The World of Teréth End - House Rules

"...[name] stood in the [name2] Hall, a hundred peers watching from the galleys above. She called her Provider's name, and all could feel the power she commanded. [name3] summoned his wards, but all that watched knew his efforts were in vain. The next name she offered was his, and the misery of [name3] was legend."

translated from Dekàlan fragment found in ruins of Ilduùn

Hit Points

• Vitality and Wound Points
• Special Attacks
• Recovery
• Injury
• Resisting Death in Dream

(The following Hit Points house rules are based on those posted to the eGroups message board on 6 Feb 2002)

The following house rules are being tested in the Jadth Dream realm chronicles and will not be adopted into other games until they are tested and refined.  The hope is that a system for dealing with injuries may eventually evolve from this.

Vitality and Wound Points

When determining a character's or monster's HP one should take into account the creature's size. Creatures of small size (regardless of Constitution) have less body to hack through than a creature of large size. The following table was constructed based on the Size tables in the Monster Manual. This table includes an added column which sets the target number for death by massive damage (which in standard D20 is 50 across the board).

No creature (despite size) can have less than 1 Wound Point + Toughness (feat).  It probably doesn't need noting, but I might as well mention it anyway, that for most characters (Uren or Uren-sized) this table changes nothing.

Wound Points = Con + Hit Point Size Modifier + Toughness
Vitality Points = Hit Points + Con Modifier per Level

Loss of Vitality Points (VP) has its own dangers, aside from losing one's buffer to Wound Points (WP). When VP are reduced to 0, any further damage inflicted is applied directly to WP.  When a character is reduced to 0 VP he must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) to avoid the effects of Fatigue.

Fatigue ( <= 0 VP + failed Fortitude DC 15 )

A Fatigued character cannot Run or Charge, suffers an effective penalty of -4 to Strength and Dexterity (which correlates to a -2 to attack and damage and AC if modified by Dex), and has all movement reduced by half.  All actions taken (including damage received) by a non-Fatigued person without Vitality Points forces another Fortitude save.  Once a character is Fatigued, additional saves (at this stage) are not required.

Staggered ( = 0 WP )
Unconscious ( <= 0 WP + failed Fortitude DC 15/20 )

When a character is reduced to 0 Wound Points he is Staggered and must make a Fortitude save (DC 15) to avoid becoming Unconscious.  A Staggered character cannot Run or Charge and suffers an effective penalty of -8 to Strength and Dexterity (non-cumulative with Fatigue penalties).  A Staggered character can perform one partial action a round, but each action taken [or damage received (except from bleeding)] forces another check to avoid going Unconscious.  A Staggered character can do little without assistance. Any action taken without assistance requires a Fortitude save (DC 20) to avoid becoming Unconscious for that round.

Staggered characters with <= 0 Hit Points suffer one additional Hit Point of damage each round from slashing attacks, piercing attacks, and continuing action.  On each subsequent round the character may roll (1 in 10) to stabilize (per the PHB).  Every character may survive until -(Con) but will likely be unconscious due to a failed Fortitude save long before that.

Example: Bobo the Halfling has a 13 Con and 5 Hit Points.  Bobo's Total Hits are 16 (11 + 5).  Although his Con is 13 he gets the -2 size modifier to his Wound Points for being Small.  Bobo has 11 Wound Points and 5 Vitality Points.  A Nasty Kobold slashes Bobo for 4 points of damage.  Bobo's player takes note of the damage.  In the next round the Nasty Kobold does 10 points of damage.  Eeek!  Bobo loses his last Vitality Point and suffers 9 Wound Points.  Since Bobo is at 0 Vitality Points, the player makes a Fortitude save (DC 15) and gets a 13 (Poor Bobo!).  Bobo now suffers a -4 penalty to Strength and Dexterity.  In the next round the Nasty Kobold does 3 points of damage to Bobo who suffers 1 last positive Wound Point and is now at -2 Wound Points.  Bobo's player makes a Fortitude save (DC 15) and rolls a 14 (plus Con mod) = 15, so Bobo is "fine", but still Staggered (since he's at 0 or less) so his Strength and Dexterity are both -8.  The Nasty Kobold takes a step back and admires his handiwork.  Bobo looks around but has no friends nearby.  He is weak from his wounds and knows that he will probably pass-out if he attempts anything.  Bobo remembers he has the Orb of Detonation at his belt, and knows that it's a partial action to activate.  Since he's doing it without assistance, upon completion he makes a Fortitude save (DC 20).  The orb goes off obliterating himself and the Nasty Kobold.  Bobo's player makes a roll, gets an 11, so Bobo is both dead and unconscious.

Special Attacks

Some strikes affect Vitality and Wound Points differently than standard attacks.

• Critical Hits are applied directly to a character's Wound Points.  Damage for Critical Hits is not doubled, as in the standard D20 rules, but the higher number rolled for damage is used.  For each unused die add a +1 to the damage done.

• Inflict Wounds spells are applied directly to a character's Wound Points.

• Falling Damage is applied 1/2 and 1/2 to Vitality and Wound Points.  If the falling character can make a successful Tumble check (based on distances outlined under the skill in PHB) the damage is applied to Vitality Points (and Wounds if Vitality is expended).

• Sneak Attack damage is applied similarly to Critical Hits.  The highest weapon damage rolled becomes the damage.  In addition, +1 damage is done for each Sneak Attack die.  So if a Rogue sneak attacks Bobo for 1d4 +3d6 damage, and he rolls a 2, 3, 4 and 1, the Rogue does 2+3 damage to Bobo's Wound Points.

• Backstab is a Sneak Attack where a character can reasonably position himself behind his target (targets in combat mode have no facing) for two full-actions without being noticed.  The first round is used to size-up the mark and prepare (applying poison is a move-equivalent action, so it counts against this), and the second round is used to attack.  A Backstab is a Called Shot (see below) / Sneak Attack that ignores the first -4 to hit a Body Location.  This bonus does not stack with other positional bonuses (i.e. Flanking).  The Face and Groin cannot be Backstabbed.  Only characters with the Sneak Attack class ability may perform this manuever.

Recovery

A character recovers Vitality Points at 1 point per level per hour of rest.  Each character may recover 1 Wound Point per day of rest.  Complete bed rest increases these rates by x1.5.  Complete bed rest and a Healer's successful attentions increases these rate by x2.

Injury

It is sometimes necessary to determine damage to a specific area of the body, such as with Called Shots.   The striking of different body parts has effects on the victim appropriate to the injured part.  These effects are cumulative across injuries, but not within one area.  The "effects" of two injuries (see Table 3: Body Locations) to the hand are not cumulative, but the effects of injuries to the hand and arm are stacked.

Note: Called shots that injure, cripple, or maim are applied directly to Wound Points.  Called shots with a result of Uninjured are applied normally.

When a body part becomes the target of a directed attack the character must save vs Fortitude to determine whether the body part is Uninjured, Injured, Crippled or Maimed (see Table 2: Injury Classes). When rolling a Fortitude check, higher results indicate a less severe effect.

Example:  Chork makes a called shot on a Faer's neck.  Chork's player rolls the dice and the hit is a success (but not a critical).  The DM rolls a Fortitude save for the NPC and gets an 8.  The DM checks the result against Table 2: Injury Classes on the Normal hit column.  Because the Fortitude check is in the 1-9 range, the Faer's neck is Crippled.  If the save had been a 10 the Faer's neck would have been Injured.  If the save had been a 15 or higher, the Faer's neck would be Uninjured (but still damaged).

If an attack is a critical hit, the DC factors are bumped to the Critical column of Table 2.  A maiming strike disables the body part completely.  If the victim's Wound Points drop to 0 or lower with a Maiming hit, the body part is removed.

Note: In order to remove the limb of an opponent, the weapon-size (tiny, small, medium, large, etc.) must at least equal the size of the opponent.  This means that a normal-sized dagger (tiny), no matter how good the hit, cannot sever the arm of an ogdar (large) with a maiming hit, but that a normal-sized greatsword could.

The following table details standard body locations available for targeting, the penalty to hit those areas and the effects suffered if they are injured, crippled or maimed.  If a body location is maimed it is affected per the Maimed AND the Crippled results.  Wound X notations (i.e. wound 1, wound 2, etc.) in the Maimed column should be treated per the weapon special ability Wounding (DMGp187; the number following is the per round Hit Point increment).

When the body locations Head, Neck, Chest, Abdomen or Groin are struck, save vs Fortitude (DC 10 for Injury, DC 15 for Crippled, DC 20 for Maimed) or suffer extra Subdual Damage (i.e. Vitality Points).  Subdual Damage is 1d6 for Injured, 2d6 for Crippled, and 3d6 for Maimed.  If the character is already Fatigued (i.e. no Vitality Points) ignore this effect.

Resisting Death in Dream

In the Dream it can be easier to control one's fate.  Once per game session, a Will save of DC 15 (criticals DC 20) can be used to reverse the effects of one attack in that same round or to stop bleeding.  This is called Dream Twisting.  The feat Alter Dream is the most common way for characters to do this.  The effect of the save is dramatic.  If a jungle ogdar cleaves a Dreamer's arm off but the Dreamer makes his save the arm is seen coming away from his body and then reattaching by force of will.  Restoration of Vitality Points is less dramatic.  Dream Twisting is a standard action.

The World of Teréth End, © 1995-2004, Dennis V. Stanley; Site Design by Three-Headed Baby Studios; Site content not OGC unless otherwise labeled

Categories

The House Rules are divided into the following categories.

Defense
Errata
Feats
Hit Points
Humor
Prestige Classes
Racial Traits
Skills
Spell List
Variants

Ref. PHB (Player's Handbook), © Wizards of the Coast