In the last game session Henril, the fighter was physically wounded. He was at -5 STR specifically. Now this didn't have an effect on his hit points once he had rested up, and since he was strong to begin with it didn't slow him down too much aside from his bonuses in combat. I like the idea of hit points being fatigue and stat damage being actual physical damage, I think it's working out well. However it was brought up that by automatically having damage move from HP to STR the system might be singling out Fighters and that even a pretty severe wound wouldn't really slow down some characters.
The suggestion was that Rogues or Hunters who were wounded wouldn't really be impacted since they don't rely on STR but can leverage DEX for their bonuses. As for the other classes, well they aside from being closer to death, it really didn't impact them if they weren't doing melee anyway. It was remarked (and not just by the player playing the fighter!) that maybe once you hit 0 hp the damage should translate to all the stats, a general -1 à la Savage Worlds, or maybe both the 'physical' stats DEX and STR should be impacted. I can see the logic in this and really if you have a broken rib you might not be at your best at the annual goose juggling competition either. I can see it impacting the other stats as well really - pain is distracting and it lowers your ability to be either pleasant or intimidating. The only problem I see for this is that if you are tracking more than one stat this way which one is going to indicate when you snuff it. If you have a 16 STR but a 7 DEX will you die at -7 or -16?
Why not simply apply the damage to each Attribute; Strength, Dexterity, Mind, Charisma? Does not an actual physical wound effect them all? Granted, which ever Attribute is the lowest will be the first to take the character out, but a well rolled damage result might bring more than one below zero.
ReplyDeletePerhaps even a 1d6 roll per wound to see what the maximum allowable recovery might be? For example; if a character is struck four times, bringing their Str and Cha below zero, they are out of the fight. To determine how much they can recover, using your Attribute recovery rules, they would roll 4d6. They might get all their Attribute points back, or could be Scarred and Weak.
Just thoughts,
Ya it really should be stat damage across the board, or at least to STR and DEX but I don't want fighters with 16 STR to wind up dead at -6 because that have a 6 DEX or MIND. I also don't want the physical damage mechanic to be complex or have interference with things like the Feebleminded spell (drops the target to MIND 1). I am leaning towards something like once you hit 0 hp, all stats drop by one per point of damage until they reach 0. When STR is 0 you are dead. The physical damage rules allow for multiple stats to recover in parallel so really this doesn't mean longer recovery times but it does mean you will be more impacted by physical damage.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like the idea of recovering some of the points after a combat and it would be a good house rule for running a more heroic game, but I think it's too complicated for the core rules.
I came back here, again, after seeing that you are thinking of putting this into the next version. Love it! Have you decided on how Stat Damage would work?
ReplyDelete"...I don't want fighters with 16 STR to wind up dead at -6 because that have a 6 DEX or MIND"
I would love this, but would not see them 'dead' until all stats are at < 0. If their DEX bails, they can't move, at least as far as combat is concerned. If their MIND goes, comma? STR tore up, can't fight back?
I really like this idea... can't wait to try the next version out.