Today I was thinking about 5e combat and party health and healing. For my next campaign, I am thinking about altering the health system as I really liked how fatigue worked and thought it would incorporate well into falling unconscious. At first, I was just going to use the fatigue levels, which I guess is an easier way to go about doing but I didn't want to confuse my players if they overlapped. So far my thoughts are the following:
Hitpoints renamed to Endurance otherwise functions as normal
New Condition: Injuries
injuries function much like fatigue with varying levels that are progressed up and down. 1 level is removed after a long rest or lesser restoration spell. Greater restoration removes all levels. Each time a player has reduced to 0 or lower Endurance they gain 1 level of injuries. If they fail 3 death saving throws while unconscious they gain another level of injury.
Levels of injuries:
Bruised. No penalties are issued.
Hurt. -1 penalty to ability checks, saving throws, attack rolls.
Injured. -2 penalty to ability checks, saving throws, attack rolls. Unable to take the dash action
Wounded. -3 penalty to ability checks, saving throws, attack rolls. movement speed reduced by half
Mauled. -4 penalty ability checks, saving throws, attack rolls, unable to take reactions and bonus actions
Crippled. -5 to ability checks, saving throws, attack rolls and movement speed reduced to 0.
Coma. A character who succeeds in making all death saving throws remains in a coma state until healed through time or magic. If they fail their death saving throws they die
I am also planning to ask my players if they would like critical hits and massive damage to apply 1 level of injury as well. This also potentially changes death from 3 failed death saving throws to 21 failed death saving throws that get harder to pass.
What are your thoughts on this idea and has anyone tried something similar before and if so how did it go and what did you do/learn?
So, basically characters are a lot more difficult to kill - I assume this applies to enemies as well?
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The system I'm running with uses negative hit points.
A player can go as far negative as their Constitution score. When they exceed that value they make a death saving throw. On a failure they die.
Once they go negative they make a Constitution saving throw. The DC is 10 plus however negative their hitpoints are. If they succeed then they remain conscious. If they fail then they go unconscious. In addition when they go negative they receive a wound/injury. While at a negative HP value if they take damage and at the end of their turn they must make another Contribution save to remain conscious. Failure on the end of turn save also means a loss of 2 hitpoints, success means a loss of 1 hit point. They are effectively bleeding out. Spare the dying or use of a medicine kit can stop the bleeding.
Wounds/injuries are gained any time a players hit points go negative, or for each 25 points of fall damage, or each 25 points of damage from a critical hit.
The effects of wounds/injuries is a reduction in their movement speed of 5' and their dex and con drop by 1 point. 10 hitpoints of magical healing can be used to fix a wound/injury but at the expense of not restoring those 10 hitpoints.
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Today I was thinking about 5e combat and party health and healing. For my next campaign, I am thinking about altering the health system as I really liked how fatigue worked and thought it would incorporate well into falling unconscious. At first, I was just going to use the fatigue levels, which I guess is an easier way to go about doing but I didn't want to confuse my players if they overlapped. So far my thoughts are the following:
I am also planning to ask my players if they would like critical hits and massive damage to apply 1 level of injury as well. This also potentially changes death from 3 failed death saving throws to 21 failed death saving throws that get harder to pass.
What are your thoughts on this idea and has anyone tried something similar before and if so how did it go and what did you do/learn?
So, basically characters are a lot more difficult to kill - I assume this applies to enemies as well?
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
So it takes 18 failed death saves to die, the trade off being that you get worse at moving and attacking the more you fail.
I'm fine with the injury progression, but think that they should be given a little more frequently while down.
The system I'm running with uses negative hit points.
A player can go as far negative as their Constitution score. When they exceed that value they make a death saving throw. On a failure they die.
Once they go negative they make a Constitution saving throw. The DC is 10 plus however negative their hitpoints are. If they succeed then they remain conscious. If they fail then they go unconscious. In addition when they go negative they receive a wound/injury. While at a negative HP value if they take damage and at the end of their turn they must make another Contribution save to remain conscious. Failure on the end of turn save also means a loss of 2 hitpoints, success means a loss of 1 hit point. They are effectively bleeding out. Spare the dying or use of a medicine kit can stop the bleeding.
Wounds/injuries are gained any time a players hit points go negative, or for each 25 points of fall damage, or each 25 points of damage from a critical hit.
The effects of wounds/injuries is a reduction in their movement speed of 5' and their dex and con drop by 1 point. 10 hitpoints of magical healing can be used to fix a wound/injury but at the expense of not restoring those 10 hitpoints.