• Registered: 2011-03-21
  • Posts: 19

Topic: Hit points

Disclaimers : I'm no game designer. I just want to understand.

As we all know, LotFP is not about combat and killing monsters for xp's sake. The rules make it clear.

I nevertheless have a question with hit points : is their fast increase, when PCs level up, the best way to handle this low combat ambiance ?

I know there may be other things to consider : likeness with OD&D or with similar games but let's just focus on inner consistency. Would not LotFP be more consistent if, for example, hit points still increased as characters level up but at a much slower rate than said in the rules.

You could say : "everyone rolls a die at first level and, thereafter, you just get +1, +2, +3 or +3+Constitution modifier at each or every other level". As hit points are an abstract measure of combat capability, you keep the normal increase in combat capability as level increase but you reduce the HP gain. With this solution, there are issues with monsters hit points and spells (curative or destructive) but, as I see it, they could be fixed. Secondary gain : combat lasts less.

Final questions :
- is this consistency problem a real one ?
- if it is, then is "playing with hit points increase" the best way to handle it ?
- when tweaking hit points, are there other issues than monsters HP and spells  ?

  • Registered: 2011-04-13
  • Posts: 36

Re: Hit points

If you really want to go that way you may look at another alternative : when a character takes [constitution] points of damage make him save against Poison or die.

"when tweaking hit points, are there other issues than monsters HP and spells  ?"

Yes, players ! ^o^

Les Livres de l'Ours, my rpg blog
  • JimLotFP
  • Lord of All Fevers and Plagues
  • Offline
  • From: Helsinki, Finland
  • Registered: 2009-10-07
  • Posts: 613

Re: Hit points

I like games that have the potential for long-term campaign play.

(I say "potential" because you never know when you're going to hit a TPK)

Such games need, I think, some sort of progression scheme for PCs.

As LotFP is an adventure game, I think the ability to take on and tough out bigger adventures as a character progresses is an important thing, so I wouldn't mess with the hit points.

It's more subtle, I think, than other games of this sort as this doesn't really contribute to characters becoming combat monsters (except for Fighters, who should be combat monsters!) due to the Attack Bonuses remaining constant and the non-expectation of ever greater Armor Classes.

JimLotFP's Website

  • Registered: 2011-03-21
  • Posts: 19

Re: Hit points

Thanks, Kobayashi and Jim, for your answer !

  • Registered: 2009-12-30
  • Posts: 64

Re: Hit points

I like that explanation, Jim, I had been comparing recently using something like LOTFP versus dark fantasy BRP games like Cthulhu Invictus or Cthulhu Dark Ages, and the campaign answer is a good one.  But LOTFP are not so over-the-top like standard D&D not to be threatened even with modest progression.

Dreams in the Lich House
  • Registered: 2011-06-22
  • Posts: 2

Re: Hit points

I was playing around with the idea of using a characters Constitution Score for their level 1 hit points, with normal Class progression at level 2. I'm not sure how much this would affect the feel of the game though.

  • Registered: 2011-06-28
  • Posts: 2

Re: Hit points

aesdana wrote:

As we all know, LotFP is not about combat and killing monsters for xp's sake. The rules make it clear. I nevertheless have a question with hit points : is their fast increase, when PCs level up, the best way to handle this low combat ambiance ?

I was thinking about how True20 handles health, which is to avoid hit point entirely. I'm not sure I'm sold on the mechanism as is, but I really dislike the hit point mechanic turning higher level characters into "10 goblins stab your wizard and you just laugh" so it's something worth raising.

The attack roll is d20 + your attack bonus (your appropriate stat bonus + attack bonus for class). Your target number is the target's defense: 10 + *their* combat bonus + dodge/parry. Other things like blindness, size, range, clumsy weapon etc. modify your attack roll as usual.

Success means you add the weapon's damage bonus (a flat stat such as +2 for a medium weapon, which is not unlike the basic dice accorded weapons in LotFP) plus any str bonus.

So you roll your TOUGHNESS versus target of 15 + that Damage Bonus, and you do that by rolling d20 + armor + Constitution. armor is +1 for the lightest to +6 for full heavy plate, the kind you can't move around in.

This means that you fail your Toughness, you get bruised and hurt. Fail by 5, you're also stunned and wounded. by 10, you're staggered and disabled, and by 15 you're unconscious and dying. Each "level" of injury is -1 on future Toughness saves, and it's cumulative: you fail two Toughness saves from two separate attacks and you are at -2 (stunned and wounded).

Armor in True20 is damage-ablative: it soaks damage rather than resisting the attack directly. This makes it a little easier to deal with Touch and other similar attacks, though.

However, such an approach would require a house rule similar to the ones suggested in another thread where attack bonuses for all classes do increase, just more slowly.

Any feedback on how this might be usable for LotFP?