Tavernking
Don't believe his lies
What are some good alternatives to hit points in combat?
Can I ask what you have against a hit-point system?
Cyberpunk 2020 also had a wound system where (iirc) each subsequent point past armor and body ratings translated into a more severe wound (4 was already quite severe).
What a wonderful idea!Yes!
Lets replace health bars with number of hits you can take before you die.
One idea I had was just three simple health states: Healthy, Injured, and Critically injured.
None.What are some good alternatives to hit points in combat?
The problem with being injuried giving a negative modifier to combat effectiveness has been know for a while in PnP. We call it the Death Spiral.
Once you start going down, there's very little chances of coming back, because if you went down then it means the fight was already hard, and so with diminished effectiveness it most likely becomes harder if not impossible. The moment-to-moment experience of it is also pretty frustrating, as the actions you take that will most likely fail given the penalties (if the fight was hard, they were already failing some so this is just running you into the ground). Usually injury systems are combined with lasting injuries that can't be healed instantly in combat, since both mechanics exist to simulate reality, so you're pretty much boned until it ends. Gameplay after getting injured becomes about waiting for the foregone conclusion, twidling your thumbs while other characters in your party (if any) save the day, or reloading. I wouldn't recommend it in that form.
It is simple. The human body is a fragile thing
Wat. I feel hp is perfectly fine if that's the alternative.Snip
Here's my experimental RNG-based combat system.
You have a combat skill of 70, your opponent has a combat skill of 20. Your chance of landing a strike on him is 70x20 /90 - 100 = 84.45%, otherwise he blocks. If you fail to block an attack from an enemy, there is a chance that you become injured or critically injured. Being in these states gives a negative % modifier to all future combat rolls, for example instead of a combat skill of 70 you'll temporarily have a combat skill of 56 (-20%), thus lowering your ability to fight.