Hitpoint Rework (5e Variant Rule)
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Hitpoint rework[edit]
This is less of a huge transformational rule as it is a simple rearranging of already existing rules regarding hit points to make use of a simple fact. Notably one of the first things we're taught to do with numbers is to count, adding small increments until we get to the number we want. All math that comes later is built off of this simple concept. In fact for many it remains the fastest and easiest way to find the answer to mathematic problems they're presented with. In light of this, why not rearrange the way we handle hit points to exploit this quirk and speed up damage calculations in the process?
- A character's maximum health is the maximum amount of damage they can suffer before they lose consciousness. Instead of subtracting from their hit points whenever they suffer damage we will simply note the damage the character has separately, adding to it as more damage is applied. So if a character with 30 hitpoints suffers 5 points of damage, instead of saying they have 25 hitpoints remaining we would say they have taken 5 out of 30 damage, if they take five more points they will have taken 10 out of 30, and so on. Once the character suffers damage greater to or equal to their maximum health they fall unconscious and begin making death saving throws.
- Whenever things such as temporary hitpoints come into play they are simply tracked separately, effectively adding a secondary damage threshold to the character, any damage in excess of the number of temporary hitpoints get applied to the character's main pool of damage
- This inversion does mean that healing becomes a subtraction of damage rather than an addition of hitpoints... but as damaging events are significantly more common than healing events in most games. This will not be much of an issue.
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