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Who likes to be the guy with the CLW-Wand to heal all the little cuts and bruises after a fight?
I know I don't.
I played that way for a long time until we finally switched to Evil Lincoln's strain-injury system (thanks for that, by the way).
But still, I wasn't satisfied, as it had it's issues and you had to track two types of HP. So I came up with my own system for a Hit Point Recovery System. A System system. Hm.
Anyway, I'll share it with you.
Hit Point Recovery System
First things first, it involves some math. But don't flee in panic yet, you only have to do it once per level (or more often in the case of changing HP totals).
The HPRS is based on two things: Hit Die and Consitution Modifier.
These two factors create a percentage of Hit Points you will recover yourself after a combat, if you have the chance to rest for a short while (10 consecutive round for example).
Each Hit Die has a fixed percentage of HP recovery, as follows:
d6 -> 10%
d8 -> 20%
d10 -> 30%
d12 -> 40%
Added to that are 10% per Constitution Modifier.
The sum is the percentage of Hit Points you recover. Easy, eh?
Example
Torik is a 5th level fighter with a Constitution Score of 14. He has 44 Hit Points.
In combat he gets hit for 17 damage total.
But after he gets some rest he recovers 22 Hit Points (d10: 30% + CON-mod 2: 20% = 50%) and is now at full HP.
After all it were just some bumps and bruises, he wore out a little but didn't get badly wounded.
His friend Ilardo is a 5th level wizard with a Constitution score of 13. He has only 27 Hit Points.
He also gets hit for 17 damage total (because Torik didn't do his job to protect him, obviously).
So after the fight, he recovers 5 HP (d6: 10% + CON-mod 1: 10% = 20%) and is still wounded and has to be healed.
Thats about it.
Some rules to clarify:
- Hit Points recovered are always rounded down
- In case of multiclassing, the current class counts for the HPRS. Cause that's the path you chose for now.
- You can never recover damage carried over from a previous encounter
- If you go dwon in a fight (or reach -1 HP any other way), you can not recover Hit Points via HPRS until you are healed to 1 HP or above.
- Temporal Constitution increases do not count for the calculation
Variant Rule
Characters brought to -1 hit point or below received a mortal wound and cannot recover lost Hit Points via HPRS until fully healed again.
HPRS end
The thought behind that, apart from decreasing the need for the CLW-Wand, is not only to represent the ability to take punishment as Hit Points, but also the abilty to recover from the heat of battle, as HP are more than just wounds.
It can lead to extremes, like barbarians with a Constitution score of 22 recovering 100% of his HP, but well, he's obviously a big boy and can be killed just as easily (or uneasily) as before. He just recovers better from combat.
Opinions and contructive criticism welcome.
Its an interesting system. I guess it does help remove the obligatory cure wand issue. Though I am not sure about the pure numbers. I think I might make it more reliant on your con modifier, then your hit die, and I also might limit the amount of times per day it can be done. Otherwise managing hit points becomes a non-issue for High HD high con characters. Also what about characters that have different hit dies. If I am a rogue 6 barbarian 1 what % do I heal? What about a sorceror that goes into dragon disciple?
My thoughts:
Being dropped to -1 hp, taking a critical hit or taking damage due to a failed save would all prevent hit point recovery for that encounter.
You can only recover hit points a number of times per day equal to 3+your con modifier, if you have an especially long and grueling day, eventually you will just run out of gas.
Otherwise managing hit points becomes a non-issue for High HD high con characters.
True. Though I think Hit Point damage is one of the lesser problems for high level characters. Gives healers some room for other spells or equipment.
Also what about characters that have different hit dies. If I am a rogue 6 barbarian 1 what % do I heal? What about a sorceror that goes into dragon disciple?
As stated, multiclass characters use the Hit Die of their latest class. You could calculate a median Hit Die for that purpose, but I tried to keep bookkeeping to a minimum.
That's why I refrain from special cases like critical hits or per day uses. It would add to some level of depth, but at the cost of simplicity.Also, I forgot another variant rule:
Variant Rule
- The Toughness feat adds 10% to your recovery percentage
Otherwise managing hit points becomes a non-issue for High HD high con characters.True. Though I think Hit Point damage is one of the lesser problems for high level characters. Gives healers some room for other spells or equipment.
Also what about characters that have different hit dies. If I am a rogue 6 barbarian 1 what % do I heal? What about a sorceror that goes into dragon disciple?As stated, multiclass characters use the Hit Die of their latest class. You could calculate a median Hit Die for that purpose, but I tried to keep bookkeeping to a minimum.
That's why I refrain from special cases like critical hits or per day uses. It would add to some level of depth, but at the cost of simplicity.
Simplicity shouldnt be a reason to avoid coherence. Things like critical hits are supposed to be severe injuries, actual injuries. For people to shake them off removes what little sense the hit point system has. The same with being able to do this an infinate amount of times per day. Basically the barbarian could pick a fist fight with a local stable boy to recover a bunch of hit points. And even if its not egregious, it still means that the longevity of characters who score high on this system might be near infinate. And that reduces the dms ability to wear down reasources which is an important way to control the tension of a situation.
If your intention is to make it so hp is just a per encounter resource, and no longer fits in the wider sense of the world, i guess thats ok, but it wouldnt be for me. I've actually been thinking of implementing some kind of second wind system and your idea gives me some ideas, but as it its just to disassociative for me.
Basically the barbarian could pick a fist fight with a local stable boy to recover a bunch of hit points
As stated, damage carried over from previous encounters cannot be recovered in this way.
We play with HPRS for some time in my group and most of the characters have between 30% to 50% recovery value.
It is less for making HP a 'per encounter' ressource, but more to counter the need to heal all the small cuts and wounds after every combat, while carrying around a bundle of wands.
Yes, HPRS can be exploited, but honestly, if someone really wants to play a barbarian and push his Constitution to the max to leap from one combat to the next (with a short rest to recover) without being dependent on magical healing, thats fine by me.
Wouldn't it be easier to use healing surges?
Wow this is brilliant. I liked the original system a lot, but didn't like how much damage it mitigated, but your system for a system fixes it right up, good work!
You do still have to track two values in this system. :)
You do still have to track two values in this system. :)
Actually, you don't.
You can add up the damage you take and after the fight, you substract your recovery value, and substract that score from your current HP (if there's anything left).The difference is that you do not track two values in combat, which makes it less complicated in my book.
But it was your system that inspired me to create the HPRS :)
If you allow me, i'll be a little nosy now... XD
I found this system really interesting, but did you consider somehow using the PC's total Fortitude modifier in the system?
It would be difficult to make a simple system without it looking like a healing surge knock off, and I was never quite sold on those. Every idea I could offer is complicated.
On a not-completely-related note, I think taking some/all of the randomness out of hp per level and healing would be good for the game. That was the purpose of ability score point buy, right?
I always do max hp at lvl, and max healing out of combat.
Huh, I didn't notice this one was still alive, but I'll try to answer anyway...after a good month. Sorry.
I found this system really interesting, but did you consider somehow using the PC's total Fortitude modifier in the system?
The Fortitude modifier draws mainly from class and constitution, two factors that are incorporated in HPRS. Implementing other modificators regarding fortitude would make it more complicated, I think.
what happens if i get into an easy fight just to recover HP?
that is, can i rest after every 'encounter'? or just once per 8 hours?
You can't recover actual hit point loss from other fights this way. If you are below maximum HP after recovery, you can not recover these HP via HPRS. (See above, somewhere)
You can rest whenever you have the time to do so, 10 full rounds of non-combat. But you could say you can only rest once after taking damage (or fighting), resting a second time after that would not affect your current HP.
Some rules to clarify:
- Hit Points recovered are always rounded down
- In case of multiclassing, the current class counts for the HPRS. Cause that's the path you chose for now.
- You can never recover damage carried over from a previous encounter
- If you go down in a fight (or reach -1 HP any other way), you can not recover Hit Points via HPRS until you are healed to 1 HP or above.
- Temporal Constitution increases do not count for the calculation
emphasis mine
This element makes the rule a bit harder to use, since you need to know how many hit points you had before you started the encounter. I can see the shenanigan of going into a fight for the sake of healing 'tough.
Also, the notion of "encounter" is a bit vague and yearns to be defined. What if you're taking continual damage from a very slow source, like bitter cold?
A few further questions:
Temporary Con increase don't count. What about semi-permanent Con increase, like stat boosting items? How about temporary decrease, like poison and other ability damage? What if you take Con damage, but less than your increase?
What about healing between encounters? Like resting for two days?
Would this supercede the normal healing for 8 hours rest? Or is it in adition to the normal healing?
You could ether use it in addition to the standard healing on rest rules or, if you like a bit more "grit" in your game, rule that leftover hit points (HP not healed by HPRC) must be healed magically or with medical care.
This element makes the rule a bit harder to use, since you need to know how many hit points you had before you started the encounter. I can see the shenanigan of going into a fight for the sake of healing 'tough.
Also, the notion of "encounter" is a bit vague and yearns to be defined. What if you're taking continual damage from a very slow source, like bitter cold?
A few further questions:
Temporary Con increase don't count. What about semi-permanent Con increase, like stat boosting items? How about temporary decrease, like poison and other ability damage? What if you take Con damage, but less than your increase?
What about healing between encounters? Like resting for two days?
It is easier to note the damage taken and substract the recovery value at the end of combat. You just subsract what's left from your HP at the end.
An "encounter" for that purpose is any situation where you are damaged in a short pediod of time, e.g. combat, traps or damage from falling.
As I would rule it, anything that modifies your constitution while you want to rest (and actually let you rest, so no rage) and takes longer than 10 rounds affect your recovery value. Both the percentage of, and the actual HP. Cause that's your bodily fitness at that moment.
Resting is ansewerd above.
Apart from that, just as the official rules, these can be modified as anyone sees fit, of course. If you don't like anything or find it to be vague, change or clarify it for yourself, make suggestions even.