Hit Die & Healing Rules for OD&D
This system is also similar to the one used on Geoffrey McKinney's Supplement V: Carcosa, though I learned that after coming up with most of it. The idea of rolling HD before combat came from the Ref of the White Box campaign I'm in, the rest is my own invention.
Also, see my ridiculous Combat Matrix for combat sans to-hit rolls.
Currently Untested.
The Rules
- Hit Dice are rolled before every combat encounter.
- HD written as
x+yshould be interpreted as 'roll x+y d6s and keep the highest x results'. HD written asx-yshould be interpreted as 'roll x+y d6s and keep the lowest x results'. The+/- ycomponent is called the 'modifier' for lack of a better term, but isn't additive or subtractive but instead applies levels of advantage/disadvantage.- Obviously, the Fighting Man HD bonuses apply here, and the bonus from CON should be treated as increasing the modifier by +1.
- Rolled HD should be kept on the character sheet and used to track HP in combat. Damage is always applied to the highest die first.
- Whenever a die is reduced to 0, the player reduces their modifier by 1. So a character with 3 hd who has one of the HD reduced to 0 in a fight will begin the next combat with 3-1 HD (rolling 4d6 and taking the lowest 3 results).
- Exhaustion, starvation, and similar setbacks can incur -1 modifiers.
- When HP are reduced below 0, calculate 'negative HD' by rolling d6s until the total is equal to or greater than the negative HP, then roll on the wound table (below). Being reduced to exactly 0 incurs a -1 modifier as normal but does not result in a death roll.
- Modifiers are healed at a rate of 1/night's rest.
Notes
- As mentioned above, this is untested, but I'll add a note to this post when I test it.
- Makes combat more of a gamble, as it's harder to judge your odds of survival.
- Hit points can stay more bounded, avoiding bloat (I use adjusted HD progressions for each class in Archons & Armigers where HD caps at 3 for wizards, 5 for clerics, and 7 for fighters). Experienced characters benefit by becoming more consistent.
- Conversely, experienced characters get a higher 'floor' as the minimum d6 roll is a 1, so even exhausted high-level characters are less likely to get one-shotted.
- To some extent the classic 'grit vs. flesh' ambiguity is resolved in that HP is explicitly grit, since it gets rerolled every combat. BUT, as negative modifiers build up characters are less likely to bounce back fully. (I like this better than the common 'rest and consume a ration to restore some/all HP' rule; less incentive to drag around a wheelbarrow of rations.) Actual wounds are just assumed to be fully debilitating and not fully modeled by the system.
Other notes:
- This obviously works best in person with many d6s available.
- For a low-fantasy, historical, or sci-fi game I'd consider starting HD at 3-3 and advancing to 3+3 so that hp is always bounded between 3 and 18.
- For a 'race against time' approach one might impose a -1 modifier every hour spent dungeoneering or every day spent in the wilderness. (Could feel too 'game-y', and exact numbers probably need to be calibrated).