From: skomedal@alkymi.unit.no (Knut Torstein Skomedal)
Subject: hit points & falling
Keywords: alternative system
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 15:53:32 GMT

I've attempted to introduce a variant of the hit points system in my campaign.
Its under testplaying now. The problem of PC's falling long distances and walking
away from it is one of the most important reasons why I felt that a variant was
needed. Granted, the hit point system is far from realistic, and is not meant to
be either, but I figurd I'd make a go for it anyway.

The hit point system is (IMHO) based on the principle that a highlevel character
somehow finds a way to avoid the blow/spell/whatever that would kill some lesser
entity. It is not until the character has spent his/her reserves of
skill/stamina/pain tolerance/luck/whatever, that sHe takes physical damage.

Forget for now that there are no reasons why a character should be able to
survive spells/breath weapons and such beyond the fact that it would be
Dramatically Unappropriate to die at such a moment. That assumption is built into
the system and cannot be fixed.

When it comes to melee, falling and other such damage-incurring activities, this
might help.

OK. Here goes: 
The character has Physical hit points, and hit points based on skill/luck/etc.
A 0-level character should (IMHO) have only physical hit points. I grant my
0-levelers hit points based on the condition of their bodies, namely 
(STR+DEX+CON)/6. That gives most people 5-7 hit points as a base. That way all
classes have the same starting point, and you avoid (IMHO) the discrepancy of why
the same character will have a max of 4 hit points if chosen to be a Mage, and a
max of 10 as a Fighter.

Thereafter, on levels one through 9th (or 10th depending on class), they gain a
limited amount of physical hit points and a larger amount of skillbased points.
I decided that the characters would gain the same amount as they do when they 
stop using variable dice, namely 3 for Fighters, 2 for rogues and priests, and 1
for wizards, IF they roll high enough. i.e. if a fighter rolls a 1, he gains 1
physical hit point, and if he rolls 6, there will be 3 physical and 3 skill.
Under no circumstances short of powerful magic can a character's physical hit
points exceed his CON-score. When a character has reached this maximum, all
remaining points are skill points. All CON-bonuses are skill points.

This way, all damage taken are nicks, scrapes, and similar superficial wounds
until you have spent all your skill points. Thereafter you start to bleed
seriously.

All this is really already incorporated in the hit point system, with the
exception of the 0-level hit points, I've only chosen to put a name on it and
divide it. There is no game effect of this short of the easier task of describing
a melee battle and its effects.

Now then, what possible use can a character's skill have when it comes to
falling? If the fall is short, the character can roll with it and thus lessen
damage, but if it is long, there is no way that will help.

What I have done is the following:
When a character is falling, sHe must make a DEX-check. For every point better
than what is needed, 5% of the falling damage is taken from the character's skill
points, the rest from the character's physical hit points. 
I.E. a character with a 16 DEX falls 50 feet down into a pit, taking 5d6=24 
points of damage. The DEX-check results in a 6, which means that there is a
margin of 10. Thus 10*5%=50% of the damage taken is skill points, and the
character survives if sHe has more than 12 points of physical and 12 points of
skill. Had the character blown the DEX-check, or only barely made it, sHe would
have received 24 points of physical damage and would probably have died. Even if
 sHe has 100 skill points, she is not likely to have a CON of 24, and so would
have less than 0 hit points left. If your physical hit points are gone, your 
skill points are of no use to you.
Thus a fighter with 80 hit points and a 16 DEX and CON, who falls the same 
distance and takes the same amount of damage as in the example above has to make
the DEX-check with a margin of at least 7 in order to survive the fall.

Similarly one can apply this to a thief's backstab. Since the character doesn't
know that sHe is being attacked, there is no way that the character can use
his/her skill to prevent the attack from hitting, only physical hit points should
be considered. Of cource, this means that the thief's damage multiplier, which
(IMHO) is there to take this into account, has to go. Instead one could rule that
for instance 20*(the previous multiplier)% of the damage taken is physical. That
way you get the same result, and know why it happens.

Another thing to take into consideration in this context is critical hits (for
those of us who use them). Simply make a table or some such arrangement which
allows the combatants to give their opponents purely physical damage. That makes
them more deadly than a normal attack when it comes to skilled opponents, and
says why. (The attack was so well done that the opponent didn't manage to
use his/her/its skill to turn the blow, so there is a serious wound instead of a
nick.) 

There is, as I've mentioned earlier, no way that I can see to apply this to
spells and similar effects without making them a whole lot deadlier than they
are without it. Perhaps it is more "logical" to key your saving throws into a
system like the DEX-check I've attempted to outline above, and let more or less
of the damage be skillbased according to how well you make it. I haven't tried
that out, but it might be worthwhile. OH well, perhaps it shouldn't be possible 
to survive a direct hit from that Meteor Swarm, but it sure is much more fun 
when you do, so I would suggest that you just go on as you did before when 
it comes to this. If it is applied only to weapons damage in melee and such other
situations where it is appropriate, this variant supplies a justification of the
damage and why adventurers can survive such punishment without going beyond what
is already there (IMHO).

OK boys&girls, I've donned my flameproof dragonscale armor, so you're free to
flame, criticize and comment to your heart's content. (Please keep a sivil tone
if you're able though. The #1 rule still applies: If you don't like it, don't use
it.)

Knut Skomedal