>From: "Lionel Rudling" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Fire away.
>
So, let's go.
I find that D&d lacks the "huh, what a strike!"-feeling. I mean that until
the character hit points drops to 0, it is still standing up and acting as
he were never wounded, and then... it's off.
So I'm looking for a way to make this "shutdown" more progressive. Many
other RPGs handle this, by applying maluses linked to health status.
To set up such rules, I think that three questions must be answered :
I) *When* maluses should be applied ?
Two answers :
A. Use health levels : Each character has the same number of health levels.
To each level corresponds a malus. Wounds are assigned a number of health
level damages, and a difficulty to sustain. When a character takes a wound,
a 'sustain wound' roll (generally based on constitution) is made to reduce
the number of damages. The remaining damages are substracted from its
current health levels. This solution fits well in level-less system, but I
don't think it will for the d20-system.
B. Use hit point thresholds : Several thresholds are defined, generally
fractions of total hit points. Each threshold is assigned a malus. When hit
points drops below a threshold, the corresponding maluses are applied
(notice there are not cumulative, only the worst are applied). This solution
seems more easy to apply into the d20-system. It had the advantage of
keeping the actual hit points and damages rules. And I think it can be fine
with the VP/WP rules.
II) *What* maluses should be applied ?
Two answers :
A. Fixed maluses (per example: -4 to all roll) : again, it's fine in
level-less systems, because characters are almost at their best when they
are created.
B. Proportional maluses (per example: using 50% of skill ranks) : it can be
fine, as it does not hindred low-level characters more than high-level ones.
But in d20-based rolls, it gives rounding a non-negligible weight, at least
more than in d100-based rolls.
III) *What* the maluses should be applied to ?
I think they should be applied to *all* rolls. Notice that only the
character is affected, not its equipment. It doesn't matter with fixed
maluses, but it does with proportional ones.
Well, I'm waiting for your thoughts.
GP
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