Well, temp HP are almost always magic, except what happens with barbarians which explicitly works differently. I'm comfortable with spell granted HP soaking up injury.
What happens with barbarians not only works explicitly differently but it's not even labeled THP. I don't think we need to worry about temporary con bonuses, the HP come and go, shouldn't affect strain vs injury.
I'm not sure what the problem with THP is. In the case of a injuries, I think the THP would shave off the damage incurred from the injury and just disappear. Anything more would just be over complicating this system which prospers from its simplicity. It also makes just as much sense as far as the descriptive properties of THP go.
I agree with Flak and Lincoln,
By design, temporary HPs come with "no strings attached". They are lost first, which means that they go away when the duration expires without "causing damage". Whatever was left when the duration expired goes away, otherwise nothing happens.
Following this philosophy, I think that temp HPs should soak all kind of damage, strain or injury, with "no strings attached".
This makes temporary HPs slightly more valuable under this variant rule. It's worth looking into this a bit deeper, but I don't expect it to have a huge impact on the game.
Temporary boost of Constitution however, either magical or extraordinary (like barbarian's rage), isn't the same by RaW. These HPs go away with as the duration expires. They allow you to run on burrowed time, but that's it.
This should works pretty much as RaW; boost of Con works exactly as if your Con was higher, for the duration of the effect.
'findel
... I guess this means that a character could die without ever taking injury damage.
We could imagine a barbarian fighting and taking poison CON damage (but otherwise no injuries), rage expiring and dropping its total HPs to a point were he/she dies from the strain taken during battle.
... I guess this means that a character could die without ever taking injury damage.
We could imagine a barbarian fighting and taking poison CON damage (but otherwise no injuries), rage expiring and dropping its total HPs to a point were he/she dies from the strain taken during battle.
Which is kind of epic, and fine IMHO. We can imagine legendary warriors who fought so well that they seemed impervious, unable to be wounded, but eventually died simply from exhausting themselves...?
Temp hit points are totally irrelevant to strain and injury, in my opinion. Why should a resource that never recovers have anything to do with a recovery rates rule?
I'm not sure how Con changes should be handled.
In the case of a injuries, I think the THP would shave off the damage incurred from the injury and just disappear. Anything more would just be over complicating this system which prospers from its simplicity. It also makes just as much sense as far as the descriptive properties of THP go.
With respect to Helaman's assumptions, I'm going to proceed in my own playtest with Ragnarok's formulation. I'd actually like to see how it pans out in your version, Helaman, so please feel free to drop a wand on false life on your party and tell us how that plays out. My campaign (Runelords) has its own source of tempHP which I'm sure those familiar with the AP recall.
I'm going to wait until we have more information before changing the rules doc. Suffice it to say, some of us should play with Temp HP soaking up injury, and some should try Temp HP bypassing injury. A playtest's the thing!
Just had a session. The strain/injury thing worked out fine, but the rest&refit didn't stop the party from getting TPKed. The campaign continues however, so if anything related to this variant comes up in future weekends I'll report it. :)
Hah, I ran an encounter tonight too.
I had a three-encounter spillover, so they're pretty strained. One 41-point crit from a mummy's slam attack and 53 points from a failed save vs. a devourer's devour soul ability. Both are being treated as injury, although the cleric healed the former during combat.
They're holding up okay, but it's definitely not easier than the RAW if you don't give them time to rest and refit.
Finals and the weeks of projects leading up to them have kept my players away from my table. More reports next week I hope.
I've played in several sessions of Serpent's Skull (sssseriously) but I've not GM'd. The rule is functioning very well there, especially with the clarifications on bleed and poison. I'm pleasantly surprised how an individual combat encounter is still very lethal, but the paperwork is much lighter. On the many occasions we have sustained wounds, they've had a lot more personality. Level is currently 2nd.
I know of another campaign where Strain-Injury is not being used, as it was determined to be "unnecessary" for 1st level. Makes sense to me. I wonder how they'll feel about it at 7th+.
I'm going to be running Rise of the Runelords soon, and I am planning on using this. the arty is sans-cleric for the moment, so I will be able to offer some insight on the effect on healing resources, I would think.
I'm going to be running Rise of the Runelords soon, and I am planning on using this. the arty is sans-cleric for the moment, so I will be able to offer some insight on the effect on healing resources, I would think.
For what it's worth, we didn't have a Cleric in my Runelords party until around 8th level, and it worked fine (without recourse to Strain-Injury)...
You'll want to decide your policy on Temporary HP, since they come up a lot in those books.
You'll be especially grateful for the narrative qualities of Strain-Injury around Book 3 — appreciate the difference when describing HP loss from attacks by giant creatures.
I think I'll use 'Findel\Ragnarok formulation... THP are supernatural, and get whittled away first, so they take injury with them when they leave, while CON boosts have no effect on Strain-injury.
We have a Barbarian in the party too, so this should be interesting.
BTW, "the Ragnarok Formulation" should be either a Prog-metal band or a Marvel Comics story arc.
Well, We got through the first three encounters in RotRL (the goblin attacks on Sandpoint) and the only healing was the Pally laying hands on himself. They didn't get a break between fights to rest and refit, so the difference was somewhat moot. We'll see how it goes when they have a more drawn-out "away mission" like perhaps Thistletop or the Catacombs of Wrath to get a better idea of it, but I think my players are onboard with the concept.
Good to hear, Neph!
I've been using Strain-Injury every week for about a year now. Here are some thoughts:
All I really do differently is in the description. My players have grown accustomed to the idea of a "mere hit" — I think they like hearing about their own character parrying enemy attacks rather than getting tagged like a sucker, but conversely it can feel frustrating to hear the enemy is parrying all of your attacks. Also, the "default to parry" description method is somewhat less effective with certain monsters.
After the fight, people go back to full HP unless they took injury damage. If they did take injury, we do the cure-wand raindance and everything is like it used to be.
I sometimes get frustrated that the players are fully healed for every encounter. I blamed the Strain-Injury rule at first, and I almost thought about scrapping it. One of my players dutifully reminded me that it would change nothing but the amount of paperwork, and it would slow down the game. Players will always heal to full if they have the time and gold to do so. I suppose that "problem" runs deeper than this rule. Strain-Injury does help me describe damage in a way that's more in line with my sensibilities, and that's all it was supposed to do, I think.
I've recently speculated that the rule as written does eliminate the "GP Damage" aspect of the healing cycle in Pathfinder. If you wanted to fix this with an abstract ruling, consider having Rest and Refit "cost" 3gp per 1hp recovered. This should be approximately the expected cost of recovering all that damage with a wand of cure light wounds. Well, it's a little cheaper because it is more efficient (no "lost" points due to randomness running up against max hp). If the gold break was the one reason you avoided this variant rule, now you have no excuse!
EDIT: I just added the "GP Damage" as an option in the doc. </edit>
Does anyone else have feedback to share?
EL: thanks for inviting me to the party from that other thread. I'm wondering: do MONSTERS get strain? Someone else asked in this thread but I didn't see an answer (unless I missed it somewhere).
Also injury only occurs on a FAILED save, so if the character makes a save or doesn't have to make a save (magic missile, scorching ray) then it's just injury, unless it takes them below hp?
Finally in the case of less than zero hp - if it's all strain that drops them, do they remain conscious or just go into a coma and have to stabilize like normal?
EL: thanks for inviting me to the party from that other thread. I'm wondering: do MONSTERS get strain? Someone else asked in this thread but I didn't see an answer (unless I missed it somewhere).
I had a lot of help cooking up this thing and I hope it helps you.
Monsters and NPCs suffer use the same rules. In practice, this means that when a player crits, I'm not afraid to describe the injury in detail. On a mere hit, I will describe the monster or PC parrying, or blocking, or one of the other defense loss descriptions.
Because NPCs usually have a shelf life of one encounter, it is extremely unusual for me to have to track how much injury damage they have. Only if I'm planning on having them escape and fight the party again within a few days would I bother noting that a PC scored a crit (which I would write like "shortsword leg 14") (I tend to play up the location of the wound with ad hoc damage penalties, but that's neither here nor there.)
Interestingly, this means you describe swordfights — much more cinematic than stand and whack — most "hits" are actually a clash of blades and armor, with the occasional crit being a touché.
Also injury only occurs on a FAILED save, so if the character makes a save or doesn't have to make a save (magic missile, scorching ray) then it's just injury, unless it takes them below hp?
Yes. Magic missile is one of the only spells that deals direct damage with no save and no roll roll to hit. However, it is a piddly bit of force damage only, so I have no problem with portraying it in this manner. I can't really imagine how to describe a magic missile's results unless it penetrates the target's defenses. Then it might be something like a broken rib, I suppose.
Scorching ray is a different case. It can crit, and must do so to cause injury damage. This may bother you at first, but it cuts to the heart of the theory: would you rather be describing how a character could still fight at full capacity after sustaining burns from three scorching rays, or would you rather describe how avoiding those rays made them easier to kill without "wounding" them?
Therefore: if the attacking wizard rolls a confirmed crit, that's an unmitigated hit, a burn. It will not go away with a nap. That burn will be there tomorrow, unless the gods intervene. If the scorching ray was a mere hit, then it was a close call — only the character's armor was burned (slightly weakening it) or he had to hurl himself out of the way, leaving him less able to react to the next ray.
When I say "less able to react", it means the HP lost to the mere hit make the next attack more likely to bring the creature below zero hp — so each mere hit makes a wound more likely.
Lastly, an outright miss with the scorching ray is a miss in the purest sense — it was inconsequential to the limited defensive resources of the target. It hit the wall. The target loses no ability or awareness to deal with subsequent attacks.
Finally in the case of less than zero hp - if it's all strain that drops them, do they remain conscious or just go into a coma and have to stabilize like normal?
If a character takes a bunch of strain damage, then takes 15 points of damage that drops him from 5 to -10 (for example), that last 15 points is an injury. The earlier strain damage just softened him up — he got tired over several rounds of fighting, some of his armor is compromised, and his attention is divided between all of the attacks he has successfully defended against. That's all strain damage. It sets up the final blow, which is injury.
The key thing here is that HP represent how ready you are, and going below zero represents complete unreadiness. A critical hit or a failed save means you were injured despite being ready.
How, if at all, has this affected PCs healing during combat? I've read so many threads about how it is tactically unsound to heal during combat but healing Strain, or worse Injury, might just make it worth it.
Also I read the optional rule about GP restoring HP during a refit, but I don't think I'll do that. But you specifically state that Strain damage affects a character's ARMOR among other things so does a significant amount of Strain ever actually affect AC or not?
By design, it does not affect in-combat healing at all (nor anything else, for that matter). Not even a little bit.
The intent of the rule was to fix the descriptive issues with HP without altering combat balance.
All the rule does, in a nutshell, is distinguish the abstract defense loss from the literal wounds which are both part of the RAW definition of Hit Points. This distinction only comes into play when considering healing rates, which are outside the scope of combat.
The armor damage aspect is meant as a nod toward reality, where armor degrades and sometimes just ends up sitting wrong. Actual armor degradation rules are probably too complex to integrate into this rule. It suffices to say, we need good descriptions for why the giant's club/dragon's tail/meteor swarm didn't wound you, and since that's what armor is there for, it is a useful narrative tool.
Got it. I've never had trouble with the descriptive part. As for realism I often arbitrarily force one of my PC's to replace a piece of mundane gear which has suffered considerable punishment in said descriptions. A few games ago a PC trudged through a swamp in his studded leather, only to arrive at a ruined monastery where a chimeric worg the size of a school bus tore through it like tissue paper. Needless to say he was due for an upgrade after that.
But I like Strain because 1. it's simple and 2. it solves the problem of justifying a character going from -1 and dying to +1 and completely unaffected by anything.
If I'm understanding this mechanic if a 1st level fighter takes a couple glancing blows, the force of which rattles his cage for 3 then 4 hp respectively, then suddenly takes 7 damage from a greatsword that drops him to -1, then that is Injury and he's really hurting. Then AFTER the battle when 2 channels gets him back on his feet all he's really done is gone from gut sliced and bruised to JUST bruised; then it's ANOTHER 5 minutes to get his next wind.
I like it. I like that others like it. I'd like to start using it. Only problem is it's going to be like another 10 days til I play again. Maybe I'll run some combat simulations at home to get a feel for it (I'm such a nerd...)
If you want to tamper with actual armor degradation building upon these rules, I will await your results with extreme interest.
No, no armor degredation. I'll stick to just telling them "after being INSIDE a gelatinous cube for a round your armor needs more than a Mending cantrip; go get some new stuff.
No, no armor degredation. I'll stick to just telling them "after being INSIDE a gelatinous cube for a round your armor needs more than a Mending cantrip; go get some new stuff.
Or you could use armor/weapon damage descriptions in the course of play for strain, and charge them a couple of GP to have it fixed as per the GP damage rules. I think I might do this, even though I don't ordinarily use the GP damage rules. Huh. Thanks for the idea!
[lame joke]Hello mister president, hunting a lot of vampires recently, eh? [/lame joke]
I'm using the rules, and had to say, my group loves it. But had 2 issues: first, our ice magus really loves the Ablative Barrier spell (last campaign worked wonders for the undead bloodline sorceress). But under the rules the nonlethal mitigation part of the spell sudenly become non-effective, as lethal to nonlethal now is strain to strain (except when it's injury). On the fly I ruled that it convert injury to strain at the same rate, and for some reason changed the AC bonus to natural. Some seasons later I realized that I powered it a little too much, as now you have a easier to stack buff that takes a lot longer to wear up. Should I change it back to armor bonus? Change the mitigation to something like "the next injury damage is converted to strain damage, up to 5 points per caster level, discharging the spell", or something like? Suggestion?
The other issue (not a big one) is our blue rose cavalier. The second level ability confer him a +2 bonus on damage when dealing nonlethal damage. Again, non-lethal = strain, so basically it's a free +2 to damage. This is not really a big issue, since there still the obligation to leave the foe alive, and the cavalier is also an Honor Guard, so he's focused on defense and his damage is abismal low compared to the barb/fighter 2hander or the magus or the ranger, so a little more damage is okay. Also he's a great roleplayer. But I want to hear you in this point too.
If memory serves, the S/I Variant does not effect how non-lethal damage is handled, meaning that Non-lethal damage is counted up from 0, while Strain is still counted down from the top... when the two meet, you're KO'd.
Strain damage is non non-lethal, it just recovers quickly. That might muddy the waters a bit, so if 'Findel or Lincoln or one of the others wants to correct me on that, please feel free. This being the case, imho, the DR aspect of Ablative barrier would not be triggered by Strain damage.
Attacks that do Strain damage are INTENDED to be lethal, but be virtue of skill, luck, or protection of the target, they are reduced to strain.... this is why, when your capacity for strain is depleted (or are unlucky, aka, failed a save) you take injury. If you fail a save against a non-lethal attack, or if its an attack that puts you at 0, you are not injured, you just take Non-lethal damage. In this way, non-Lethal != Strain, so the effects of Ablative Barrier are unchanged.
Should I change it back to armor bonus? Change the mitigation to something like "the next injury damage is converted to strain damage, up to 5 points per caster level, discharging the spell", or something like? Suggestion?
I'm not sure about the armor bonus, but natural armor bonus seems to be a gift to the player. It will stack with other AC bonuses, which makes crits less frequent, compounding your other issue. I don't know if your player is actually stacking it with armor though. Other than the frequency of crits, it doesn't much affect the Strain rules.
My initial thought was to allow the conversion, but perhaps negated strain turns into x1.5 or x2 injury. Making it a "buffer" effect as you suggest, like stoneskin, leads to having more numbers to track. But then, having this spell work like stoneskin makes an amount of sense.
It's tough to advise you from here, not knowing the campaign or the other houserules in play. On top of that, I'm wrong sometimes. I suggest you talk to the player about it, they're the ones who know what's fun for them. Tell them that you're worried about it being too good, and ask what they would do to bring it back to how it would have worked with RAW hp.
The other issue (not a big one) is our blue rose cavalier. The second level ability confer him a +2 bonus on damage when dealing nonlethal damage.
This seems like a brilliant exploitation of the house rule, to be honest. I would consider what it represents: because this cavalier avoids injuring his enemies, he has specialized in wearing down their abstract defenses effectively. Because he cannot simply stab the enemy, he learns to better knock them off balance, distract, disorient, and tire them out. Makes sense.
I'm sure there exists a player who would abuse this, but I trust that player's GM to come up with situations that will negate that silliness. Roleplaying a blue rose cavalier should be challenging.
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In both cases, what's happening here is that non-lethal damage is no longer marginalized, it's a part of Hit Points. Obviously, that will increase the effectiveness of any powers that tap into non-lethal damage! In most cases, the powers will only get slightly better, but in these two instances they seem to have become really great.
The best advice I can come up with is to focus on describing what the numbers mean and letting the ruling follow.
Strain damage is non non-lethal, it just recovers quickly. That might muddy the waters a bit, so if 'Findel or Lincoln or one of the others wants to correct me on that, please feel free.
I've been treating non-lethal damage as strain, and a non-lethal attack is simply an attack that subdues a character rather than driving them to negative HP.
Other people may have been doing things differently, my word is certainly not law. I'd love to hear about how your method has worked in practice, Neph.
Strain damage is non non-lethal, it just recovers quickly. That might muddy the waters a bit, so if 'Findel or Lincoln or one of the others wants to correct me on that, please feel free.I've been treating non-lethal damage as strain, and a non-lethal attack is simply an attack that subdues a character rather than driving them to negative HP.
Other people may have been doing things differently, my word is certainly not law. I'd love to hear about how your method has worked in practice, Neph.
My actual play-testing and usage of this rule is still only 1 game, but I would be tempted to say that nonlethal damage is, by definition, damage that can only cause strain, even on a critical or 'finishing hit' (as stated in the latest doc). I don't see the need of a 'phantom' pool of hit point as in Pathfinder RaW with this alternate rule.
That would probably lead me to redefine environmental damage, or re-evaluate what happens if you keep taking nonlethal damage once you have been subdued as I really want weather to be a hazard in my games.
Yeah, I'm also treating nonlethal damage as strain. I think I'll just mantain the spell as it is. After all, is a nice thing converting some injury to strain. I really don't know what I was doing converting the AC bonus... thanks for the help.
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With the non-lethal = strain only, the standard player only needs to worry about specifically stating he's trying for non-lethal damage (and start taking -4 attack penalties with improvised weapons) when he thinks the target is in danger of taking a finishing blow or he thinks that he might be in danger of critting.
Still, the fact that you don't always know when a finishing blow is coming or when you are going to crit, in addition to the many abilities that work specifically with nonlethal damage means that there's a reason for non-lethal weapons to exist.
The blue rose cavalier still needs to specifically state that he's doing non-lethal damage (either taking penalties or using a non-lethal weapon).
Just that the blue rose cavalier do not take penalties for do nonlethal damage with a lethal weapon. If he wants he can state that he's always doing non-lethal damage. But he doesn't. Not that he doesn't know, I stated it to him. But is fun to watch him trying to convince golems and skeletons to surrender... xD
Findel, you might not need to change the way environmental damage works -- per your own suggestion you can't reduce strain from an ongoing source until the source is dealt with. Maybe that one needs more emphasis!
FWIW, I think that RAW non- lethal is overly forgiving and abstract. I'm *happy* with the problems this is causing, because the result is easier to describe. The blue rose's attacks may never threaten to wound, but they would in all cases make it harder to defend against subsequent psychos trying to kill you. I'd be at pains as a GM to describe the RAW counterpart.
Thanks for the input guys, great to see this rule is still kicking!
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I just want to say that I love this rule, and everyone that I have described it to sees its elegant simplicity as a HUGE advantage. The fact that this has been a cooperative effort (led by Lincoln and Findel, certainly) is something that I take great pride in.
Well done, one and all.
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Hello all. Longtime lurker here, big fan.
Currently running an Iron Kingdoms game. If you're not familiar with the setting, I'll just mention that magical healing is extremely limited and quite dangerous.
This variant fits my game like an old glove. It allows me to make things more interesting (read: dangerous!) without feeling like I'm just taxing healers. I compulsively attempt to make the crunch and the fluff match up in my games, and this "minor change" has been like relieving a cramp I didn't know I had.
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone involved.
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Just stumbled onto this variant by a pointer in another thread. I like the houserule presented here very much, and will surely try it next time I´m playing. Thanks for creating it in the first place.
Something in the vein of "Hit points represent luck, skill and pure physical capability to withstand punishment" was written in one of the AD&D1 rulebooks, and with this house rule, it might be possible to convert that idea into the game.
Another annoying question: do the PCs have to be inert while resting/refitting? If not is there an Action type associated with the mechanic?
I ask because I have a group of tacticians I'm playing with on Saturday and I'm anticipating the inevitable "Can I search for secret doors while resting?" questions.
This saturday I will be rolling out this rule to my players. I think it will end up being a great change to our games - they're very action oriented, dislike the roleplaying aspect of gaming and have expressed a strong desire to get through more encounters in an evening. As such this rule was basically tailor made for my guys.
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Just that the blue rose cavalier do not take penalties for do nonlethal damage with a lethal weapon. If he wants he can state that he's always doing non-lethal damage. But he doesn't. Not that he doesn't know, I stated it to him. But is fun to watch him trying to convince golems and skeletons to surrender... xD
Yep, as long as you make sure that the penalties of non-lethal damage remain (certain enemies are immune to it, etc), it's fine, and mechanically the same as in normal games anyway.
Another annoying question: do the PCs have to be inert while resting/refitting? If not is there an Action type associated with the mechanic?
I ask because I have a group of tacticians I'm playing with on Saturday and I'm anticipating the inevitable "Can I search for secret doors while resting?" questions.
This saturday I will be rolling out this rule to my players. I think it will end up being a great change to our games - they're very action oriented, dislike the roleplaying aspect of gaming and have expressed a strong desire to get through more encounters in an evening. As such this rule was basically tailor made for my guys.
Given that the time is mostly spent bandaging wounds and making minor repairs to armor, I would say that you don't get to do anything else while you're rest/refitting.
My players haven't even tried it yet and already I'm getting push back - too much paperwork and too complicated. Also they've suggested we just institute a h/r that 1 HERO pt = 1 short rest to regain 1/2 all hit pts and then just leave hit pts alone. Here was my response:
1. HERO pts are unreliable as they need to be earned and finite (3 only at a time) so they're not a good source for resource management
2. That suggested houserule only heals 1/2 damage meaning over time you go into fights consistenly under max hp which leaves us w/one of the basic problems all over again
3. Not only does Strain/Injury mechanically add to resource mgt of HP but it also thematically explains the process of taking wounds. This might not sound like much but one of my players has complained that his inability to immerse in the game is due in part to the unrealistic nature of HP; first you're at a lot of hp, then you're unconscious, and 2 hp later you bounce right back as if nothing happened
I should once again stress I haven't actually used the rule in gameplay yet. However all the mock combats I've run and feedback here coupled with my understanding of the mechanic...I'm not seeing much of a downside here.
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Played that session last night using this houserule for the first time. The way my players finally understood it best was this: this rule doesn't mean anything of a change to your hits or hit points; just to your healing.
Ex: first real threat is a pit trap in a bridge 50' out of the water. PC falls, takes 2d3 non-lethal, 2d6 lethal. Non-lethal ends up not being much but lethal smashes him for 8 damage, sending him into negatives. Another party member gets him to shore and stabilizes him. No one successfully uses the heal skill so his 8 Injury just sits there in him w/no chance for rest & refit anyway.
Later he gets some magic healing and goes conscious; he then blows 2 channels and gets his max HP back up to full. Later still same cleric takes 3 damage from a giant centipede and 1 point from a failed save when a decrepit rack of shelves collapsed on him. After a rest & refit he figured out that he's battered, bruised, and then currently suffering from severe pain where his leg was almost crushed.
The players were resistant at first, citing too much paperwork. Then after the first R&R they were fine and it started rolling by. I decided (behind the screens) that any monster I consider a "mook" that takes damage down to 0 is just dead. Elites, NPCs and BBEG's I've given special dispensation to use these variant rules for their own. One more tool in the Villain's Escape Kit.
I would say that Serum's interpretation is spot on — you're either recuperating or you are searching for stuff. Tending to your friend's wound is the exception, because it fits with the general ambiance of the rest and refit, but that one is specifically called out in the rules for that reason.
Mark Hoover, I never caught your first two posts in time, but the third one warmed my heart dearly. I wonder if my rule description isn't a little over-wrought... the rule is actually *really* simple, but in the interest of completeness I fear I have made it sound more complicated. Well, it fits with the rest of Pathfinder then!
On that note, here is the entire writeup from my current house rules:
Damage from a critical hit, failed save, or any attack that leaves a character at negative hit points (a “final blow”) is considered Injury damage and does not heal without treatment. Recording a description of injuries in encouraged.
All other damage (from “mere” hits) is Strain damage. Strain damage represents energy lost through parrying or dodging, deteriorating armor or shield, taxed morale, distraction and dumb luck. You can recover all lost strain by declaring a “Rest and Refit” for one scene*.
Non-lethal attacks deal only strain and a non-lethal “final blow” knocks the target unconscious. Non-lethal damage can combine with lethal damage for a final blow of either kind — lost defense is lost defense.
* This term relies on my abstract duration house rule.
It is probably best to show new groups this short primer, and then know that you have the longer writeup to refer to in case you need specifics. It is pretty dang comprehensive.
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I just wanted to say that this is the best house rule I have yet seen. It is easy to understand, does not increase combat difficulty, reduces non-essential downtime, and adds a hefty dose of immersion. I've been using it for a few months now and have had no issues at all. Bravo!
The posts from all the satisfied adopters are awesome! There are so many I've taken to just "favoriting" them unless there's a specific question. If you're lurking and you've actually used the rule, how about a post telling us about it? The more testimonials we have in the thread, the easier it will be for other GMs to adopt.
The players were resistant at first, citing too much paperwork. Then after the first R&R they were fine and it started rolling by.
When we first started, my players were wary of more paperwork too. Then they realized that simply writing down the crit damage next to 'wounds' on the character sheet is a lot less work than a party-shared expense account for cure wands and tracking charges and rolling dice to get back to full HP after every damned scene. It helps that a lot of character sheets already include a space labeled 'wounds'... it's like they saw us coming!
They still use the wands, but not nearly as much time is lost to their employment.
Mark, have you been describing strain damage as parrying by default, or how have you gone about it? One of my group's favorite aspects is that all the parrying (as strain) makes it seem more like a sword fight and less like whackamole-vs-whackamole.
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I have been using this rule for a while running Skull and Shackles. I've not bothered reporting because there's been precious little combat, even less PC injury and plenty of missed weeks.
My experience of it is it has saved paperwork which would have been caused by non-lethal damage, caused no additional paperwork because nobody's been injured, nobody minds using it, nobody needs to think about it much and the guy who most wants to be powerful vaguely appreciates it because it's strictly advantageous to the PCs.
So far, so good!
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Evil Lincoln and all:
sorry i refuse to read the whole thread up to here, instead skimming. i apologize in advance if i am doubling an idea already on here.
Injuries
i have read and like your Strain-Injury variant. especially the emphasis on not slogging down combat, and making battle scars 'special'.
i have one proposal which my friend and i have incidentally brainstormed. it is a way to synthesize:
1) massive damage
2) injury severity
3) cure spells
Injury by Severity
basically, when you sustain an Injury (from a critical hit, a fumbled saving throw, or a knockout), you total the damage and record it separately.
after the combat, you must make a Fortitude saving throw for each potential Injury (DC = damage), lest it becomes an Injury (not healing by standard means).
if you do sustain the Injury (fail the Fortitude save), you must determine how Severe it is, determined by how many times it is a multiple of your (highest) HD. thus it is named:
1x - Light Wound
2x - Moderate Wound
3x - Serious Wound
4x - Critical Wound
5x - Mortal Wound
for example:
Wizard (d6) sustains 13 damage (and fails Fortitude vs 13) - that is a "Moderate 13".
Fighter (d10) sustains 19 damage (and fails Fortitude vs 19) - that is a "Light 19".
Rogue (d8) sustains 27 damage (and fails Fortitude vs 27) - that is a "Serious 27".
the only difference in naming it is what "Cure" spell will heal it automatically. for example, Cure Light Wounds will remove a Light Wound. otherwise, a Heal check must be required (with a DC equal to initial Fortitude DC) accompanied by a time investment. (i have not decided this yet)
an untrained Heal check my only address a Light Injury, at best.
this is still a thought in process.
cheers!