I've been studying D&D for the past 7 months & haven't played a single game yet because, apparently, almost every friend I have is "allergic to reading" (many have complained they wouldn't have time to even skim through the PHB) 🙄 but it would be "game on" if I tell them one of my best friends (Kanye) is playing 😔
Anyway... I've finally managed to round up 5 (perhaps 6) friends to play with out here in Los Angeles, CA where I'll be spending the next 2-3 months of my life in most likely
This will be my very first game play after helping them create characters; I also try to give in-person "tutorials" on game mechanics... not sure if any of them have begun thoroughly reading the PHB they have access to via my D&D Beyond campaign content sharing
Enough w/ my (pathetic) backstory & onto my questions & concerns:
In my attempt @ playing RAW & trying to make game play as "real" as possible I'm looking to implement certain variant rules I've found in the DMG re: the subject heading above
1. Healer's Kit Dependency (DMG 266) - can't spend Hit Dice after finishing Short Rest until someone uses a healer's kit to bandage & treat wounds (love this idea)
2. Slow Natural Healing (DMG 267) - can't regain HP @ end of Long Rest but instead would have to spend Hit Dice (like this rule, a lot)
3. Gritty Realism (DMG 267) - Short Rest = 8 hours | Long Rest = 7 days (I'm assuming tenday still constitutes a full week in the Forgotten Realms)
So my questions are as follows...
A. After spending Hit Dice @ the end of a Long Rest would it make sense for PC to automatically get half of their Hit Dice back (rounded down) immediately after spending them?
B. Also, how would this work for one (1) Hit Die?
C. If, by normal game mechanics/rules, spell casters & certain abilities get replenished after a Long Rest which would normally take 8 hours, which I generally equated to "a full night's sleep" (a day) should I then allow my PCs to be able to regenerate their abilities every day or would that totally defeat the purpose?
For example: if a spell caster expends their 4 1st level spell slots & 2 2nd level spell slots in their first combat of the week should I then allow them a certain # of days (say 5 or 7's worth) of their spell slots & abilities to be used... basically giving them an extension on their spell casting & ability period? Please keep in mind they are all brand new to this game & I have 0 experience playing/DMing myself though I've been reading all of the source books for the past 7 months or so.
Any help/guidance, advice w/ this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance. 🙏🏾
By the way, Kanye's actually very interested & down to play; he's really just waiting on me to have my first game to tell him about my experience - He's chosen his race & class & I started his account on here (DnD Beyond) but we just haven't made it to the actual character build just yet... Going to try to get him to do it this weekend. Wish me luck! 😅
This might not be helpful, but if this is your and your players first time, you might want to stay away from the gritty realism rules, and pretty much most optional rules.
The basic rules are easier to understand, and they’ll let your players feel more like they are running badass heroes. The gritty realism rules can make the characters feel much more fragile. Optional rules add a layer of complexity, and you might want to get the basics under your belt first.
Then after a campaign (I’ve heard lost mines of Phandelver is great for first time players and DMs) you can all talk together and decide which, if any, optional rules you want to incorporate in the next one. And since you’ve played a bit, you’ll have a better sense of the implications of those choices.
Without having actually played the game, you won't really have any idea what the changes you propose would do. I would say it is better to play as written until you have a firm grasp the the game. In my few decades of play, I haven't gotten to that point yet. They keep coming out with new editions of the game.
One of the points that jumps out at me is Cantrips. Wizards get a bunch of them. They are generally much better than weapons. Their damage is as good or better than 90% of the weapons available to the warrior types, they are ranged, and with almost no limits on how many times they may be used in a day. That makes Wizards better in a fight than warriors. Off the top of my head I can't think of *anyone* able to cast Cantrips that would not be better than a warrior in war.
Those variant rules make the game a lot harder for the players, especially at low levels. Healer kit dependency costs money, slow natural healing is draining the healing resource (hit dice), which only recover 1/2 per long rest, so a 2nd level character would only recover 1 hd per long rest. You would then have the group depend on magical healing like healing potions, which are quite pricey for a low level group.
The last one, gritty realism, eliminates spell recovery for (most of) your spell casters during adventuring. Which in turn means they can't cast spells to heal party members.
You can still pull it off, but you probably will have to change your approach to published adventures. They assume 3 - 5 encounters during and adventuring 'day', which actually translates 'per long rest', and you have dilated the timeframe for that to a week. So it should be 3 - 5 encounters per week in that case. For an adventure like Icespire Peak, that may be feasible, if you are careful, but it does have a 'ticking clock' built in. You will probably have to adjust the timeframe for that, too.
D&D assumes a high fantasy setting, these optional rules are more suitable for low fantasy, or sword-and-sorcery genres.
Those variant rules make the game a lot harder for the players, especially at low levels. Healer kit dependency costs money, slow natural healing is draining the healing resource (hit dice), which only recover 1/2 per long rest, so a 2nd level character would only recover 1 hd per long rest. You would then have the group depend on magical healing like healing potions, which are quite pricey for a low level group.
The last one, gritty realism, eliminates spell recovery for (most of) your spell casters during adventuring. Which in turn means they can't cast spells to heal party members.
You can still pull it off, but you probably will have to change your approach to published adventures. They assume 3 - 5 encounters during and adventuring 'day', which actually translates 'per long rest', and you have dilated the timeframe for that to a week. So it should be 3 - 5 encounters per week in that case. For an adventure like Icespire Peak, that may be feasible, if you are careful, but it does have a 'ticking clock' built in. You will probably have to adjust the timeframe for that, too.
D&D assumes a high fantasy setting, these optional rules are more suitable for low fantasy, or sword-and-sorcery genres.
And running a published campaign using these rules will mean that the players get bored just having their characters sitting around in town while they get healed or otherwise wait long enough to recover all their resources.
Rather than discourage you from using the grittier options in the DMG as some posters, I'll just say be mindful that published adventures (especially the introductory ones) are largely written for the high fantasy presumptions most of the respondents are defending. If you want your game's violence to have "realistic" consequences, your game is going to encourage the players to think about non-violent or less violent resolutions to encounters. Make sure the adventure gives them space for that. "Realistically" if your characters' opponents are level appropriate humanoid types, they also may be less inclined to violence so the natural thing may be to talk, bribe, brag against each other till one side back downs. Maybe sieges will be more a thing in your game. Not like big army stuff, but like one party surrounds or gets surrounded and then there's an attrition game getting played. Intimidation is a rough mechanic, and I wouldn't necessarily impose it on PCs, let them back off by their own read if they want to. Also if push comes to shove and the party does get violent, and gets beat down, make sure the adventurers' eco-system has the infrastructure to support the longer recovery times. Does the party go back to town? Can they? If they can't, where can they rest securely? Is the adventure on some sort of timetable, where if the party doesn't succeed in a task in x days, bad things happen. If that's the case, you'll need to adjust that timetable to accommodate for your game's grittiness because they likely won't be able to keep to deadlines as written.
Some may say if you go that route you're not playing in the spirit of D&D, I think it's fine. Honestly I'm ambivalent about the short/long rest mechanic. It does keep things moving, but sometimes there's role playing opportunities in convalescence, plus necessary adaptations which can make for good gaming. Of course, I cut my gaming teeth on Twilight: 2000 where characters had to contend with recovering from "realistic" gun shot wounds, scavenge for food, potable water, etc. in country's where few party members spoke the local language. So I like thinking about aftermath to violence contingencies almost reflexively.
When you start playing, if you got the time, I'd love to read a game log or whatever you got going on, maybe posted in the story and lore section. Keep the board posted if you're inclined.
I also love the gritty realism rules, but keep in mind that they won’t match with the intended pacing of Dragon of Icespire Peak. Unless you’re okay with the characters going back to town for a short rest two or three times before they clear an area, you’re better off using the regular rules and saving the gritty ones for your own adventures, where you can pace the story accordingly.
Also, I can’t blame your friends for being hesitant. The PHB is long as hell and poorly laid out, and if the most interesting game rulebook they’ve ever read is for Settlers of Catan, they’d probably expect to have more fun with a history textbook. Back in the day, the PHB came with a nice short “choose your own adventure” story section that introduced you to all the important rules as you went, and it was really all you needed to get started. I don’t know why they don’t bring that back.
A. After spending Hit Dice @ the end of a Long Rest would it make sense for PC to automatically get half of their Hit Dice back (rounded down) immediately after spending them?
B. Also, how would this work for one (1) Hit Die?
C. If, by normal game mechanics/rules, spell casters & certain abilities get replenished after a Long Rest which would normally take 8 hours, which I generally equated to "a full night's sleep" (a day) should I then allow my PCs to be able to regenerate their abilities every day or would that totally defeat the purpose?
For example: if a spell caster expends their 4 1st level spell slots & 2 2nd level spell slots in their first combat of the week should I then allow them a certain # of days (say 5 or 7's worth) of their spell slots & abilities to be used... basically giving them an extension on their spell casting & ability period? Please keep in mind they are all brand new to this game & I have 0 experience playing/DMing myself though I've been reading all of the source books for the past 7 months or so.
Sorry, I only addressed the first half of your questions before.
A. I used this for a long rest, when I used the rules for a sword-and-sorcery adventure: Long rest starts – long rest ends – spend Hit Dice – regain spell slots – reduce exhaustion – regain Hit Dice It may not be the 'official' reading of the rules, but it worked well for me.
B. D&D usually rounds down any fractions, but it also states you recover a minimum of 1 hd per long rest.
C. Gritty realism changes the durations of a short rest and long rest. So abilities that recover on a short rest would recover after 8 hours, and abilities that recover on a long rest after 7 days. You don't have to adhere to this, however, as those are optional rules anyways. If you want to keep ability recovery at 1 hour/8 hours, that is OK, too.
A long rest is not at the end of 7 days of adventuring, it is after 7 days of resting. So a spellcaster would have to stay in a safe and rest-y spot for 7 full days to recover their spell slots.
The Dragon of Icespire Peak is an adventure meant for use with the standard rules. If you have no experience with those rules you can't know what changing them will do.
Attempts to make things "realistic" in a fantasy game are futile. You've already lost all hope when the first spell is cast.
Some of these options can be great, but a lot of them can detract from the overall experience of playing DnD. For one, it would slow exploration and combat to a crawl as players would be terrified of taking any damage. It would severely limit the range of adventures and quests that you could run as a DM.
Sure you want your players to rescue that town girl that got kidnapped by goblins, unfortunately, the players fell on a spike trap on the way there and they are gonna need a week to recover. It would severely limit healers and they would pretty much need to hold all their slots for healing. It would severely limit the number and intensity of encounters that you can throw at your players.
I’m a pretty stubborn dude so now, despite great advice from very experienced & seasoned players (& I can’t even refer to myself as a “newbie” because that would imply that I’ve actually played a game)…
What everyone has said so far makes sense but I’m still wrestling w/ the idea of bringing more realism to the game vs. what you all say would make the most sense
I'm leaning in your direction but part of me still wants to try… the crash n’ burn on my own. 😞
I’m a pretty stubborn dude so now, despite great advice from very experienced & seasoned players (& I can’t even refer to myself as a “newbie” because that would imply that I’ve actually played a game)…
What everyone has said so far makes sense but I’m still wrestling w/ the idea of bringing more realism to the game vs. what you all say would make the most sense
I'm leaning in your direction but part of me still wants to try… the crash n’ burn on my own. 😞
I will first of all just follow up on what has been said already, if your players have never played DnD then I would say you risk losing your first ever party pretty early on as they get frustrated and or bored. But if you are determined to carry on then you must ensure your players at low levels have easy regular access to lots of healing potions. Otherwise your gritty realistic adventure will potentially see the players dead by the 3rd session through no real fault of their own.
I have not used these rules with DnD but I have played many other systems that have equally harsh healing rules, cyberpunk is the most recent, and on the whole I find dms and players tend to work to simplify and make those healing rules more akin to the DnD rules you want to change.
I’m a pretty stubborn dude so now, despite great advice from very experienced & seasoned players (& I can’t even refer to myself as a “newbie” because that would imply that I’ve actually played a game)…
What everyone has said so far makes sense but I’m still wrestling w/ the idea of bringing more realism to the game vs. what you all say would make the most sense
I'm leaning in your direction but part of me still wants to try… the crash n’ burn on my own. 😞
This game is to be played for fun, so if that's fun for you, go for it!
The only thing I'd suggest is tell your players. Let them know you are intrigued by gritty realism and you'll start the game dialed up to twelve to check it out. If it's too hard and not fun, you can dial it back.
I’m a pretty stubborn dude so now, despite great advice from very experienced & seasoned players (& I can’t even refer to myself as a “newbie” because that would imply that I’ve actually played a game)…
What everyone has said so far makes sense but I’m still wrestling w/ the idea of bringing more realism to the game vs. what you all say would make the most sense
I'm leaning in your direction but part of me still wants to try… the crash n’ burn on my own. 😞
I will first of all just follow up on what has been said already, if your players have never played DnD then I would say you risk losing your first ever party pretty early on as they get frustrated and or bored. But if you are determined to carry on then you must ensure your players at low levels have easy regular access to lots of healing potions. Otherwise your gritty realistic adventure will potentially see the players dead by the 3rd session through no real fault of their own.
I have not used these rules with DnD but I have played many other systems that have equally harsh healing rules, cyberpunk is the most recent, and on the whole I find dms and players tend to work to simplify and make those healing rules more akin to the DnD rules you want to change.
I've told a couple of them & the other "half" of the group have been a bit too busy to dive into the PHB or link up w/ me for some game mechanic tutorials. 😔
I've told a couple of them, the other "half" of the group have been a bit too busy to dive into the PHB or link up w/ me for some game mechanic tutorials. 😔
I would say the great thing about DnD is that you don’t need the players to deep dive into the rules early on. I have successfully run sessions and taught as we go, the basic rules become fairly instinctive fairly quickly.
Dragon of icespire peak is good like that, but, I would say something I have always added into session 1 is some interaction in the town. For instance the players start off in the inn. There are a group in there playing cards, they invite one of the players to join them. Actually this is a scam, a gang of x many people fixing the cars game to take coin off the regulars. This leads to the first dice rolls. Perception checks to see if the gang are cheating, intimidation or other social skill rolls. I usually end this with the barkeep (who i flesh out as an ex adventurer who has settled down) chasing out the ruffians and taking the coin off them with help of the party.
From here then as they leave the inn to head to the jobs board the gang ambush them, stepping out and attacking them, this then allows the first combat. If it looks like it is getting a little tough for the players I have the innkeeper turn up with members of the town guard, he is hunting the gang to get them run out of town.
Then the players head off to the first adventure. Now the problem with the variant rules you wan to use is that at level 1 the party may well need to then spend a week on the town waiting before they go off to deal with the manticore threat, or warn the dwarves in order to heal up from this first encounter. This instantly removes the idea of any urgency from the game, but, if you send them out to deal with those first 3 encounters having used up spells and not fully healed, every one can be a TPK situation with the basic rules let alone your realistic gritty version. The manticore for instance can take out a full strength party without some tweaking.
I respect the underlying issue you want to address, and I have given this subject some thought myself.
The problem as I see it is some players essentially metagame the healing system and act like, "ah, who cares. We're going to take a long rest after this anyway." and they don't give a thought to preserving their resources (spell slots and stuff) and they recklessly engage in combat where a sane being would want to reduce the pain they might experience.
But, I have concluded that worrying about these sort of things and changing the system is likely worse than the original problem.
As best as I can see it, the gritty realism rules would only lead to parties sitting still for days on end waiting for their resources to come back up. This wouldn't be fun for the players or the DM.
Using Healing Kits makes sense and gives the party a reason to get 'natural healing resources' from their skills, tools and feats. In that case, the party doesn't have to pay for all their Healing Kits. Your party benefits from a Bard and their Song of Rest feature, which allows them to regain HP during a short rest.
Whenever you want to adapt the rules, try your best to avoid running over someone's class features or their specific build. It is a very bad thing for a DM to 'erase' a PCs ability.
Good luck in finding the sweet spot. And if you do, please share it with us, because this is one subject lots of folks would like to "fix". It seems Munchkin Like for PCs to wake up fully healed after they went to bed with only 2 HP. The best solution I have found is to have multiple combat encounters in a typical day, when you're away from settlements.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Good morning all ☀️
I've been studying D&D for the past 7 months & haven't played a single game yet because, apparently, almost every friend I have is "allergic to reading" (many have complained they wouldn't have time to even skim through the PHB) 🙄 but it would be "game on" if I tell them one of my best friends (Kanye) is playing 😔
Anyway... I've finally managed to round up 5 (perhaps 6) friends to play with out here in Los Angeles, CA where I'll be spending the next 2-3 months of my life in most likely
This will be my very first game play after helping them create characters; I also try to give in-person "tutorials" on game mechanics... not sure if any of them have begun thoroughly reading the PHB they have access to via my D&D Beyond campaign content sharing
Enough w/ my (pathetic) backstory & onto my questions & concerns:
In my attempt @ playing RAW & trying to make game play as "real" as possible I'm looking to implement certain variant rules I've found in the DMG re: the subject heading above
1. Healer's Kit Dependency (DMG 266) - can't spend Hit Dice after finishing Short Rest until someone uses a healer's kit to bandage & treat wounds (love this idea)
2. Slow Natural Healing (DMG 267) - can't regain HP @ end of Long Rest but instead would have to spend Hit Dice (like this rule, a lot)
3. Gritty Realism (DMG 267) - Short Rest = 8 hours | Long Rest = 7 days (I'm assuming tenday still constitutes a full week in the Forgotten Realms)
So my questions are as follows...
A. After spending Hit Dice @ the end of a Long Rest would it make sense for PC to automatically get half of their Hit Dice back (rounded down) immediately after spending them?
B. Also, how would this work for one (1) Hit Die?
C. If, by normal game mechanics/rules, spell casters & certain abilities get replenished after a Long Rest which would normally take 8 hours, which I generally equated to "a full night's sleep" (a day) should I then allow my PCs to be able to regenerate their abilities every day or would that totally defeat the purpose?
For example: if a spell caster expends their 4 1st level spell slots & 2 2nd level spell slots in their first combat of the week should I then allow them a certain # of days (say 5 or 7's worth) of their spell slots & abilities to be used... basically giving them an extension on their spell casting & ability period? Please keep in mind they are all brand new to this game & I have 0 experience playing/DMing myself though I've been reading all of the source books for the past 7 months or so.
Any help/guidance, advice w/ this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance. 🙏🏾
By the way, Kanye's actually very interested & down to play; he's really just waiting on me to have my first game to tell him about my experience - He's chosen his race & class & I started his account on here (DnD Beyond) but we just haven't made it to the actual character build just yet... Going to try to get him to do it this weekend. Wish me luck! 😅
This might not be helpful, but if this is your and your players first time, you might want to stay away from the gritty realism rules, and pretty much most optional rules.
The basic rules are easier to understand, and they’ll let your players feel more like they are running badass heroes. The gritty realism rules can make the characters feel much more fragile. Optional rules add a layer of complexity, and you might want to get the basics under your belt first.
Then after a campaign (I’ve heard lost mines of Phandelver is great for first time players and DMs) you can all talk together and decide which, if any, optional rules you want to incorporate in the next one. And since you’ve played a bit, you’ll have a better sense of the implications of those choices.
Without having actually played the game, you won't really have any idea what the changes you propose would do. I would say it is better to play as written until you have a firm grasp the the game. In my few decades of play, I haven't gotten to that point yet. They keep coming out with new editions of the game.
One of the points that jumps out at me is Cantrips. Wizards get a bunch of them. They are generally much better than weapons. Their damage is as good or better than 90% of the weapons available to the warrior types, they are ranged, and with almost no limits on how many times they may be used in a day. That makes Wizards better in a fight than warriors. Off the top of my head I can't think of *anyone* able to cast Cantrips that would not be better than a warrior in war.
<Insert clever signature here>
I’m prepping my notes for Dragon of Icespire Peak for my very first campaign/game play.
I think I’d still like to take a crack @ these variant rules because I’m more into the idea of bringing the game as close to true-to-life as possible.
I think if I study & learn the variant rules it would supplement the fact that these are, indeed, “variant”…
For me, it would be “regular” if I start off using them & continue to use them… (in theory).
Those variant rules make the game a lot harder for the players, especially at low levels. Healer kit dependency costs money, slow natural healing is draining the healing resource (hit dice), which only recover 1/2 per long rest, so a 2nd level character would only recover 1 hd per long rest. You would then have the group depend on magical healing like healing potions, which are quite pricey for a low level group.
The last one, gritty realism, eliminates spell recovery for (most of) your spell casters during adventuring. Which in turn means they can't cast spells to heal party members.
You can still pull it off, but you probably will have to change your approach to published adventures. They assume 3 - 5 encounters during and adventuring 'day', which actually translates 'per long rest', and you have dilated the timeframe for that to a week. So it should be 3 - 5 encounters per week in that case. For an adventure like Icespire Peak, that may be feasible, if you are careful, but it does have a 'ticking clock' built in. You will probably have to adjust the timeframe for that, too.
D&D assumes a high fantasy setting, these optional rules are more suitable for low fantasy, or sword-and-sorcery genres.
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
And running a published campaign using these rules will mean that the players get bored just having their characters sitting around in town while they get healed or otherwise wait long enough to recover all their resources.
Rather than discourage you from using the grittier options in the DMG as some posters, I'll just say be mindful that published adventures (especially the introductory ones) are largely written for the high fantasy presumptions most of the respondents are defending. If you want your game's violence to have "realistic" consequences, your game is going to encourage the players to think about non-violent or less violent resolutions to encounters. Make sure the adventure gives them space for that. "Realistically" if your characters' opponents are level appropriate humanoid types, they also may be less inclined to violence so the natural thing may be to talk, bribe, brag against each other till one side back downs. Maybe sieges will be more a thing in your game. Not like big army stuff, but like one party surrounds or gets surrounded and then there's an attrition game getting played. Intimidation is a rough mechanic, and I wouldn't necessarily impose it on PCs, let them back off by their own read if they want to. Also if push comes to shove and the party does get violent, and gets beat down, make sure the adventurers' eco-system has the infrastructure to support the longer recovery times. Does the party go back to town? Can they? If they can't, where can they rest securely? Is the adventure on some sort of timetable, where if the party doesn't succeed in a task in x days, bad things happen. If that's the case, you'll need to adjust that timetable to accommodate for your game's grittiness because they likely won't be able to keep to deadlines as written.
Some may say if you go that route you're not playing in the spirit of D&D, I think it's fine. Honestly I'm ambivalent about the short/long rest mechanic. It does keep things moving, but sometimes there's role playing opportunities in convalescence, plus necessary adaptations which can make for good gaming. Of course, I cut my gaming teeth on Twilight: 2000 where characters had to contend with recovering from "realistic" gun shot wounds, scavenge for food, potable water, etc. in country's where few party members spoke the local language. So I like thinking about aftermath to violence contingencies almost reflexively.
When you start playing, if you got the time, I'd love to read a game log or whatever you got going on, maybe posted in the story and lore section. Keep the board posted if you're inclined.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I also love the gritty realism rules, but keep in mind that they won’t match with the intended pacing of Dragon of Icespire Peak. Unless you’re okay with the characters going back to town for a short rest two or three times before they clear an area, you’re better off using the regular rules and saving the gritty ones for your own adventures, where you can pace the story accordingly.
Also, I can’t blame your friends for being hesitant. The PHB is long as hell and poorly laid out, and if the most interesting game rulebook they’ve ever read is for Settlers of Catan, they’d probably expect to have more fun with a history textbook. Back in the day, the PHB came with a nice short “choose your own adventure” story section that introduced you to all the important rules as you went, and it was really all you needed to get started. I don’t know why they don’t bring that back.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Sorry, I only addressed the first half of your questions before.
Long rest starts – long rest ends – spend Hit Dice – regain spell slots – reduce exhaustion – regain Hit Dice
It may not be the 'official' reading of the rules, but it worked well for me.
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
The Dragon of Icespire Peak is an adventure meant for use with the standard rules. If you have no experience with those rules you can't know what changing them will do.
Attempts to make things "realistic" in a fantasy game are futile. You've already lost all hope when the first spell is cast.
<Insert clever signature here>
I'm not sure they actually make anything harder per se unless there's a fairly short time limit, it just extends the timeline of an adventure.
Some of these options can be great, but a lot of them can detract from the overall experience of playing DnD. For one, it would slow exploration and combat to a crawl as players would be terrified of taking any damage. It would severely limit the range of adventures and quests that you could run as a DM.
Sure you want your players to rescue that town girl that got kidnapped by goblins, unfortunately, the players fell on a spike trap on the way there and they are gonna need a week to recover. It would severely limit healers and they would pretty much need to hold all their slots for healing. It would severely limit the number and intensity of encounters that you can throw at your players.
Ahhh okay. Gotcha
I’m a pretty stubborn dude so now, despite great advice from very experienced & seasoned players (& I can’t even refer to myself as a “newbie” because that would imply that I’ve actually played a game)…
What everyone has said so far makes sense but I’m still wrestling w/ the idea of bringing more realism to the game vs. what you all say would make the most sense
I'm leaning in your direction but part of me still wants to try… the crash n’ burn on my own. 😞
I will first of all just follow up on what has been said already, if your players have never played DnD then I would say you risk losing your first ever party pretty early on as they get frustrated and or bored. But if you are determined to carry on then you must ensure your players at low levels have easy regular access to lots of healing potions. Otherwise your gritty realistic adventure will potentially see the players dead by the 3rd session through no real fault of their own.
I have not used these rules with DnD but I have played many other systems that have equally harsh healing rules, cyberpunk is the most recent, and on the whole I find dms and players tend to work to simplify and make those healing rules more akin to the DnD rules you want to change.
This game is to be played for fun, so if that's fun for you, go for it!
The only thing I'd suggest is tell your players. Let them know you are intrigued by gritty realism and you'll start the game dialed up to twelve to check it out. If it's too hard and not fun, you can dial it back.
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
I've told a couple of them & the other "half" of the group have been a bit too busy to dive into the PHB or link up w/ me for some game mechanic tutorials. 😔
I would say the great thing about DnD is that you don’t need the players to deep dive into the rules early on. I have successfully run sessions and taught as we go, the basic rules become fairly instinctive fairly quickly.
Dragon of icespire peak is good like that, but, I would say something I have always added into session 1 is some interaction in the town. For instance the players start off in the inn. There are a group in there playing cards, they invite one of the players to join them. Actually this is a scam, a gang of x many people fixing the cars game to take coin off the regulars. This leads to the first dice rolls. Perception checks to see if the gang are cheating, intimidation or other social skill rolls. I usually end this with the barkeep (who i flesh out as an ex adventurer who has settled down) chasing out the ruffians and taking the coin off them with help of the party.
From here then as they leave the inn to head to the jobs board the gang ambush them, stepping out and attacking them, this then allows the first combat. If it looks like it is getting a little tough for the players I have the innkeeper turn up with members of the town guard, he is hunting the gang to get them run out of town.
Then the players head off to the first adventure.
Now the problem with the variant rules you wan to use is that at level 1 the party may well need to then spend a week on the town waiting before they go off to deal with the manticore threat, or warn the dwarves in order to heal up from this first encounter. This instantly removes the idea of any urgency from the game, but, if you send them out to deal with those first 3 encounters having used up spells and not fully healed, every one can be a TPK situation with the basic rules let alone your realistic gritty version. The manticore for instance can take out a full strength party without some tweaking.
I respect the underlying issue you want to address, and I have given this subject some thought myself.
The problem as I see it is some players essentially metagame the healing system and act like, "ah, who cares. We're going to take a long rest after this anyway." and they don't give a thought to preserving their resources (spell slots and stuff) and they recklessly engage in combat where a sane being would want to reduce the pain they might experience.
But, I have concluded that worrying about these sort of things and changing the system is likely worse than the original problem.
As best as I can see it, the gritty realism rules would only lead to parties sitting still for days on end waiting for their resources to come back up. This wouldn't be fun for the players or the DM.
Using Healing Kits makes sense and gives the party a reason to get 'natural healing resources' from their skills, tools and feats. In that case, the party doesn't have to pay for all their Healing Kits. Your party benefits from a Bard and their Song of Rest feature, which allows them to regain HP during a short rest.
Whenever you want to adapt the rules, try your best to avoid running over someone's class features or their specific build. It is a very bad thing for a DM to 'erase' a PCs ability.
Good luck in finding the sweet spot. And if you do, please share it with us, because this is one subject lots of folks would like to "fix". It seems Munchkin Like for PCs to wake up fully healed after they went to bed with only 2 HP. The best solution I have found is to have multiple combat encounters in a typical day, when you're away from settlements.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Thanks for this advice 🙏🏾