Refining Thoughts on Ablation, Damage, and Death

This post by subjunctive moods earlier in the year got me thinking about ablative mechanics in combat, and Phlox’s All Damage As 1d6 reignited some of those thoughts.. We all know the pitfalls of Hit Points. But we also don't want our 97th-level Kobold Paramour to be as vulnerable as a newborn babe in battle.

A few constraints on a system occur to me:

• Any attack should have the possibility of incurring a mortal wound. A stiletto to the heart is as fatal as a beheading with a two-handed sword.
• If an attack is not fatal, it ought to increase the likelihood that the next is. Someone wrote an interesting piece a little while ago envisaging Hit Points as a character’s fate, which is interesting in this context.
• A combatant with greater skill at arms should have a greater chance of inflicting a mortal wound 
• A better-armoured combatant ought to have a better chance at avoiding a mortal wound 
• The number of die rolls must be kept to a minimum while still preserving randomness. I know some folks like fixed values, but I don’t.

This actually ties in with some of my earlier thoughts on Hit Points as an ability score, and refinement seems possible.

Dragons; the view from below

Sea of Stars is hosting the Blog Carnival again:

https://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/2025/02/05/beginning-this-months-rpg-blog-carnival-dragon-neighbors-how-do-you-live-with-a-dragon-nearby/

So how do you live next door to a dragon?

Hit Points as an ability score?

I like thinking about alternative ability scores for D&D-like systems. Taking a bit of inspiration from Call of Cthulhu's Sanity score, here's an alternative take on character survivability.

Characters have Hit Points. For the sakes of a D&D-like system, this can range from 1 to 20, but is initially determined by rolling 3d6 modified by Constitution. A character with 21 Hit Points (theoretically possible only by rolling 18 HP and 18 Con) is a Conan-type superhero, as close to invincible as it comes. A character with 1 Hit Point is as close to death as can be imagined. A character with 0 Hit Points is dead.

There is no such thing as a Hit Die. Maybe Fighter-types roll highest 3 of 4d6, and Magician-types roll the lowest 3 of 4d6.

When a character takes damage, they must roll a Hit Point check, 1d20 under their current Hit Points. On a failure, they take a high amount of damage. On a success, they take a low amount or none. This may be expressed as '0/1' - for some minor nuisance - or something like '1d6/3d6' for a deadly threat.

If a character takes more than one-third¹ of their current Hit Points in damage, they must make a Constitution check or suffer a lingering wound.

If a character gets a full day's rest, and does not have any lingering wounds, they may make a Hit Point check. On a failure, they gain one Hit Point. They may not do this, and make a Constitution check to recover from disease, on the same day, meaning that disease prolongs healing, and wounds prolong illness. Or maybe Hit Points are entirely non-renewable, in which case characters will not live long...

Hit Points do not scale with level in this system. I'd suggest using this alongside an armour system where better armour reduces the damage taken, rather than one which reduces the rate of hits. This allows for diegetic advancement.

This isn't entirely compatible with my earlier thoughts on wounds. It's not fully thought through either. But there's probably some merit in it somewhere.

^1: This means that an average character (with 10.5 HP and 10.5 Constitution) has about a 1-in-4 chance of suffering a serious injury from an average sword blow (doing 3.5 damage). Don't get in fights.

Return of the Hit Dice

It's no secret in the Fifth Edition community that Challenge Rating sucks. It's a guideline at best, and a rather loose one. There are all sorts of suggestions out there on how to fix it, or work better with it.

I have an alternative idea. Bin it entirely.

The King is....Not Dead? Still?

The King has always been the King. Even when Great-Grandfather was a boy, he had always been King. Nobody questions this. But the players might. Typical players.

Roll a d12 for the explanation they are given. One of these might be true.

1. He is the last surviving Elf King.

2. He consumes the souls of children to postpone death.

3. He is an undying vampire. Court cuisine is remarkably bland.

4. He consumes the magic of ancient Elvish artefacts to prolong his life. Those who provide him with them are generously rewarded. Nobody thinks too hard about what will happen when there are no more artefacts to harvest.

5. The Gods have blessed him with eternal life, so long as he serves their will.

6. He defeated Death in a duel. Death is still pissed off about it, but the Laws of the Universe must be obeyed.

7. Death just sort of… Forgot. It would be embarrassing to have to come back and call attention to the error.

8. Death came for his soul. He offered Death something far more valuable.

9. He died long ago, but his body has been occupied by a demon who finds it useful to wander the mortal world without drawing attention to itself.

10. He died long ago, but the King's Council has been keeping it a secret so long that the lie has become habit.

11. Actually, he's only been King for a few months, but powerful magic has made it so nobody can remember anything else.

12. The masses believe him to be King. As long as he has it, he cannot stop being King. Mere death cannot supersede this mandate.

The Four Dragons

Surely everyone has a take on dragons. Here's mine.

Dragons follow their own morality, perhaps not quite so alien as that of the creatures of the Void, but certainly not one that humans might understand. In dealing with dragons, it is perhaps best not to draw their attention. Does it especially matter to a rat whether it is in a laboratory, the hands of a sadistic torturer, or the home of a loving owner? Could it even tell? So it is, when treating with dragons. Even a dragon which appears to be helpful is likely to view you as a useful curiosity... for now.