Whee, my first post here. I've already posted this on the forum, but Bala suggested I post it on the Blog as well, so here I am.
Since there has been some discussion about the resting system, healing items, etc. I wanted to post my view of how "Hit Points" work - this is the way I've thought of it in UO and NWN, and I believe it makes sense, although it differs quite a bit from the 'accepted' D&D standard. This is the basic system I'll be using in the Fallen - it has no impact on your gameplay, but I thought it might be good to know some of what's going on in my head while I'm DMing.
I don't consider Hit Points to directly coorelate to a character's health. This is a bit silly to me. Instead, I consider it to be a general measure of various aspects of a character that all come together to determine how long a character can last in combat - aspects such as adrenaline, drive, luck, etc. When a character runs out of Hit Points, they simply become unable to fight...they collapse due to fatigue, injuries, etc. They aren't 'dead', so to speak - but they are out of the fight. Now, in this state, they are obviously very vulnerable to injures, death, etc., but they are not 'dead' in the strictest sense of the word. This is why simply resting for a minute recovers all your 'Hit Points' - your character isn't magically healing their wounds, but rather, they're taking a break, composing themselves, and thus are ready to return to the fight at full effectiveness. Thus, a character could have full Hit Points but still be rather injured.
I prefer this system, because it simply makes more sense to me - but also because, to me, it tells a better story. Death should be a serious thing for a campaign, and should almost always be irriversible. This isn't reflected well in the Hit Points system, especially in the computer game world where many things can go wrong. It makes much more sense to me for 'death' in combat to simply mean incapacitation - otherwise, you have characters dying on a fairly regular basis, almost always 'miraculously brought back from the brink' or even completely resurrected. After awhile of this, a character's death tends to lose its meaning as a serious event for the party and campaign, and leads to questions like "If death is so easy to avoid, why does ANYONE in this world die?" To me (and in the Fallen), even Ressurect or Raise Dead aren't literal 'bring me back to life' spells - they're just incredibly powerful healing spells that can bring someome back into the fight after serious injury.
While this isn't quite as realistic as a harsher system, I tend to think the PCs, by their very nature of being the center of the story, are rather 'special', and a few stab wounds aren't going to be enough to keep them down for long. I don't expect Bala to use this system for Faalor (although I'd be flattered if he did!), but for those of you planning to play in Fallen, I think these are good things to know. I'll be sure to post this in the Fallen forum and website at some point in the Death section.
I look forward to any feedback you have my views!
- Bala's trusty sidekick Jasman
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2 comments:
I have always seen things in a similar vein. You take it an extreme but hit points have always been a measure of luck, endurance, divine protection, health, ability to handle stress, etc.. That’s why sometimes in table top games, I’d roll a hit on a player and then, say, a damage of one, and say “the arrow clacked off the wall about 10 feet from your head, you easily dodge out of the way.” Now, obviously the arrow did no damage to the PC, but the exertion of combat certainly took “something” out of the character. This is especially true when player characters start racking up 100+ hit points.
I have two criticisms of your system though (as per usual, take them however you want, I’m just bumbling through this as much as you are! Hehe) The first is the, possible, unintended consequences involving the seriousness of death and the other is a technical issue relating to what hit points actually measure under your system.
While I agree with you that PC’s should be the center of the “story” and they should be “special”, I think PC in D&D and NWN already have such a gross advantage over any other NPC. These benefits already make reaching zero hit points (or in Faalor’s case –11) difficult enough (which is relative to the DM’s skill at creating encounters and the player’s skill at playing the game). Mainly, I think that your system may cheapen death, players can fall left and right and spring back up, nearly instantaneously, to full combat readiness, a la Ultima Online. I am also not sure about the concept of death “should almost always be irriversible [sic].” I know we’re dealing with fantasy, but “death” with the PROBABLILITY of recovery isn’t death.
My main problem is that I am unsure what hit points measure under your proposed system. After all, “a character could have full Hit Points but still be rather injured.” I am having a hard time imagining someone being fully able to enter combat and still being “rather” injured. To my way of thinking (and having been “rather” injured a number of times in my life), this would severely slow a character down, making them much more vulnerable to a coup de grace' (loosing that final hit point). How do PC’s actually die, if not by loosing all their hit points?
In the end, your system is workable. It would require a very different understanding on the part of the players and how the DM runs the game. It would also require much more focus on role-playing. That’s perfectly acceptable to me, of course. We’d have to codify this a bit more for me to get a good handle on things.
well I already left my thoughts on the forum..
Jasman... is that pronounced like Jasmine?
I would run about taunting you with this if it weren't for the fact you will be responsible for my characters life tommorrow! :D
(though seriously I like your system, I posted my own in the forum as well!)
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