Variable bleeding question.

[Nakteo]

So, most of the people in the group I game with say that when something deals variable bleed damage, you roll the dice once and then continue to take that rolled number of damage every round thereafter. i.e 2d6 damage rolls a 3, you take 3 damage every round without further rolling.

I disagree. I'm pretty sure that since the wording is that you take the 'Listed amount of damage' every round. i.e if you get hit with a 2d6 bleed effect, you take 2d6 points of damage every round.

But the GM and at least one other player keep arguing that if you get cut, you're not going to spontaneously start bleeding out faster or slower every 6 seconds.

So, I figured I'd pose the question to the brilliant minds of the Paizo forums: Do you roll once and keep taking that set damage, or do you have to roll variable bleed damage every round?

[Derwalt]

That one is up to your GM. How people roll (any dice) differs wildly. There is no official clarification as far as I know. I think most people probably roll every round - but a lot of people roll in different ways - sometimes to save time. Rolling a lot of dice for a lot of bleeding enemies each round is a bit of an annoyance...

[Maezer]

By RAW, bleed should be Xd6 or whatever effect per round. You could thematically justify the difference in damage per round as due to movement pulling the wound more open, or successfully protecting the wound for a round, or some organ starting to fail.

That said, as long as the GM is consistent I don't have a problem with setting it up as a constant. Makes book keeping easier. It also avoids the multiple bleed effects doing the same type of damage generally not stacking. As its annoying having 5, different 2d6 bleed effects going at once when you only have to take the greatest each round.

And in the long run it probably benefits the person causing the bleed damage because if they roll a low number, they can overwrite it with a more potent number in future actions. And if they roll a high number then the target it stuck with it.