Game Effects of Dying

[The Main Man]

Re: Game Effects of Dying

 

I also like the "go down swinging" aspect of HERO death. And as far as losing BODY or STUN for END spent, don't forget that STUN is lost if the character is at 0 END and uses a Power that costs END. BODY comes next.

[dmjalund]

Re: Game Effects of Dying

 

kinda makes it impossible to spend BODY as you'll be unconscous at the time

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Game Effects of Dying

 

I'm wary of combat penalties for injuries. These often become a death spiral - the penalty from the first wound makes it unlikely you can effectively retaliate or defend yourself. The result is that first strike becomes much more valuable. If that's the desired effect' date=' great. If not, it can damage the desired feel.[/quote']

 

Quoted or effect. I note something similar in the lethality doc I linked to previously. This is generally true, and it's especially true with small groups of PC's; a daisy chain of injuries can render the entire team combat ineffective and even result in a TPK or unrecoverable failure.

 

Also, unrelated, but I found out the hard way that when players say they want more lethality, they typically really mean they want their characters to be more lethal, not the game itself. For many players, when their own attacks are extremely effective thats "gritty realism", but when their opponents attacks vs them are similarly effective that's "extremely uncool".

 

It is worth noting that any system put in play will affect PC's more than NPC's as PC's are in the spotlight from week to week. If a goon gets injured and incurs penalties it's impact is low as they are disposable anyway. If it happens to a PC, it can have a high impact on the transpiring story...even a residual impact if the long-term damage options are used or character death occurs.

 

It really is best to tread lightly when dialing up the "realism" factor and not over do it.

[The Main Man]

Re: Game Effects of Dying

 

kinda makes it impossible to spend BODY as you'll be unconscous at the time

Not if you still have an END deficit after you run out of STUN to spend.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: Game Effects of Dying

 

Not if you still have an END deficit after you run out of STUN to spend.

 

But ...when you're unconscious, you can't take actions to spend more END, so you can't try to spend STUN, so you can't expend more BODY, right?

[Christopher]

Re: Game Effects of Dying

 

But ...when you're unconscious' date=' you can't take actions to spend more END, so you can't try to spend STUN, so you can't expend more BODY, right?[/quote']

Afaik, yes. When K.O. you can't use your "personal Endurance". Endurance Reserves continue to work, however.

[Ockham's Spoon]

Re: Game Effects of Dying

 

Our house rule is that when a character is at negative BODY they have to make an EGO roll to perform any action. Depending on the situation, there may be a penalty to the roll based on how much BODY they have lost, and so the characters will sometimes push their EGO to improve their chances of making the roll.

 

This system generally prevents most characters from doing much while dying, but when heroic action is needed they can come through.