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It can be very anticlimactic for your big bad villain to be wiped out in the first round of a combat due to being stunned, dazed, or staggered.
One idea I have is to allow a monster to burn HP to end these status effects. Based on the fact that spells that are specifically meant to kill generally do 10 hp/caster level on a failed save, I don't think lesser status effects should completely end a combat. At the same time, I want those spells that cause status effects to still be useful.
So if a monster of CR> Caster Level fails a save vs a status effect, it can use an immediate action to spend HP to negate the status effect. Since it's an immediate action, it can only do it once a round.
This is what it would have to burn:
Paralysis/Domination/Confusion/Panic/Sleep - 10 HP/caster level
Stunned/Frightened/Fascinated/Cower - 8 HP/CL
Dazed/Exhausted - 6 HP/CL
Staggered/Nauseated/Fatigued - 5 HP/CL
Shaken/Sickened 3 HP/CL
A monster cannot use this rule if it doesn't have enough HP to pay the cost. If the status effect is caused by an attack instead of a spell, use the BAB of the attacker instead of CL. Any HP sacrificed is not subject to resistance or DR.
Example: A 10th level wizard manages to daze an ice devil on the first round of combat. The ice devil knows this would be fatal so it spends 60 hp to negate the daze.
Example: A 14th level fighter uses staggering critical to stagger an ancient black dragon. The dragon chooses to sacrifice 70 HP to negate the stagger.
The idea is that the monster can use force of will, devotion, or rage to push its body way beyond its normal capability, but at a steep cost.
Would this idea gimp spellcasters too much, or are there any side effects I may be missing? I want to add some badly needed resilience to boss monsters, but I don't want to break the game in the process.
I think this sounds like a very fair house rule, as long as you present it to the party before the campaign begins, or allow the caster that has built themselves to be entirely save or die some sort of recourse (reroll, change feats/abilities). Being told halfway through the campaign that what you built your character for no longer works the way it did, can taste a bit sour. It doesn't nullify it completely, but it does weaken it. A BBEG that is stunned or dazed for 4-5 rounds is effectively dead. This allows them to not be dead and 1. escape to ambush another day, or 2. continue to threaten the party. This is a definite step up, even at the cost of hit points.
I would also re-weight Daze on your list. Dazed is definitely stronger that exhausted, which allows actions, as well as 2 things above it, Frightened and Fascinated. I would move dazed up to 8 HP/CL as it is just as effective at putting anything out of the fight.
This is kind of a brilliant idea, it seems to me - and it actually fits in nicely with the deliberately abstract nature of hit points. I think I would probably limit it to major NPCs, however, since the right effects ought too be able to one-shot mooks without too much trouble and since some of these abilities are used to get a deliberate status effect and not just to win a fight (sleeping enemies as a nonlethal way of dealing with them, paralyzing them so you can capture them, making them shaken so you can run them off with another fear effect, etc. etc.).
You have it limited to CR greater than caster level as it is, but why not just make it a matter of GM fiat? At least in my campaigns, it would be pretty obvious who could do it and who couldn't.
I'd like to hear some feedback after you have used it at your table, but I agree that the HP weight of the conditions will need adjusting.
I've used similar house rules in the past. Based on that experience, I recommend the following:
Instead of completely negating a status effect, sacrificing hit points should allow you to reduce a status effect that takes you out of the fight (like frightened or nauseated) to a similar but less debilitating one (like shaken or sickened). This gives creatures a way to avoid being taken out by status effect spells without removing the flavor of those spells.
This is an excellent idea. If it works out, I'd be in favour of it applying to PCs too. It's a really good way to represent the hero gritting his teeth and pushing himself to break out of the sorcerous glamor that the evil necromancer has invoked on him.
Although perhaps only for gritty Fighters and slippery Rogues. Goodness knows they need the help :)
I would also not use single BBEG's in combat. Give them a support caster sometimes.
Just a comment on the spot:
Celanian wrote:
This is what it would have to burn:
Paralysis/Domination/Confusion/Panic/Sleep - 10 HP/caster level
Stunned/Frightened/Fascinated/Cower - 8 HP/CL
Dazed/Exhausted - 6 HP/CL
Staggered/Nauseated/Fatigued - 5 HP/CL
Shaken/Sickened 3 HP/CL
A monster cannot use this rule if it doesn't have enough HP to pay the cost. If the status effect is caused by an attack instead of a spell, use the BAB of the attacker instead of CL.
Hmmm. I think it will be a bit unfair versus the fighter type. This thread shows how ridicously high could go a CL, opposed to the bab tha even in the most favorable case never go over your level. even without the optimization like the thread I linked, a spellcaster that takes something like spell focus and greater, and spell specialization, a 3rd level wiz will have a CL of 7. Heck, at 1st level a human wiz will get a +4. He can cast sleep at CL 5, how many monsters has at least 51 hp, or even 41, if you don't get the trait, to burn for shaking of the effect? While a 1st level fighter could use intimidate to shaken the enemy, the enemy just need to burn 3 hp (a level 1 fighter has a +1 bab).
Just to be clear, it's not a bad idea, I want to point out that a CL higher than your level is possible, a bab can never go over your level, so this would be an improvement to casters while the mundane would be screwed from this rule.
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To be fair to rogues and other 2/3BAB classes that inflict status effects, and to balance BAB vs. Caster Level, why not use Character Level to determine the price?
I like Epic Meepo's idea of downgrading rather than immediately negating effects. That way powerful status abilities still appear to do what they say on the label, rather than de facto being just another damage-dealing power. Even if it is only for a shorter duration.
Thanks for the feedback everyone!
What I'll consider from the feedback is:
1) Adjust some of the costs a bit such as making Daze cost more
2) Allow it for only some monsters and not all monsters with CR above APL
3) Allow it for PCs. This should reduce the number of TPKs.
4) Use class level instead of CL or BAB.
5) Allow for partial effects if this option is applied. Maybe with reduced costs to the monster.
Anything else that I should consider?
Maybe instead of completely nullifying the effect, simply reduce the duration? That kind of gives the best of both worlds. If you combine that with the "scale down" idea of turning Frightened into Shaken, you get the following:
Cut your HP/CL values in half for spells.
Paralysis... - 5 HP/CL
Stunned (add Dazed here)... - 4 HP/CL
Exhausted - 3 HP/CL
Staggered... - 2 HP/CL
Shaken... - 1 HP/CL
Effects that can scale down to a lesser form do so. Duration is cut in half (min. 1 round duration remaining).
For non-magic, use HD + BAB and your original HP per values. This gives a marked advantage for full-BAB but also doesn't completely nerf mid-bab classes like Rogue who may rely heavily on status effects over direct damage.
You may want to have the sacrificed hp fall under the same "can't be restored with healing magic" category as starvation, cursed wounds, etc... requiring, say, an eight-hour rest before they can be restored. Otherwise I see some slight potential for imbalance if the party is confronting an enemy group that includes clerics... or if the same rules are allowed to PCs (which I always recommend.)
Can a barbarian use this to rage cycle?
I would use spell level instead of caster level. Maybe reduced the categories to just 2 or 3 tiers of damage.
i third the Reduce Severity idea.
consider a flat cost of 10 HP per level. steep enough to really think about, and easy to remember (read: fast!)
let all creatures/characters have the option to reduce severity. maybe if the creature has superior CR, let it end the effect rather than reduce?
Personally I wouldn't link it to caster level at all. The spell level determines the nature, duration, number of targets, difficulty to resist an effect. But a 6th level Exhaustion is still just an Exhaustion.
However, also note that some status effects are active ongoing: burning HP to escape from Web, for example, shouldn't stop you from having to make another save if you're still in the web at the end of the round.
Blackstorm wrote: a spellcaster that takes something like spell focus and greater, and spell specialization, a 3rd level wiz will have a CL of 7. Heck, at 1st level a human wiz will get a +4. No he won't. Spell focus just adds to the DC, not to the CL. So +2 is about all you'll get, and that's just for one spell. Unless you have a one-shot pony who spams that one spell for all he's worth (which will tend to require that he's casting it in lower-level slots, so the saves are easier) it's not really going to matter.
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