I recently had an epiphany while helping my DM brainstorm game ideas for our upcoming campaign. I thought that, as a player, knowing how many HP you have is basically meta-gaming. With the intention of bringing realism to our game, making meta-gaming as minimal as possible, and just to simply make it seem less like a video game, I thought that it would be a great idea if the DM rolled/handled player characters' HP just like NPCs'. This way, someone playing a healer has to make gut decisions in the moment as the DM describes how badly hurt character's might be in certain situations.
I thought I'd share this, see what anyone else thinks, see if anyone had similar ideas. Let me know what you think.
When you get hit you feel it are you suggesting PCs don't have nerves?
I could see knowing a range of HP vs the exact value but not knowing how hurt you are seems very unrealistic. Maybe indicating if your at full, 3/4 , 1/2, 1/4, or less than 1/4 would work.
It would be up to the DM to describe how hurt the PC is, how fully healed the PC, etc.
I’ve made it so my group doesn’t have to do that. If a player at the table is at full to 3/4, the general response is “I’m okay” or “I don’t need it”. 3/4 to 1/2 is something like “You see some scratches and signs of battle” or “I’m hurt but I can keep going”. 1/2 to 1/4 is bloodied, so it goes “Yeah, I’m pretty hurt” or “You see some pretty serious wounds, obvious bleeding. They can’t keep going much longer if this keeps up”. Anything less than 1/4 is just “I’m on deaths door over here” or “Clothes appear torn, blood is pouring from their wounds. Their face is pale, cold sweats and shakes as the life is leaving their body”.
I agree metagaming is an issue, but video games have taken inspiration from D&D, which has used HP known from jump. Having facets of the character the person is playing unknown to them hardly seems fair to the players themselves.
With NPC's my general approach is to focus more on their attitudes rather than physical descriptions. After all, the game has players and NPC's at full capabilites until they hit 0, then they're all out.
So an NPC that is in the top third, is enthusiastic, confident, daring, excited, etc. Middle Third they're winded, wary, cautious, maybe a bit scratched up. In the bottom third they're scared, panicked, looking for an exit, this is when I might describe an actual blow sinking home past armor, blood running from wounds, etc.
PC's i generally encourage them to be less specific about numbers in general, on HP, armor, skills etc. Just describe to others their general condition. But i'm not super strict on that one.
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I recently had an epiphany while helping my DM brainstorm game ideas for our upcoming campaign. I thought that, as a player, knowing how many HP you have is basically meta-gaming. With the intention of bringing realism to our game, making meta-gaming as minimal as possible, and just to simply make it seem less like a video game, I thought that it would be a great idea if the DM rolled/handled player characters' HP just like NPCs'. This way, someone playing a healer has to make gut decisions in the moment as the DM describes how badly hurt character's might be in certain situations.
I thought I'd share this, see what anyone else thinks, see if anyone had similar ideas. Let me know what you think.
Tommy
Bryan, Texas, USA
When you get hit you feel it are you suggesting PCs don't have nerves?
I could see knowing a range of HP vs the exact value but not knowing how hurt you are seems very unrealistic. Maybe indicating if your at full, 3/4 , 1/2, 1/4, or less than 1/4 would work.
It would be up to the DM to describe how hurt the PC is, how fully healed the PC, etc.
I’ve made it so my group doesn’t have to do that. If a player at the table is at full to 3/4, the general response is “I’m okay” or “I don’t need it”. 3/4 to 1/2 is something like “You see some scratches and signs of battle” or “I’m hurt but I can keep going”. 1/2 to 1/4 is bloodied, so it goes “Yeah, I’m pretty hurt” or “You see some pretty serious wounds, obvious bleeding. They can’t keep going much longer if this keeps up”. Anything less than 1/4 is just “I’m on deaths door over here” or “Clothes appear torn, blood is pouring from their wounds. Their face is pale, cold sweats and shakes as the life is leaving their body”.
I agree metagaming is an issue, but video games have taken inspiration from D&D, which has used HP known from jump. Having facets of the character the person is playing unknown to them hardly seems fair to the players themselves.
With NPC's my general approach is to focus more on their attitudes rather than physical descriptions. After all, the game has players and NPC's at full capabilites until they hit 0, then they're all out.
So an NPC that is in the top third, is enthusiastic, confident, daring, excited, etc. Middle Third they're winded, wary, cautious, maybe a bit scratched up. In the bottom third they're scared, panicked, looking for an exit, this is when I might describe an actual blow sinking home past armor, blood running from wounds, etc.
PC's i generally encourage them to be less specific about numbers in general, on HP, armor, skills etc. Just describe to others their general condition. But i'm not super strict on that one.