Attribute Scores as Hit Points

After reading this post on the blog Aboleth Overlords, I started musing about how I could condense the rules I use. I have a tendency to strive for minimalism regardless, as I prefer the perceived elegance of minimalist rules. But sometimes, in practice my drive for minimalism can suck the soul out of a game, and that isn't always for the best. Imagine a "minimalist" Dungeon Crawl Classics - that's an oxymoron. So, I have to tread lightly.

Keeping that in mind, I do have on particular idea percolating in the back of my thoughts. What if I removed Hit Points?

It isn't a novel idea - the Cypher System does it, as does the fantasy pen-and-paper RPG Forbidden Lands. I'm certain other examples exist as well. Here's a take that also removes damage rolls.

My current adventure uses 5th Edition style attack rolls: roll a d20 and add your bonuses to beat their Armor Class. I'd keep that.

My attribute scores only exist as bonuses: -3 to +3. That means attacks will deal damage directly to those bonuses. Normal attacks would reduce your score by 1. Heavy attacks (two-handed weapons) would reduce your score by 2. Certain monster attacks could be even more deadly.

When you take damage when you're already at -3, you accrue points of Exhaustion or some other condition equal to the damage taken. If your inventory fills up with those conditions, you die.

(Note: you could also handle this without a slot-based inventory system. I'd simplify things and say that, if you ever accrue the same condition twice (effectively dropping to -5 in that attribute), you fall unconscious).

A man preparing to lose some attribute bonuses

So, what attributes do attacks damage? Brute force attacks hurt your Strength. Precision attacks hurt your Dexterity. Psychic attacks hurt your Intelligence. Eldritch abilities go after your Wisdom. Divine strikes attack your Charisma. Magic damage can run the gamut.

Some attributes do step on the toes of others. Do divine strikes attack Wisdom or Charisma? Does a crack shot from a bowman hurt your Dexterity or Strength? And what about Constitution? Is it your last line of defense? Does it just control your item slots (aka, your hit points)?

Because of this, I would likely seek to condense my attribute list if I implemented this hack. Something like Strength, Dexterity, Willpower (or, Fortitude, Reflex, Will).

Wear and Tear

Before Elrond could reforge Aragorn's famed sword Andúril, it had to break during combat. Yet, most TTRPGs don't model wear and tear on gear at all, unless the party comes under attack by a rust monster or something similar and the rules explicitly prescribe it.

Most don't bother with it because they don't want to keep track of numerous modifiers and conditions on their gear. But, like with most things in RPGs, you don't need to make it realistic. You don't have to tell me how different weapons handle differently when damaged. Players just need something to remind them that their precious stuff might break.

Use notches to represent this wear and tear. I lifted this idea from old articles over at Last Gasp Grimoire and Necropraxis, but I heavily simplified the mechanical effects. A notch always equals a -1 modifier, regardless of whether it's on a battle axe, a sword, or plate mail.

If your sword suffers a second notch, it breaks. If your armor suffers enough notches to reduce its effect to +0, it sunders. That means there isn't too much tracking.

Two knights trying to sunder their opponent's armor

How does your gear suffer a notch? When you critically fail when using your weapon, or you opponent critically succeeds in smashing your armor. Natural 1s and natural 20s. Simple. It happens frequently enough to come up, but having your sword break during battle would be pretty rare (would require two critical failures).

That's about it. You can extend this to other gear as well, though I'd probably just have a rope or pole break on a critical failure, instead of having it accrue notches.

I did add some rules about how to fix notches - specifically, anyone proficient with a whetstone can hone notches out around a campfire. Armor and shattered swords require a full smithy, though.

Side-Based Initiative

I resisted the concept of side-based initiative, or the approach that you roll initiative for each side instead of each individual participant, for too long.

Yes, the approach does reduce the cognitive load of managing individual turns during combat, as you'd expect. But, in practice, I found that using side-based initiative improved the flow of combat altogether. Players are all invested simultaneously instead of taking their turn and tuning out, which has resulted in combat that feels more immediate and maintains consistent pacing from beginning to end.

An adventurer not waiting for the monsters to take their turn (art by William McAusland)

I make one concession to the tradition of rolling initiative. When one side makes its move, I ask the players to make an opposed Dexterity check. They are trying to exceed 10 + the HD of the opposing leader. Those who do get to act first.

Once they do, turns alternate from that point on. So, the PCs who succeed take a turn, then the monsters take a turn, then all PCs take a turn, and so on.

I have used this hack during several combat encounters in my current adventure so far and I have been very pleased with the results. 

Gaining Experience

I removed the concept of "experience points" from of my current game. To advance, PCs must go on an adventure, return to town for a full rest, and waste coins proclaiming their deeds. This basically amounts to "xp for gold" without bothering with the mechanics of exchanging one for the other. So far, I like it.

But, at the same time, I have also been theorizing how I might include several similar mechanics that could combine to form some sort of mutated XP system. The mechanics are:

Hero Coins (ICRPG) / Inspiration (5e) / Bennies (Savage Worlds)

A form of currency that players can spend to re-roll dice. Pretty simple. Usually awarded for "good roleplaying," whatever that means.

Experience Points for Failing (Dungeon World)

The concept that you gain experience through your failures, trial and error, etc. Dungeon World grants this XP for any roll that isn't a partial or complete success (6 or less on  2d6 roll). I would either map it to critical failures or rolling 6 or less on any d20 roll (which aligns nicely to my d20 reaction roll results).

GM Intrusions (Cypher System)

A mechanic that gives the referee permission to introduce a complication while awarding the players with additional XP. I have the least experience using this, but I like the Alexandrian's take on how this mechanic can help to embrace the "rulings not rules" style of play.

Adventurers captured in mid-experience (art by Matt Morrow)

Unifying these concepts together yields an XP system that looks something like this:

PCs gain experience points in three ways:

• Show Up: Every PC receives 1 XP to start a session.

• Learn from Your Mistakes: A PC receives 1 XP when they critically fail.

• Take Risks: A PC receives 2 XP when they accept an Intrusion.

Once earned, PCs can spend experience points to:

• Re-roll an ability check or save

• Refuse an Intrusion

• Advance to their Next Level

During character advancement, PCs trade in all of their experience points. They must have experience points equal to at least double their new Level.

That isn't too cumbersome of an addition, at first glance. The caveat that players lose all XP when leveling up no matter how many they have provides incentive to spend some as opposed to hoarding them all for later use.

I might introduce this during my next adventure.

Different Kinds of Rest

As covered in my previous post on "the one rule," holding players to strict resting rules drastically improves the dungeon crawling (or hex crawling or point crawling) experience. So, it's worth diving into more depth on my current rest procedures.

Games tend to break rests down into two types: the breather (a short rest) or the full recovery (a long rest). With those options, however, why would a party ever go through the rigmarole of setting up camp if they can plop down for 10-60 minutes right outside the dungeon entrance, munch on a ration, and regain their hit points? For flavor?

A person pondering all of the fun things one can do around a campfire

My resting rules mechanize the benefits that come with setting up a campsite and building a campfire. They currently look like this:

Resting: PCs can spend at least one hour resting. If they make it through uninterrupted, they may expend resources to roll Hit Dice and regain Hit Points. They must expend a resource such as rations, bandages, or medicine for every Hit Dice rolled. PCs can only expend each type of resource once per rest.

For every resource expended, the character rolls their Hit Dice, then adds their Constitution score and regains that many Hit Points.

Sleep: PCs must spend a wilderness turn sleeping every day. If they do not, they must make a Constitution check trying to exceed 10 + the number of days without sleep. If they fail, they suffer a point of Exhaustion.

Exhaustion: Adverse conditions, such as going without food, water, sleep, or protection from the elements cause a PC to accrue Exhaustion. Each instance of Exhaustion takes up one item slot and imposes a cumulative -1 penalty to all checks and saves.

If you accrue more Exhaustion than your level, you cannot move and must make camp.

Campfire: PCs gain extra benefits for taking their rest around a campfire. Cooking and eating fresh food instead of rations allows PCs to spend another Hit Dice (without expending additional resources). Singing and making merry grants yet another Hit Dice but requires an instrument and may increase your chance of a random encounter.

Rest spent around a campfire also removes one instance of Exhaustion.

Full Rest: One week spent in modest lodging in a safe haven returns a PC to maximum Hit Points, restores all spent Hit Dice, and removes all Exhaustion. Living in luxury may confer additional temporary HP, while squalid conditions may not fully restore the PC.

One thing is missing: PCs all have some sort of "special" ability that they can only use during a rest taken around a campfire. A wizard can re-learn a forgotten spell, a fighter can repair weapons, and so on. This provides even further incentive for players to choose the option of making camp.