anthony Valente's page

Alright, for comparison, here are my current rules. This is an adaptation of the "Reserve Points" rules in Unearthed Arcana. Again, I feel they're easy to understand; my players do enjoy the concept, but a couple of them think it's a little unwieldy. Hence my musings of a different styled mechanic that's easier to understand and I'm not sure my alternate version here accomplishes that. (Con issue noted BTW. The charm of it is that taking Con damage "feels" real mechanically, and that it would be healed normally; i.e. 1 point/day as normal or with magic. I didn't want to fiddle with recalculating your hp after this Con damage on top of the normal damage taken though to keep it simple, but like I said, I don't think simplicity's been accomplished.)

Using Stamina Points
A character’s maximum number of stamina points equals his full normal hit point total. Thus, a 1st level character with 7 hit points also has 7 stamina points.
After a character becomes injured (by losing hit points), stamina points begin automatically converting to hit points at the rate of 1 per minute of non-strenuous activity (such as resting or hiking, but not climbing, swimming, or fighting). Thus, for each minute of non-strenuous activity, the character regains 1 hit point and loses 1 stamina point. A creature with a negative hit point total can’t convert stamina points into hit points unless it stabilizes. Stamina points can never go below zero.

For example, Beragon, a 3rd level Fighter, has 22 hit points, so he also has 22 stamina points. In a battle with orcs, he takes 6 points of damage, dropping his hit points to 16. After the fight, Beragon’s stamina points begin to “convert” to hit points. Over the course of the next 6 minutes, his stamina point total drops by 6 and his hit point total increases by 6. He is now back up to his maximum of 22 hit points with 16 stamina points left.

Nonlethal Damage: Stamina points also reduce a character’s nonlethal damage total. For each stamina point that converts to a hit point, a character also subtracts 1 point from his nonlethal damage. In addition, a character can take a full-round action to “spend” a number of stamina points equal to or less than his HD to reduce his nonlethal damage an equal amount. A character with the Endurance feat may do this as a standard action.

Lethal Attacks: Certain forms of attack are considered “lethal attacks” Such attacks effectively reduce the capacity to heal quickly and sap one’s stamina. If an attack is considered lethal, the damage taken is deducted from stamina points as well as hit points. Common attacks that are considered lethal include critical hits, inflict spells, damage from elemental attacks (acid, fire, lightning, etc.), and damage from most traps.
At the DM’s discretion, other forms of damage may result in the loss of stamina points as well as hit points (falling from a great height for instance).

Continuing the example above, during the next fight, Beragon takes 24 points of damage, 5 of which came from a direct hit from alchemist’s fire. This puts him at -2 hit points and 11 stamina points. He is then dying for 5 rounds before stabilizing, leaving him at -7 hit points. Over the next 11 minutes, his remaining 11 stamina points convert to hit points. After 7 minutes, he’s conscious but disabled (0hp). After 8 minutes he’s back on his feet (1hp), and after all 11 minutes he’s up to 4 total hit points and 0 stamina points.

Replenishing Stamina Points
Only rest can restore stamina points. Healing, magical or mundane, has no effect on them. Thus, replenishing stamina points requires a rest of at least 8 hours. A creature may only benefit from one such rest in any 24-hour period. After such a rest, the character’s daily allotment of stamina points equals his current hit point total. Stamina points cannot recover hit points beyond the last current total the character had before taking further damage.

Continuing the example above, Beragon, with 4 hit points left and 0 stamina points, decides to return to safety and rest. He has no access to magical healing so he must heal naturally. After 8 hours of rest, he regains 3 hit points (he’s 3rd level) bringing his hit point total up to 7 and his daily allotment of stamina points also total 7 for the day. He cannot use his stamina points to further heal his hit points at this point. Amidst exploring some ruins, Beragon finds a potion of cure light wounds. He quaffs it, healing 7 hit points for a total of 14. If he takes damage from this point, his stamina points can now convert up to this new current total.

Constitution Changes
If a character’s Constitution modifier goes up or down, his stamina points go up or down just as hit points do.

I allow for two methods:

15 point buy.

OR

My homebrew method:
Generating Ability Scores.
Follow the procedure below to generate your ability scores.
1. Roll 3d6 six times.
2. Place scores in order (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) as rolled.
3. Re-roll any one ability score of your choice, taking the new score if you wish.
4. Swap any two ability scores if you wish.
5. You may start over if the total of all your scores is 62 or less.

This satisfies those in my group who want complete control over character generation, and the others who want to let the dice help them flesh out the character or have some character flaws. Either method guarantees you the option to start with at least an average character. It's a little more complicated than this, but this is the essence of it.

vagrant-poet wrote:

Jesus, people need to give players a break when they roll high on the random encounter chart!

Coming from a GM's perspective, I'd say the player's need to give us a break when we roll high on the encounter charts!

GM: There's a rustling in the grass to your right. As you look closer, you realize it's a werewolf ready to pounce. If you run away right now you can probably-
1st level PCs: CHARGE!!!
GM: *facepalm*

Amen to that… amen to that.

I want to include this in my campaign to encourage combat maneuver use

Martial Arts (Combat)
You are trained in hand-to-hand combat.
Prerequisite: Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: You can attempt any combat maneuver without provoking an attack of opportunity. In addition, this feat increases the benefit of any of the following feats that you have by +1: Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Grapple, Improved Overrun, Improved Sunder, and Improved Trip.

PEACH please. Any pit falls or suggestions?

What about this as a house rule?

If a barbarian is knocked unconscious or below zero hit points, their rage ends. However, a barbarian keeps his negative Con threshold as if he were still raging as long as he has rage rounds left. If he was not raging before he went into negative HPs, he cannot use his rounds of rage in this fashion.

You may be a Paizo nerd if…

A) Your favorite day of the week is currently Wednesday.

B) You think X-mas is in August.