By now I'm sure most of you have heard something of the WP/VP system, which seems to have been started in the Star Wars Role-playing Game. Before it was published in Unearthed Arcana, I knew too little about it to put it into my games (and I didn't know if it was OGL or not; I plan to publish eventually). After Unearthed Arcana was released, I delved into it, modified it, and adopted it for my games.
I enjoy the system because it makes battle a little more realistic while still maintaining the level of heroism and simplicity which D&D is known for. When you're in a bar fight and someone pulls a knife while you're unarmed, you may think twice; sure, it's only 1d4+str damage, but if it crits, that's nearly half of your wounds (if you're average; this is reasonable, as something very scary has to happen for a knife wound to kill you on the spot). I've added a few modifications to the basic system for my games, of which I will detail shortly.
I'm here for two things. First of all, I'd like to hear your general opinions on the WP/VP system, and what you think it does to the games; if you've had experience with it, post it here. Secondly, I'd like to collect some ideas on how to modify sneak attack and spells to better utilize the WP/VP system.
Thank you for your interest.
I love the WP/VP system, to a point. It is good for games like many of mines, where realism is important, but I think it detracts from the heroic feel of DnD: With WP/VP, a lucky commoner 1 with a greatsword could take off half or mroe the WP of a 20th level fighter. Realistic? yes. Heroic? No. As far as the mechanical issues, I'll have to ponder those some, though I could see sneak attack allowing the option of either dealing normal damage to VP, or dealing 1/4 weapon damage (no sneak attack damage added in) automatically to WP. That's still a bit powerful, though: Perhaps you ahve the option of dealing normal damage to VP, or the target must make a fort save against DC XX or take the damage (without sneak attack damage added) to WP.
Wound Points, as implimented in the Three Worlds Campaign Setting
Hit Points are a measure of a character's resilancy to damage, and their combat endurance. When a character suffers Hit Point damage from an attack, spell, or environmental condition (such as hot air, or falling off a cliff), this represents a bruse, a glancing blow, rolling with an attack, expending energy to dodge, or resisting the worse effects of a spell. As heroes grow in power, so to do they become better able to resist the worse of an attack, gaining additional Hit Points with every level up.
Even with all this heroic resistance, sometimes a character is critically wounded by an attack. A knife thrust that may have otherwise been harmless pierces the flesh, an axe plants into a side, or a mace crushes bone. This damage is represented by Wound Point damage. When an attacker scores a critical hit, their attack deals damage to Wound Points in addition to Hit Points (this is a variation my rules utilize; it's required for balance between high range and high multiplier weapons). Some weapons even deal multiples of Wound damage; these weapons (such as axes and picks) are particularly devistating when they score a solid blow. Without choosing certain feats or abilities, a character's Wound Points never change unless their Constitution score changes.
Determining Hit Points and Wound Points
Hit Points: A character has a number of Hit Dice based on their class level, added to any racial Hit Dice. Each Hit Die has a listed size, which represents a single roll of a certain sized dice. A character adds their constitution modifier to each roll of their Hit Dice (though characters always gain 1 hit point per Hit Die, even if they have a negative Con modifier). Certain feats and abilites may increase or decrease this number.
If your Con score is decreased, your maximum HP is decreased as well (by 1 point per Hit Die, though you can never fall below 1 hit point per Hit Die); this only decreases your current total Hit Points if your new maximum falls below your current total. Likewise, if your Con score increases, you gain additional hit points (equal to the gain in Constitution modifier multiplied by your Hit Dice); these additional hit points are temporary hit points, and are lost first when ever you take damage (this is a rule change added for my games; otherwise Bear's Endurance is worth less than the other stat enhancers).
Wound Points: All characters have a number of Wound Points equal to their Constitution score. If your Constitution score decreases, your maxiumum Wound Points also decrease; this only reduces your current Wound Points if this reduces your maximum below your current total. If your Constitution score increases, you gain bonus Wound Points equal to the increase; these wound points are temporary wound points and are lost first.
Taking Damage
Hit Points: Taking damage to hit points in no way harms a character; they may feel a little tired, and know that they're not fighting at full potential, but their abilities are not affected. When a character is reduced to 0 Hit Points, all further damage is dealt to Wound Points (including any left over damage from the attack which reduced the character to 0 Hit Points); a character without any Hit Points can no longer defend themselves against serious injury. Additionally, while at 0 Hit Points, a character is fatigued, suffering a -2 penalty to all ability scores (a change in my games) and loosing the ability to charge or run.
Wound Points: If a character suffers any damage to Wound Points, even a single point, they are fatigued, suffering a -2 penalty to al ability scores (a change in my games) and they are unable to charge or run; such an injury affects a character's ability to function. When reduced to 0 Wound Points, a character is exhausted, suffering a -6 penalty to all ability scores and may only take a single move or standard action in a round (a change in my games). Wound Points are tracked into negatives, and being reduced to negative wound points runs the risk of death.
Death and Dying
When first reduced to negative Wound Points, a character must make a fortitude save (DC 10 + 1 per 5 Wound Points below zero) or be reduced to the dying state. If a character succeeds this save, they remain exhausted but are otherwise safe; if a character fails this save by 10 or more, they are instantly killed.
If a character succeeds their first save, any further injury comes at a higher risk. They must again make a Fortitude save (DC equal to 1 per 5 Wound Points below zero); failure means the character is now dead, success means the character is now dying. If a character performs any strenuous action while in negative Wound Points, they take 1 Wound Point damage; this requires them to make a save because they have taken further damage.
Dying: When a character is dying, they are unconscious. At the start of their turn, they must make a Fortitude save (DC 20 +1 per 5 points of negative Wound damage); if they succeed this save, they stabilize and are no longer dying, though they remain unconscious; if they fail this save, they take one additional point of Wound damage; if they fail this save by 10 or more, they are dead.
While dying, if a character recieves wound damage from any source (not including the 1 damage they suffer for failing their fortitude save at the start of their turn), they must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 +1 per 5 points of negative Wound damage); success means they are still alive, but dying, while failure means they are dead.
Dead: You are dead.
So, with all that said and done, being dropped to negative wound points is bad; very bad. But it's about as bad as being reduce to negative hit points in the standard system; if you have -5 HP, all it takes is 5 damage to kill you. Besides, you're probably more worried about a coup de grace while you're unconcious than you are about bleeding to death (though that should worry you too).
One last bit of info before I discuss some proposed rules changes which I haven't had a chance to detail or test (or even formulate fully): the Die Hard feat (wow ... I almost typoed that "Dye Hard"). This feat requires special care in a system which uses the alternate death and dying rules from Unearthed Arcana, as my Wound Point system does. Here is my reinterpretation of it:
DIEHARD [GENERAL]
You are extremely difficult to kill.
Prerequisite: Endurance.
Benefit: When you are reduced to negative wp and you fail your Fortitude save and are now dying, you do not have to make a fortitude save at the start of your round to see if you take additional damage or die.
When you are reduced to negative wp and you fail your Fortitude save and are now dying, you may choose to continue to act, rather than be reduced to dying. You must make this decision as soon as you are reduced to the dying state (even if it isnâ,¬,,¢t your turn). If you do not choose to act, you immediately fall unconscious.
While acting with negative Wound Points, you follow different rules than others. You do suffer 1 point of wound damage when ever you perform a strenuous action, and you still must make a Fortitude save when ever you take additional damage (including when caused by strenuous action), but the saving throw DC is equal to 10 + 1 per 5 negative wound damage. Success means you are still able to act, failure means you are reduced to dying (and you cannot choose to continue acting), and failure by 10 or more means you are dead.
Normal: A character without this feat who is reduced to negative WP and who fails their Fortitude save is unconscious and dying. A character without this feat who succeeds this first save and takes further damage is automatically reduced to the dying state, or is dead if they fail their new fortitude save.
This makes the feat quite worth while; a character with a high fortitude save will be able to put up with quite a bit before being brought down, instead of basically gaining 10 hp like the current feat.
Additionally, the Endurance feat grants its +4 bonus to Fortitude saves to resist death and dying while at negative Wound Points.
Next post: I will discuss possible changes to Sneak Attack and Spells so they better fit within the WP universe.
(this post is a placeholder for some ideas I have)
Sneak Attack: My initial idea is this: sneak attack increases a weapon's critical threat range when attacking flat-footed or flanked opponents. In order for it to not be better with axes and scythes, the increase will be based on the "double" system set by Improved Critical. It will start at double at 1st level, and perhaps triple at 5th, quadruple at 10th ... and so on (I forget the words for 5x and 6x ... to much Japanese lately).
This was based off of a poster on this board's idea for changing sneak attack in the standard system. It would allow rogues to do a good amount of wound damage with sneak attacks, but only if they roll well.
Over all, I'm not sure if it is balanced against normal sneak attack (in fact, I immediately know that in a non-WP/VP system, it wouldn't be until higher levels, since an extra +1d6 damage is better than a 10% extra chance for 1d6+str extra damage (a crit with a shortsword)).
But it would unify a mechanic (sneak attacks and crits, which immunity to one provides immunity to the other).
Spells: My spell idea is a little more complex. It would involve overhauling many damage dealing spells. The idea would be to unify the attack roll and saving throw mechanics: a natural 20 on a saving throw would be a critical success, allowing you to take no effect, while a natural 1 on a saving throw would be a critical failure. Upon rolling a critical failure, a character would suffer some amount of WP damage, in addition to the normal spell effect.
Spells without attack rolls or saves would not be able to do this (as far as I know, there are no damage dealing spells without either other than magic missile; but that shouldn't deal WP damage anyway). I don't have an idea for a damage formula, though that's my idea.
One of the things i remember reading about VP/WP was something along the lines of "It's a great mechanic, but it really shouldn't have been in Star Wars." Something about storm troopers killing jedi in one lucky hit :)
QuoteSpells without attack rolls or saves would not be able to do this (as far as I know, there are no damage dealing spells without either other than magic missile; but that shouldn't deal WP damage anyway)
ice storm is one. there may be one or two others. There's a few where the save doesn't affect damage, but rather lets you avoid a secondary effect (sound burst, spike growth).
This looks amazing. The diehard feat could allow a tough fighter or barb to keep fighting even after a lot of punishment, but they will very likely die near the end after taking everyone with them. Very heroic.
I like this version better than the UA one. Would you mind if i use it for my CS?
Not at all, that's why it's here. It isn't PI.
great ideas! I might have to use that spell mechanic especially! I've got my own version, but that's being posted elsewhere (death at 0WP... crits provoke save vs. nausea... or unconsciousness if the player lacks VP... etc, etc). This sneak thing looks promising, or at least more so than the auto-crit I was fooling with. Consider, though, that the rogue gets plenty of chances to use sneak attacks through flanking and feinting, where the ninja may be hurt by this system.
I like the idea of wound points and vitality points. It's realistic and heroic, the way I see it. When I run my game, everyone is going to have wounds points. Common folk have wound points, orcish raiders have wound points, and Republican soldiers have wound points. Players and villains have wound points. When a weapon successfully deals damage to you, you loose wound points. Run out of wound points, and you die. Only heros (and suitably important characters/villains) will have vitality points. Vitality being the ability to stay alive, this is the un-reasonable James-Bond/Batman like ability of heros to stay alive, even when it seems that everyone is trying to kill them. It can be interpeted in different ways for different characters; maybe the sneaky fast guy is very dodgy, and every attack basically misses him; the tough guy can take a knife in the back and a bullet in the arm, and just grin a bloody grin and keep fighting; maybe some people are just lucky. Of course, all this goes out the window when they run out of vitality points; meaning that even the most heroic and memorable character will eventually have to retreat in the face of unsurmountable danger.
If everyone but a select few has only wound points (equal to their constitution), death becomes easy. I like this, becuase I find the combat in Dungeons and Dragons tends to play out like a miniature board game; meaning it takes several hours to do something relatively simple. I prefer something fast and brutal, and I don't mind the heros coming out on top most of the time.
As a side note to all this talk of sneak attack and critical hits... I never liked critical hits much. Sure, it's neat to occasionally get that really good lucky hit, but that's all it is; luck. You can do things to slightly improve your odds of getting a crit, but even then, its still all luck (even though technically your amount of skill is improving your odds). I guess I like the idea of a "sneak attack" better, where you know where to hit someone (like shooting them in the brainpan rather than the shoulder), rather than "I rolled a 20, my sword hit his neck, and his head fell off. It was awesome."