Are you sure? I mean isn't there no system out there that makes you weaker when you're low on HP? Or is it just working this way with things like fatigue?
D&D doesn’t work that way on purpose. If low health gives you any additional downsides at all, you get death spirals, where a slight tilt in one party’s favor at the start of an otherwise balanced combat will build on itself until it becomes insurmountable.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it gives combat a specific tone that isn’t what D&D is going for. It’s the same reason injuries are never more than an optional rule mentioned in a sidebar.
It's a consequence of the simplifying that D&D has been going for. There's less things to keep track of overall, making it easier to jump into and all that.
It's been a part of the game from the start, so I think "How it's been simplifying" is a little inaccurate.
I think it has its roots in D&D's origins as a wargame- 'individuals' were singular points of larger squads, and so had a binary of 'alive' or 'dead'. So the unit as a whole (the Party) would suffer from having more or fewer of its members indisposed, but the individuals didn't have those penalties.
Gurps has a couple different mechanics dedicated to this. Firstly, the immediate round after you get injured, you get a shock penalty towards your attacks and defenses based on how much damage you took, which can really lead to things snowballing badly. There's also fatigue penalties where if you drop below a certain level you start taking some pretty severe penalties. And if specific body parts take enough damage they'll get crippled and cause all sorts of problems. Still, in theory you could be at like, 4 times your hp below 0 and still going strong as long as you keep making the checks tot stay conscious lol.
there's Traveller, which has your strength, dexterity, and endurance as your combined health pool. when you take damage, endurance goes first, then more damage beyond what your endurance can handle goes to strength and dexterity. which is fine if you're a very physical character, but if you've got middling or low physical stats you're going to crumple like tissue paper
Cypher does that with all three stats(might, speed and mind), which are pools for enhancing your checks.
Each pool has a specific effect when depleted.
0 might exhausts you, 0 speed cripples you, 0 mind ends you.
System is optimized for exploration, not combat.
LazerWulf
29th Apr 2022, 3:35 AM
Hey, 1HP is 1HP, and your attacks will still hit just as hard as if you were full HP.
edit delete reply
HoSt.
29th Apr 2022, 4:09 AM
Are you sure? I mean isn't there no system out there that makes you weaker when you're low on HP? Or is it just working this way with things like fatigue?
edit delete reply
Grim
29th Apr 2022, 5:11 AM"there is, actually!"
Exalted has always done exactly that. You start to take "wound penalties" the more damage you have.
edit delete reply
J. Mirkson
30th Apr 2022, 12:13 AM
Shadowrun does that as well.
edit delete reply
Samantha
29th Apr 2022, 7:22 AM
Even without one, clearly that amount of damage has knocked them prone for the round.
edit delete reply
Pablo360
29th Apr 2022, 8:01 AM
D&D doesn’t work that way on purpose. If low health gives you any additional downsides at all, you get death spirals, where a slight tilt in one party’s favor at the start of an otherwise balanced combat will build on itself until it becomes insurmountable.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it gives combat a specific tone that isn’t what D&D is going for. It’s the same reason injuries are never more than an optional rule mentioned in a sidebar.
edit delete reply
Phantomdemon
29th Apr 2022, 3:03 PM
It's a consequence of the simplifying that D&D has been going for. There's less things to keep track of overall, making it easier to jump into and all that.
edit delete reply
Anvildude
29th Apr 2022, 10:16 PM
It's been a part of the game from the start, so I think "How it's been simplifying" is a little inaccurate.
I think it has its roots in D&D's origins as a wargame- 'individuals' were singular points of larger squads, and so had a binary of 'alive' or 'dead'. So the unit as a whole (the Party) would suffer from having more or fewer of its members indisposed, but the individuals didn't have those penalties.
edit delete reply
darkening
30th Apr 2022, 11:25 AM
Gurps has a couple different mechanics dedicated to this. Firstly, the immediate round after you get injured, you get a shock penalty towards your attacks and defenses based on how much damage you took, which can really lead to things snowballing badly. There's also fatigue penalties where if you drop below a certain level you start taking some pretty severe penalties. And if specific body parts take enough damage they'll get crippled and cause all sorts of problems. Still, in theory you could be at like, 4 times your hp below 0 and still going strong as long as you keep making the checks tot stay conscious lol.
edit delete reply
Otaku
30th Apr 2022, 11:02 PM
*goes to mention GURPS
...huh? Someone beat me to it?
I don't know how to feel about this...
;)
edit delete reply
Haru
30th Apr 2022, 5:12 PM
there's Traveller, which has your strength, dexterity, and endurance as your combined health pool. when you take damage, endurance goes first, then more damage beyond what your endurance can handle goes to strength and dexterity. which is fine if you're a very physical character, but if you've got middling or low physical stats you're going to crumple like tissue paper
edit delete reply
kwak
1st May 2022, 4:33 AM
Cypher does that with all three stats(might, speed and mind), which are pools for enhancing your checks.
Each pool has a specific effect when depleted.
0 might exhausts you, 0 speed cripples you, 0 mind ends you.
System is optimized for exploration, not combat.
edit delete reply
SlendVeny
1st May 2022, 9:46 PM
Stamina and hp are different
edit delete reply
Decimal
30th Apr 2022, 3:57 PM
Can you end with HP in decimals? With how low are Ussop physical stats, I could imagine him end with 0.01 HP
edit delete reply
HenshinFanatic
1st May 2022, 1:42 AM
Nope, explicitly only whole numbers, fractions are generally rounded down.
edit delete reply
leoryff
1st May 2022, 9:29 PM
Oh darn. I have finally caught up again.
edit delete reply