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| benoit godde |
New Houserule: When you drop to 0 HP, you don’t fall unconscious. When you die, you do so on your feet.
Advantages:
Mitigates the death spiral; players don’t lose action economy until they start actually dying.
Mitigates the feelsbad of overtuned encounters by presenting an obvious opportunity to retreat. (In my experience, players refuse to retreat so long as they have HP left in the tank; “the next hit will kill you” should be an effective incentive to ditch combat.)
Mitigates “healbot whack-a-mole,” further reducing the need for a dedicated healer in the party.
Prevents situations where one player is stuck rolling death saves and nothing else for multiple rounds.
Allows players to act throughout the encounter, instead of KOing them right before the encounter’s climax.
Allows players to risk their lives heroically.
Allows players to risk their lives stupidly.
This rule isn’t about adding lethality or realism to the game. 5e isn’t a game about lethal risks; HP and death saves are purposefully forgiving gameplay systems. Subverting that design decision is a losing battle.
Instead, my intention is to give players the OPTION to kill their character dramatically where the rules-as-written won’t let them do so. If it happens to raise lethality, it’s the self-selecting type; players who want to die will die and players who want to live will live based on their decisions, not their rolls.
Also, bleeding to death unconscious is lame as fuck. Die like a warrior.
Yes, yes, yes, aaaand yes. Optionally, a player can have their character crawl away, holding their guts in with both hands, and praying, for advantage on death saving throws?
ReplyDeleteYes! Having the ability to choose to be vulnerable is a huge part of what makes RPGs a compelling format for storytelling imo.
DeleteI once DMed for a new player whose character fell into a well of tar and was in danger of being dragged in. When I asked her what she would do, she said that despite the short time they had known one another, she put her faith in the other members of the party to fish her out. I don't remember everything from that session, but I remember that specific moment very well.
I like it. I've tried various different things when a character hits 0 hp, like various temporary or permanent wound tables and the like, but I like this. Also works well with the idea that hp is more like dodging, light wounds, divine luck... and when you're out the next blow will be lethal.
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ReplyDelete