Source
r/DMAcademy•
Cyffrx

Basing weapon damage off of Hit Die

Need Advice

I'm interested in weapon damage based on hit die as a mechanic to introduce to my discord table. The basic premise is certain items are made of a certain material that destroy a target's soul, not just their body. As such, it deals 1 hit die of a character's total health. As in a level 6 sorcerer would take 1d6 damage while a level 4 barbarian would take 1d12.

As to what I'm asking, are there any potential pitfalls I may not be thinking of that could bite balance in the ass? And are there any systems online or in official content that has similar mechanics I could investigate?

And bonus question: A certain enemy type will sap a character's life away in a similar manner, although it does so by removing a hit die, not just dealing damage, at least not until no hit die remain. EX: A Level 2 fighter would need to be "sapped" twice before they begin taking 1d10 damage. The hit die would be temporarily removed, reobtained on a long rest like usual.

Posted Jul 22, 2021, 2:40 PM UTC

16
fozzofzion•

Hit die-based damage doesn't quite negate the entire point of different classes having different HP since constitution factors in, but it still negates a good chunk of it. This mechanic will disproportionately make martial characters worse. If you happen to be at the one 5e table ever where martial characters are superior to spellcasters and need to come down a peg, then I suppose you go for it. But at most tables, martial characters need help, not nerfs. And this nerfs martial characters.

8
CyffrxOP•

This is a good point, now the barbarian and wizard would take roughly the same amount of hits to take down, not factoring in AC.

I think I'll have the hit-die damage be relegated to item effects, not a creature, and thus comparatively rare, while leaving the "bonus questions" mechanic as the one which deals a more even spread of damage to all players, acting as a pseudo-timer for the fight. Might be unnecessary given the speed at which things die, especially at higher levels, but which encourages ending the fight even quicker.

1
HydrophobicFish•

I think this would be a fantastic thing to implement as a rare (but slightly reoccurring) thing. Such as a reoccurring villain or with this specific power. Definitely not something that is widespread.

The classes are (relatively) balanced around the fact that they have different hit dice, but the incoming attacks still stay the same. A wizard has more tools to avoid taking the damage in the first place, whereas a barbarian is expected to take many many hits. All and all, throughout an encounter, the bigger hit dice classes take more hits, and this system will disproportionately hurt them.

Now, that said, it being a rare thing as I mentioned before is super interesting. All of a sudden the brave barbarian who rushes in to take every hit now has to think twice, and the wizard is actually encouraged to take a hit or two. It changes the dynamic of battle, and makes the players have to think on their toes.

So, maybe the party has to cleanse a haunted dungeon, and during which the ghosts there have this ability. Maybe the lieutenant of the bbeg has a special sword that does this ability. Some idea that comes up for more than one battle, but isn't every battle. Make it be an arc, or a sporadic encounter.

2
HellJack0666•

I like this idea, it's pretty interesting as a thought why not have the weapon do damage as normal and as a side effect of the player getting hit make them do a CON save and on a fail they lose 1d4 hit dice.

2
CyffrxOP•

Thought about this, my issue was a lower level character getting hit with this and losing all their hit die in one go. Not only would that suck RAW, but I'm toying with another mechanic that would make it far worse as well, so I'm sticking to only removing one die at a time.

1
TheOtherBriggs•

As a monster weapon I think it works well and does some balancing between the classes so suddenly the wizard has no downside to being on the frontline. Though your Martials who shouldn’t be hurting that bad might get annoyed at suddenly being every bit as fragile as your casters (not including AC).

You might need to give that monster lots of attacks though otherwise players might see them off before they feel any pain from the encounter at all. Most combats don’t last many rounds so you need to keep these monsters up long enough to make a dent in the party. You could use them to soften up your party before a big journey or dungeon where resting will be difficult. They could also then turn that hit die into healing for themselves automatically which would be a frustrating but fun encounter.

If a player wields this power it starts to get pretty ropey as there isn’t the same logic between hit die to power in monsters. Big monsters often have loads of hit die too but as long as you avoid this I think it’s fine.

Last thought is that not many players are great at keeping track of hit die so this might give them a more tangible use or overwhelm new players with something else to keep track of.

1