Tired from combat.

[DeathMvp]

As a house rule I have added something into the game. Mind you almost all toons would be able to go with this system for at lest 10 rounds even at level 1.

You get tired from Fighting. You can fight (being in combat) for your 10+Fortitude in rounds for for you move down the Fatigued track. As a 1 round (like casting a round) action you can stop and rest but you are flat Foot the whole round while you do this recovering all your energy. This does not move you back up the track as you must do that normaly.

The track is Normal => Fatigued => Exhausted => Passed out.

Fatigued
A fatigued character can neither run nor charge and takes a –2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue causes the fatigued character to become exhausted. After 8 hours of complete rest, fatigued characters are no longer fatigued.

Exhausted
An exhausted character moves at half speed, cannot run or charge, and takes a –6 penalty to Strength andDexterity. After 1 hour of complete rest, an exhausted character becomes fatigued. A fatigued character becomes exhausted by doing something else that would normally cause fatigue.

Passed out
You are so spent you pass out. Each round you may roll to wake up but you must roll lower then your con score on a d20. When you wake up you are back in the exhausted state.

What do you all think about this?

[Cyrad]

Yet another punch to a martial's gut?

From a game design standpoint, what's the whole point of this?

[Rawhead]

I have a couple questions: What constitutes as fighting? Does being in combat in any capacity count, or just those engaged in melee?

The issue I see is that, in drawn out fights, the mages are most likely going to be the first ones down (if simply being a part of a combat encounter begins the countdown), but that won't always make sense, especially if the mage is standing back and carefully plotting and placing his/her spells. Combine this with their existing limit of spells per day, and they've got two timers ticking down to when they're completely out.

Additionally, I feel that a character should get a save versus moving down the exhaustion track. Currently, there's no hope that the caracter can grit his/her teeth and keep going against the odds.

[DeathMvp]

Cyrad I would think the Martals would have the advantage on this normly since they normaly have much better fort saves. A fighter at level 1 could easly have a fort of +4 (+2con+2base) for 14 round vs the caster 10.

This would be for each round you are in combat so yes the Wiz will be ticking off also.

The thing the wiz would have going for him that the Tanks would not though is he can take the rest with the baddie not standing in your face when it happens. But said baddie may take tha attacks to push past the lines to get the wiz while he lose dex of the rog can sneek him bad.

As to grit his teeth and keep going there is only so much you can push your self before you are tied but the idea of putting it before you passed out may be a idea Maby something like a Will save vs how many round you have put off passing out pluse 10.

I am adding this as I think it is a little to unrealistic you can fight for ever and never get tired. With this after a while you run the risk of losing from fighting to long. Mind you a wiz at level 1 with a con 10 could fight for 3 min (30 round) before he would pass out if he did not stop to rest. If he stoped to rest every 9 rounds he would never get tired.

[Rawhead]

But if a character is not participating in strenuous activity, why does the counter keep moving?

Additionally, I don't see how resting for 6 seconds would refresh you. That's not even enough time to stop breathing heavy, much less make it so you can keep fighting indefinitely.

While I applaud your attempt to add some realism to the game, all I see here is additional bookkeeping with a limit that will hardly ever be reached. The only times I see these conditions actually being hit are in high level boss fights, and those take long enough as it is, in my opinion.

[Cyrad]

There's already rules for hustling too long. I don't think this will really add anything to the game.

[blahpers]

There is already a limit on long combats--you can only hustle for an hour before you become fatigued and start taking nonlethal damage at an exponential rate. I doubt this would make things more fun.

[darth_borehd]

If you want a little gritty realism how about this instead:

Anybody with an initiative count during combat (including spellcasters, healers, etc) will eventually become tired.

You can be in combat up to a number of rounds equal to your Con score without any chance of tiring naturally.

After that, you must make a DC 10 Fort save each round. Each additional round, the DC increases by +1. Failing a save makes you fatigued. Once fatigued, failing a second check makes you exhausted.

Fighters add their Bravery bonus to this Fort save. Endurance feat adds an additional +4 bonus to the save.

Rolling a natural 20 gives you a "2nd wind" and resets the count to the beginning.

Unlike regular fatigue or exhaustion, battle fatigue can be removed by 1 minute (10 rounds) of inactivity while exhaustion from battle can be downgraded to fatigue by 10 minutes of inactivity.

[DeathMvp]

I like yours also Darth.

[Rawhead]

It still doesn't make sense that those who are not engaged in constant, strenuous, physical activity are counting down at the same rate as those that are.

[Raltus]

Maybe they are mentally exhausted, a lot of planning plus even being around something like that going on gets your blood pumping and you do get exhausted.

I have been to code blues not actively involved but present in the room and after wards I was tired because of all the adrenaline flowing from everyone else got mine up too. I was prepped and ready to act on a moments notice.

[Rawhead]

Oh, I understand that being prepped and ready can be exhausting, but I don't see a person passing out in three minutes of that state. That kind of time frame is really for going full bore.

Additionally, mages already have a mechanic that shows that they're exhausted: running out of spells.

[darth_borehd]

Rawhead wrote:

It still doesn't make sense that those who are not engaged in constant, strenuous, physical activity are counting down at the same rate as those that are.

When dealing with a life and death situation, your adrenaline goes up through the roof. You are also looking around for danger and constantly making sure you don't get hit.

Those that are up swinging weapons usually have all their training helping to make it easier for them. That's why martial type classes have higher fort saves and usually higher con. They can naturally last longer most of the time.

Wizards, for example. who spent most of their time not doing strenuous exercise but reading books would not be as used to all this stress and activity and would get tired faster.

[Petty Alchemy]

What's the difference between a fatigued caster and a fatigued martial?

[Pendagast]

so do casters get fatigued/passed out from casting too much?

how does the feat of endurance modify this?

[darth_borehd]

I would say yes, casters do get tired and there is no mechanical difference.

[Larkspire]

How often do your combats go longer than 10 rounds? I could see using this if you were simulating a major battle or a siege but in normal play it would almost never come up.
It also creates a death spiral,that is probably not needed...after that long a fight the PC's resources will be taxed already (HP,spells,etc..)

[Sandal Fury]

This is a good idea, but I don't think it works with this system.

[-Grijm-]

What kind of professional soldier gets fatigued from just 1 minute of combat? Have you seen how long those boxing bouts go on for, 1 minute??

Its too vague to calculate really, what if the combatant fight in a skillful manner to conserve their breath and reduce energy loss?

[DeathMvp]

I now have played 2 week and while no one has gotten tired to the affect of pentalys it has help my players roleplay starting to get out of breath.