One option for keeping your PCs alive when they hit negative hit points is to do away with dying (unless the player is onboard with it, or there’s no narrative alternative). Adding scars and serious injuries each time this happens is a way to still have fallout for the characters when this happens. However, you need to add this to NPCs and monsters as well, in order to make it fair, otherwise your PCs will be significantly disabled by accumulating these effects. If a character would be dropped to -10 or fewer hit points, you can double the effect of the injury for each 10 hit points they would have taken (so, for example, if they would be dropped to -43 hit points, they take a 5x effect serious injury). This can characterize ‘boss’ or otherwise aged monsters really well, and can affect the tactics your PCs use in order to confront them. Tackling the “scarred bandit leader on the end” is a bit more fun than just “attacking the 3HD one”. 1d10 serious injuries and scars 1: Damaged eye (-2 on any ranged attacks and Balance checks) 2: Damaged hand (-1 on attack rolls or checks with that hand) 3: Crippled leg (-5ft. speed) 4: Nervous system damage (-1 Dexterity) 5: Trauma (become Frightened by similar creatures/situations that caused the injury, Will DC 10 to resist each round) 6: Respiratory injury (-1 Constitution, can hold breath for 1 round less) 7: Muscle damage (-1 Strength) 8: Memory damage (-1 Wisdom) 9: Brain damage (-1 Intelligence) 10: Anxiety issues (-1 Charisma) (None of these are intended as slights on those who have disabilities, but ways to represent taking injuries in-game. As someone with a diagnosed mental heath condition, offense is furthest from my mind. Feel free to change the titles of these for your own campaign as necessary.) (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 7 August 2018) Categories All Comments are closed.
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