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Design / Wound system
« on: April 28, 2014, 08:26:57 AM »
I have an idea for a new wound system that I'd like to see your opinions on. This is intended for my game Infra Arcana, but could be applicable for most roguelikes.
In the current version of IA, a wound is received when you take a hit that does at least 6 damage. As Vanguard pointed out in this thread, this system can seem like you are being randomly penalized. I can agree with this. I suspect it would work better in a pen-and-paper RPG, where you roll the dice yourself and clearly see when and why wounds are happening.
If the idea explained below seems fun and solid, I would remove the "Wound" status effect from IA.
You have your regular cur/max HP:
HP:16/16
Now I was thinking that "critical" wounds could have the effect of lowering your maximum HP. For example you might have critical wounds corresponding to 2 HP. This could be represented in the interface like cur/max/potential HP:
HP:10/14/16
Your HP will regenerate naturally over time, up to the current maximum HP. To heal your critical wounds and raise your max HP to the potential max HP, you need to spend many turns healing, consuming medical supplies.
When should critical wounds be received? What I'm concidering is that this happens when you take damage while your HP is below 50% of maximum. For each HP lost below 50%, your max HP is also reduced by one.
For example:
You are at 10/20/20 HP. You take 4 damage. You are now at 6/16/20 HP. You have 4 HP worth of critical wounds.
Another example:
You are at 18/20/20 HP. You take 3 damage. You are now at 15/20/20 HP. No critical wounds was received in this case.
Yet another example:
You are at 12/20/20 HP. You take 4 damage. You are now at 8/18/20 HP. You have 2 HP worth of critical wounds.
This should make it much easier to see exactly when and why this is happening right? No hidden randomized numbers. You know that below 50% is the "danger zone".
It also makes (at least some) logical sense since HP is usually viewed as your general fighting ability, fatigue, and minor wounds, bruises, and sprains. Low HP would then mean that you are no longer in top fighting condition, and is unable to "ward off" attacks.
What do you think about this idea? Is there some game/roguelike that does something similar to this?
An alternative presentation could be cur/max(potential) HP, for example:
HP:10/14(16)
Maybe it's clearer.
Edit: If this system is too harsh, it could be tuned for example by halving the critical wound rate. For example if you lose 4 HP, your max HP is only reduced by 2. (This could also be implemented as Traits you can pick when gaining levels).
In the current version of IA, a wound is received when you take a hit that does at least 6 damage. As Vanguard pointed out in this thread, this system can seem like you are being randomly penalized. I can agree with this. I suspect it would work better in a pen-and-paper RPG, where you roll the dice yourself and clearly see when and why wounds are happening.
If the idea explained below seems fun and solid, I would remove the "Wound" status effect from IA.
You have your regular cur/max HP:
HP:16/16
Now I was thinking that "critical" wounds could have the effect of lowering your maximum HP. For example you might have critical wounds corresponding to 2 HP. This could be represented in the interface like cur/max/potential HP:
HP:10/14/16
Your HP will regenerate naturally over time, up to the current maximum HP. To heal your critical wounds and raise your max HP to the potential max HP, you need to spend many turns healing, consuming medical supplies.
When should critical wounds be received? What I'm concidering is that this happens when you take damage while your HP is below 50% of maximum. For each HP lost below 50%, your max HP is also reduced by one.
For example:
You are at 10/20/20 HP. You take 4 damage. You are now at 6/16/20 HP. You have 4 HP worth of critical wounds.
Another example:
You are at 18/20/20 HP. You take 3 damage. You are now at 15/20/20 HP. No critical wounds was received in this case.
Yet another example:
You are at 12/20/20 HP. You take 4 damage. You are now at 8/18/20 HP. You have 2 HP worth of critical wounds.
This should make it much easier to see exactly when and why this is happening right? No hidden randomized numbers. You know that below 50% is the "danger zone".
It also makes (at least some) logical sense since HP is usually viewed as your general fighting ability, fatigue, and minor wounds, bruises, and sprains. Low HP would then mean that you are no longer in top fighting condition, and is unable to "ward off" attacks.
What do you think about this idea? Is there some game/roguelike that does something similar to this?
An alternative presentation could be cur/max(potential) HP, for example:
HP:10/14(16)
Maybe it's clearer.
Edit: If this system is too harsh, it could be tuned for example by halving the critical wound rate. For example if you lose 4 HP, your max HP is only reduced by 2. (This could also be implemented as Traits you can pick when gaining levels).
