I saw a comment earlier saying they were bringing bloodied back. I had no idea it had gone away and I had actually been using my own version of it since the 1980’s.
I know this will not be an idea for all of you, and some will think it is over thinking. But that is ok. I am just sharing my idea. But am a detail oriented person and I run my games with details. And to pat myself on the back I believe my players appreciate something that is not cookie cutter dnd.
The rule is that if they are at or below %50 hits they are bloodied. So I inspired myself to create a bloodied table. Based on percentage of full health for an enemy or player. I used a combination of AI and my own thoughts. Still working on the percentages. But I will use this because I often get questions as to how bloodied they look.
Light Wounds
100 - 91 Scratched
>>>>>Minor wounds, barely a scratch, no significant impact on the character's abilities.
90 - 66 Bruised
>>>>>A bit of damage, but still very minor. The character is mostly unharmed.
65 - 56 Nicked
>>>>>A small cut or wound, noticeable but not threatening.
Moderate Wounds
55 - 46 Bloodied
>>>>>The character is at or below half of their maximum hit points. They are visibly hurt.
45 - 41 Injured
>>>>>The character has taken a fair amount of damage and is starting to show signs of serious wear.
40 - 36 Wounded
>>>>>The character is bleeding and may be visibly struggling, but they are still capable of fighting.
Severe Wounds
35 - 26 Heavily Wounded
>>>>>The character is seriously injured, with multiple wounds. They are in danger of collapsing.
25 - 16 Grievously Wounded
>>>>>The character is on the brink of falling unconscious, with severe and life-threatening injuries.
15 - 6 Critical Condition
>>>>>The character is barely holding on, with wounds so severe they might be fatal if not treated immediately.
Near Death
5 - 3 Mortally Wounded
>>>>>The character is in a dire state, with wounds so severe that death is imminent without immediate aid.
2 - 1 On Death's Door
>>>>>The character is one step away from death, bleeding profusely and barely conscious, if at all.
0>>>>Dying
>>>>>The character is actively losing life and may pass away within moments if no action is taken.
If damage is bleeding damage I may consider the enemy or player looses additional damage from bleeding to death. I probably won't as it would overly complicate things.
I had done something where if the character or monster lost 40% or more of their hit points in a single round it could go into shock
That's nice, but do any of those statuses actually do anything?
Mechanically, no (unless a DMs choose to, e.g., DMs that run a grittier game). They do, however, provide important information for PCs in combat that will influence their actions.
I did notice “bloodied” once in the new PHB, with life cleric’s channel divinity. It works the same as in ‘14, (giving hp to anyone below 1/2 max) they just added the condition name.
Bloodied was previously only a meaningful term of art in 4e, which used it in exactly the same way as 5e is going to use it -- it didn't do anything directly, but certain abilities keyed off of the bloodied status. For example, the boar has a Bloodied Fury trait.
As someone who played 4e for its entire life cycle, I absolutely continued using the bloodied condition into 5e. In fact, I use the Improved Initiative combat tracker for 5e, which has the option to mark creatures as bloodied when they are reduced to half or fewer of their hit points. It's a valuable milestone and indicator even if it does not trigger anything on its own.
Bloodied was previously only a meaningful term of art in 4e, which used it in exactly the same way as 5e is going to use it -- it didn't do anything directly, but certain abilities keyed off of the bloodied status. For example, the boar has a Bloodied Fury trait.
It took me to just this year to get my players from using the term, and I show the AC and HP of all monsters.
As someone who played 4e for its entire life cycle, I absolutely continued using the bloodied condition into 5e. In fact, I use the Improved Initiative combat tracker for 5e, which has the option to mark creatures as bloodied when they are reduced to half or fewer of their hit points. It's a valuable milestone and indicator even if it does not trigger anything on its own.
I had no idea it was a thing in 4e. I had been using a form of it on my own since AD&D when people would ask how bad they look.
As someone who played 4e for its entire life cycle, I absolutely continued using the bloodied condition into 5e. In fact, I use the Improved Initiative combat tracker for 5e, which has the option to mark creatures as bloodied when they are reduced to half or fewer of their hit points. It's a valuable milestone and indicator even if it does not trigger anything on its own.
I had no idea it was a thing in 4e. I had been using a form of it on my own since AD&D when people would ask how bad they look.
Yeah, the first time I remember seeing it used as an official game term was 4e. I don't believe it was ever an official game term prior to that, but like you I think a lot of DMs had their down version of it.
I remember experimenting once with not allowing my players to know how many HP they had. We just had names for how wounded they were. But after a few sessions we all decided the juice wasn't worth the squeeze and we abandoned it. But it was definitely an interesting experiment.
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I saw a comment earlier saying they were bringing bloodied back. I had no idea it had gone away and I had actually been using my own version of it since the 1980’s.
I know this will not be an idea for all of you, and some will think it is over thinking. But that is ok. I am just sharing my idea. But am a detail oriented person and I run my games with details. And to pat myself on the back I believe my players appreciate something that is not cookie cutter dnd.
The rule is that if they are at or below %50 hits they are bloodied. So I inspired myself to create a bloodied table. Based on percentage of full health for an enemy or player. I used a combination of AI and my own thoughts. Still working on the percentages. But I will use this because I often get questions as to how bloodied they look.
Light Wounds
100 - 91 Scratched
>>>>>Minor wounds, barely a scratch, no significant impact on the character's abilities.
90 - 66 Bruised
>>>>>A bit of damage, but still very minor. The character is mostly unharmed.
65 - 56 Nicked
>>>>>A small cut or wound, noticeable but not threatening.
Moderate Wounds
55 - 46 Bloodied
>>>>>The character is at or below half of their maximum hit points. They are visibly hurt.
45 - 41 Injured
>>>>>The character has taken a fair amount of damage and is starting to show signs of serious wear.
40 - 36 Wounded
>>>>>The character is bleeding and may be visibly struggling, but they are still capable of fighting.
Severe Wounds
35 - 26 Heavily Wounded
>>>>>The character is seriously injured, with multiple wounds. They are in danger of collapsing.
25 - 16 Grievously Wounded
>>>>>The character is on the brink of falling unconscious, with severe and life-threatening injuries.
15 - 6 Critical Condition
>>>>>The character is barely holding on, with wounds so severe they might be fatal if not treated immediately.
Near Death
5 - 3 Mortally Wounded
>>>>>The character is in a dire state, with wounds so severe that death is imminent without immediate aid.
2 - 1 On Death's Door
>>>>>The character is one step away from death, bleeding profusely and barely conscious, if at all.
0>>>>Dying
>>>>>The character is actively losing life and may pass away within moments if no action is taken.
I have been further inspired to add to bloodied.
If damage is bleeding damage I may consider the enemy or player looses additional damage from bleeding to death. I probably won't as it would overly complicate things.
I had done something where if the character or monster lost 40% or more of their hit points in a single round it could go into shock
That's nice, but do any of those statuses actually do anything?
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Mechanically, no (unless a DMs choose to, e.g., DMs that run a grittier game). They do, however, provide important information for PCs in combat that will influence their actions.
Started playing AD&D in the late 70s and stopped in the mid-80s. Started immersing myself into 5e in 2023
I did notice “bloodied” once in the new PHB, with life cleric’s channel divinity. It works the same as in ‘14, (giving hp to anyone below 1/2 max) they just added the condition name.
There might be other times I didn’t see, as well.
Bloodied was previously only a meaningful term of art in 4e, which used it in exactly the same way as 5e is going to use it -- it didn't do anything directly, but certain abilities keyed off of the bloodied status. For example, the boar has a Bloodied Fury trait.
As someone who played 4e for its entire life cycle, I absolutely continued using the bloodied condition into 5e. In fact, I use the Improved Initiative combat tracker for 5e, which has the option to mark creatures as bloodied when they are reduced to half or fewer of their hit points. It's a valuable milestone and indicator even if it does not trigger anything on its own.
It took me to just this year to get my players from using the term, and I show the AC and HP of all monsters.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
They are the response to the question how blooddied is the enemy
I had no idea it was a thing in 4e. I had been using a form of it on my own since AD&D when people would ask how bad they look.
Yeah, the first time I remember seeing it used as an official game term was 4e. I don't believe it was ever an official game term prior to that, but like you I think a lot of DMs had their down version of it.
I remember experimenting once with not allowing my players to know how many HP they had. We just had names for how wounded they were. But after a few sessions we all decided the juice wasn't worth the squeeze and we abandoned it. But it was definitely an interesting experiment.