Wound Based HP system

WOUND SCORE This rule establishes a Wound Score, an indication of how much pain the character is likely to be feeling from the wounds he takes in battle. The character has three Wound Scores: PAINFUL, SERIOUS and CRIPPLING.

WOUND SCORE This rule establishes a Wound Score, an indication of how much pain the character is likely to be feeling from the wounds he takes in battle. The character has three Wound Scores: PAINFUL, SERIOUS and CRIPPLING.

A character's PAINFUL score reflects the least inhibiting kind of wound. Painful enough to make things difficult, but not likely to cause the player any long term disfunction. The PAINFUL wounding score is a character's Constitution Bonus plus their total character level. A SERIOUS wound means the attack has left something seriously wrong with the character. A dislocated shoulder, a cracked rib, a sliced belly. The player will need immediate attention or keep suffering the penalties from the wound, or worse. The SERIOUS wound Score is equal to the PAINFUL Score times two.

CRIPPLING wounds are not something you want to experience often. They reflect cracked bones, torn muscles, severed digits/extremities, and other nasty afflictions. The CRIPPLING wound Score is thankfully equal to the Painful Score times 3.

DETERMINING WOUNDS Whenever a player takes damage from a specific attack (energy drains and some magical attacks or failed save damages do not cause specific wounds) compare the amount of damage to that character's Wound Scores. Less than a Painful score is a superficial impact. It wears down the character's HP and thus tires him out, but doesn't leave the character with a specific wound that will inhibit her ability to fight or perform physical skills. The Painful Score or more in Damage results in a Painful Wound! Up to the Serious Score results in a Painful wound, and the Serious score or more results in a Serious wound; and the same principle applies for Crippling Wounds. Wounds are are cumulative, but taking a Serious Wound does not also give you a painful wound.

WOUND LOCATION The DM should decide the location and nature of the wound. This will be largely affected by opponent location, precision, etc. If the DM is feeling un-creative or if there is truly a random element involved, The Effects of Damaging Specific Areas Table (3-9) in the DM's guide (page 67) is great for resolving such things. Just roll 1D6 and compare the results to the chart.

EFFECTS OF WOUNDS Having a wound penalizes the actions you perform as follows; Painful wounds garner a -1 to all rolls (as they apply on table 3-9), Serious wounds garner a -2, and Crippling wounds are a -3. The DM also might wish to apply a negative modifier to other skills that are more cerebral in nature, because of the immense pain of more severe wounds.

HEALING WOUNDS Painful wounds are just that, painful. Healing Checks can increase the speed with which they heal, but if kept relatively safe, clean and inactive they will heal up fine on their own.

Serious Wounds are another matter. If they are not properly corrected (Healing Check DC 15), then when the wound is healed (even through magical means) the character will still be suffering from an EFFECTIVE painful wound. Once the healing is done without correction, the -1 on applicable actions is permanent, unless a Heal check is made (DC 25, 20 with magical assistance) to invasively correct the problem.

Crippling Wounds can be corrected with a heal Check at DC 20. If not corrected before natural healing, an effective serious wound (-2 to applicable location rolls) will remain until corrected in the same manner as an uncorrected serious wound.

WOUNDS AND HIT POINTS With a defined Wound system, Hit Points no longer mean what they used to. Now they're more a reflection of a character's vitality... how much kick they have left before they're out. It's possible for a character to be knocked unconscious without taking a single wound; simply by being worn down one hit at a time, so long as none of those hits are hard enough to give them a painful wound.

A wound is considered "Naturally Healed" when the HP that were lost to create the wound are regained. This includes healing through magic, which means that if you've got a Crippling wound, Drinking a Potion of healing will only solve SOME of your problems, but you still have bones to set and fingers to find. The exception, of course, it the HEAL spell, which corrects those things for you.

Why: Of all the rules I was hoping to see in 3e, Wound penalties were one of them. It has always bothered me that Dungeons and Dragons does not account for penalties to actions when the character is wounded and/or near death. Other games such as Shadowrun, Vampire: TM, and DP9's Silhouette system have been using great damage penalty rules forever, and it really adds so danger and brutality to the feel of a game. No more shall players be "perfectly fine until they're dead."Pro: Adds drama to the game, and realism. Doesn't bog down play much, just note the wounding scores on the character sheet. Character's are always taking damage, now we just note where, and how bad.Con: REALLY evens out the game for high level characters. Really Low level characters will hardly ever take wounds. But with high level characters, it is conceivable that they can be brought down to size. I consider this a Pro, but some don't like it.

By: Owen O'ConnellImported from a previous version of Planewalker.com