I have been playing with a "wound point system" that I think
may be simple to apply. In most versions
of the game Ive played, when you drop to zero you are unconscious and if you
fall below zero you are either dead or at negative levels and dying ( depending
what way you play this). I didn’t like
that there were no other options other than either you are in combat ( have hit
points) or out of combat (zero or below).
I wanted there to be some options for suffering through sever wounds but
still able to attack or defend, or crawl
around on the ground unable to fight but maybe able to grab a potion from a pack and
drink it, etc. So here is what I came up
with:
A character may go to negative their Con score before they die. A character may go to
negative half their Con score before they fall unconscious. For every negative point
below zero the character attains, that character suffers a penalty to all rolls
equal to that negative modifier and a penalty of -10 ft move per negative
modifier. Furthermore, a character must make a Con save each round or suffer an
additional negative modifier each round ( optionally a Death save).
A character with a 12 Con for instance can fall to negative
6 before falling unconscious and negative 12 before dying. If he gets hit and
falls to negative 3 lets say, all his
rolls (attacks, saves, etc.) are at -3 and his move is reduced by 30 ft ( or if
out of move ability he can crawl for 5 ft only).
Healing: The
wounded character ( or another
character) must spend one round per negative point bandaging/caring for the
character who fell below zero per each negative point the fallen character has
attained until that character reaches zero to stabilize them. If they do not spend
the entire time required and have to stop, the negative conditions apply and
continue to drop again as listed above starting the next round.
Furthermore, for a more
“gritty realism” I would play that although
the character has been stabilized to zero, they
still suffered mortal wounds. Therefore, the character has to recover
for 1 day per negative level they attained
naturally until they are healed up (that
many days) - cure light wounds not being affective enough to quicken this
healing rate.
One option for players who don’t want to tie the wound
modifier into the Ability but rather into the Class can base it on the
Characters HD instead- so a fighter can go to -8, Cleric to -6 Thief to -4
magic user to -4, Dwarf to -8, etc. before going unconscious and double that
until death. …..
