value, the number of points by which the check succeeded are added to the amount healed that night.
Criticals: criticals always hit the character, regardless of if he or she is bloodied or whether or not it surpasses a character's Wound Threshold. In other words, a critical always does 1/2 of its damage in wounds.
bonus: this could lead to homebrew powers and weapons that do more wound damage, or magic spells that make wounds that are harder to heal.
For example: Hardroc the Human has 100 HP, but has been reduced to 50. He is bloodied: the last hit from that goblin's mace actually connected hard enough for him to feel it.
The next hit is an arrow that does 5 damage. Hardroc is down to 45 HP, but has no wounds: the arrow grazes him as he pulls his injured arm out of the way. Then another arrow hits, doing 11 damage. This time, it connects, and Hardroc shouts inadvertantly as blood runs from a gash in his leather armour. He's down to 34 HP. More, since that last hit did more than 10% of his HP max, he's taken 1/2 of it in wounds, or 5 points. Until he can rest and heal, nothing can bring his total back to more than 95 HP. The fight ends, leaving Hardroc wounded.
Fortunately, Hardroc has a Con modifier of +3. Spazzaiel, the Elf, binds his wounds before they sleep, rolling an 8 on the heal check. That exceeds the wound amount by 3, so Hardroc heals 6 points of wounds - all of them - that night.
Or maybe "Add, Please, Really Interesting Critiques On Topic", thanks mikeejimbo.
I like 4e HP so far. I like that they are abstract, a rule I always implemented but had trouble getting some players to recognise. I don't quite care for how easy they are to get back, though. I don't want them to be like 2e, but I do want at least some mechanic in place to grit things up when the fighting gets dirty.
Fluffy handwave: Until a character is Bloodied, he or she has not yet been hit, or not hard enough to draw blood/create a meaningful wound. Hit points pre-Bloodied can be cured normally and easily.
Post-bloodying, any attack that does more than 10% of the character's HP in damage (call this the Wound Threshold and write it down) does 1/2 of its damage (min 1) in wounds. Wounds take time to heal: in one day the character will heal CON bonus in wounds after a full rest period. Until this time the character's HP maximum is lessened.
Using the Heal skill on an injured character before he or she rests will increase the number of wounds healed. The healer makes a check, DC=the value of the wounds. If the check exceeds the wound value, the number of points by which the check succeeded are added to the amount healed that night.
Criticals: criticals always hit the character, regardless of if he or she is bloodied or whether or not it surpasses a character's Wound Threshold. In other words, a critical always does 1/2 of its damage in wounds.
bonus: this could lead to homebrew powers and weapons that do more wound damage, or magic spells that make wounds that are harder to heal.
For example: Hardroc the Human has 100 HP, but has been reduced to 50. He is bloodied: the last hit from that goblin's mace actually connected hard enough for him to feel it.
The next hit is an arrow that does 5 damage. Hardroc is down to 45 HP, but has no wounds: the arrow grazes him as he pulls his injured arm out of the way. Then another arrow hits, doing 11 damage. This time, it connects, and Hardroc shouts inadvertantly as blood runs from a gash in his leather armour. He's down to 34 HP. More, since that last hit did more than 10% of his HP max, he's taken 1/2 of it in wounds, or 5 points. Until he can rest and heal, nothing can bring his total back to more than 95 HP. The fight ends, leaving Hardroc wounded.
Fortunately, Hardroc has a Con modifier of +3. Spazzaiel, the Elf, binds his wounds before they sleep, rolling an 8 on the heal check. That exceeds the wound amount by 3, so Hardroc heals 6 points of wounds - all of them - that night.