I've never been entirely satisfied with how Fourth Edition handles death and dying. A character can be knocked unconscious, receive a little healing, and be back on his feet fighting a moment later. Even a badly battered party can recover surprisingly quickly, provided everyone has a few healing surges left.
That's perfectly reasonable for the sort of heroic fantasy that 4e was designed to deliver. For this particular experiment, however, I'd prefer something with more lasting consequences.
I want an adventurer who falls in combat to have a genuine chance of dying. Surviving should be possible, but it shouldn't necessarily mean being ready for the next encounter. A serious injury might put someone out of action for weeks, leaving the rest of the party to decide how to carry on without him.
My first attempt was a simple table assigning a number of weeks of recovery based on a saving throw. It was easy to administer, but the more I considered it, the less satisfied I became. Recovery was essentially a matter of waiting until the calendar said the character was healthy again.
Then it occurred to me that Fourth Edition already has a mechanic well suited to this sort of thing: the skill challenge.
Mortal Wounds
The first change is straightforward. When a character reaches zero hit points, he's unconscious and out of the fight. No death saving throws are made during combat, and healing cannot return him to the encounter.
Once the fighting is over, a companion examines the casualty and makes a Mortal Wounds roll.
| Modified d20 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1–9 | Dead |
| 10–13 | Grievously wounded |
| 14–17 | Seriously wounded |
| 18–19 | Wounded |
| 20+ | Immediate recovery at 1 HP |
If the character examining the casualty is trained in Heal, he adds +2 to the roll.
That small bonus can make a considerable difference. A roll of 8 becomes a 10, saving someone who would otherwise have died. An 18 becomes a 20, allowing the casualty to regain consciousness immediately at 1 hit point.
Anyone who survives with an injury, however, faces a period of recovery. How long that takes, and whether the character survives it, is determined by a skill challenge.
Recovery as a Skill Challenge
I've decided to use the revised skill challenge framework from the Dungeon Master's Guide 2. The severity of the wound determines the challenge's complexity.
| Condition | Complexity | Successes Required |
|---|---|---|
| Grievously wounded | 3 | 8 |
| Seriously wounded | 2 | 6 |
| Wounded | 1 | 4 |
Regardless of complexity, three failures mean the patient dies.
Each week of recovery constitutes one round of the skill challenge. During that week, the patient and his companions may attempt several skill checks. Each successful primary check contributes one success toward recovery, while each failed primary check contributes one failure.
There are three primary skills.
Endurance represents the injured character's own struggle to recover. Every patient must attempt an Endurance check each week, whether or not anyone is available to help.
Heal represents the efforts of someone attending the patient, cleaning wounds, changing dressings, treating infection, and generally trying to keep the poor fellow alive.
Nature allows someone to search for medicinal herbs and prepare remedies that might assist recovery.
All three skills may be used during the same week, potentially producing three successes. Other characters can contribute through Aid Another, using whatever skills reasonably apply to their efforts.
Someone might prepare clean bandages or help the healer with a difficult procedure. A character using Religion might offer prayers, encouragement, or spiritual comfort to help the patient's Endurance check. I don't intend to prescribe every possible contribution. The circumstances should determine what makes sense.
Aid Another improves the primary check but does not independently contribute a success toward recovery. Nor does a failed attempt to provide assistance count toward the three failures that can kill the patient.
The important distinction is that recovery is now something the whole party can contribute to, rather than a saving throw made by an isolated character.
Where You Recover Matters
The other question was whether a wounded adventurer must return to civilization before recovery can begin.
Originally, I intended to require treatment at a Point of Light. That seemed unnecessarily restrictive once I began considering the skill challenge approach. Someone can certainly recover from an injury in a wilderness camp, although the conditions are likely to be less favorable.
The recovery DC depends on where the patient is being treated. I use the easy, moderate, or hard DC appropriate to the wounded character's level, as given in the Dungeon Master's Guide 2. For our initial 1st-level party, that gives the following values:
| Location | Difficulty | DC at 1st Level |
|---|---|---|
| Dungeon or unsafe area | Hard | 15 |
| Base camp or field camp | Moderate | 10 |
| Point of Light | Easy | 5 |
As the wounded character advances in level, these DCs rise according to the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 table. The number of successes required for each degree of injury stays the same.
A party can attempt to nurse an injured companion back to health almost anywhere, but the risks vary considerably. A proper settlement offers clean surroundings, shelter, provisions, and generally better conditions for recovery. A field camp is less satisfactory, while trying to keep someone alive in a dungeon is a rather desperate undertaking.
This also introduces a reason to establish a base of operations near the party's chosen adventuring grounds. A secure camp may not offer the comforts of civilization, but it could be considerably better than remaining inside the dungeon.
Whether a particular settlement qualifies as a Point of Light will be a judgment call. I don't see any reason to develop an elaborate system for that before the question actually arises.
A Week in Recovery
Suppose our Fighter is grievously wounded while exploring Kobold Hall. He survives the initial Mortal Wounds roll, but now requires eight successes before accumulating three failures.
The party manages to get him to a field camp, where recovery checks are made against DC 10.
During the first week, the Fighter succeeds on his mandatory Endurance check. Another adventurer successfully treats his wounds using Heal. The Ranger attempts to find suitable medicinal herbs with Nature but fails.
At the end of the week, the Fighter has accumulated two successes and one failure.
He's alive, but not necessarily out of danger.
The following week, the party could remain in camp or try to move him somewhere safer. Returning to a Point of Light would make subsequent recovery checks considerably easier. Remaining where they are avoids the complications of another journey, but leaves the Fighter exposed to greater risk.
I like having that decision arise from the circumstances of play.
The Campaign Calendar
One other rule makes all of this considerably more consequential.
I'm keeping campaign time synchronized with real time. When a week passes in the campaign, a week must also pass in the real world. There will be no simply advancing the calendar several weeks to get an injured character back into action.
That means a Fighter laid up for three weeks is unavailable for three actual weeks. The rest of the party can wait for him, continue without him, or recruit someone else.
Since I'm generating characters randomly, there's no guarantee that the replacement will be particularly suitable. Our original party consists of three Rogues, a Ranger, and a Fighter, which is hardly an ideal arrangement to begin with.
Over time, I suspect the company will develop a roster larger than the number of characters participating in any particular expedition. Some adventurers may be recovering, others training, and others available for work.
The weekly calendar will also require a little administration. Hirelings need paying, supplies must be accounted for, and characters undergoing recovery or training need their progress recorded. I'm comfortable with that. Those logistical concerns were an important part of early D&D, and I've never felt that removing them necessarily improves the game.
We'll See How It Works
The recovery rules have changed considerably since I first began thinking about them.
What started as a saving throw followed by a fixed number of weeks in bed has become a proper Fourth Edition skill challenge. Endurance, Heal, Nature, and Aid Another all have their parts to play. The circumstances of the expedition affect the difficulty, and the other adventurers have opportunities to improve a wounded companion's chances.
There's still considerable risk. A character can survive the battle only to succumb to his injuries weeks later. Even a wounded character who seems likely to recover is never completely safe until the challenge is finished.
I realize that some players will find this unnecessarily harsh. That's fair enough. For this experiment, however, I want injuries to have consequences beyond losing a few healing surges.
What I find especially appealing is that we're using Fourth Edition's own rules to achieve something closer to the old-school dungeon crawl I'm looking for.
We'll see whether that proves as satisfying in play as it looks on paper.
Optional Rule: Fighting While Wounded
I've also been considering an exception for characters who receive a Wounded result (18–19) on the Mortal Wounds table. These are relatively minor injuries, and I think an adventurer should have the option of continuing the expedition rather than withdrawing immediately.
A Wounded character may return to adventuring once conscious and healed, but his hit points cannot exceed his Bloodied value until he completes the Recovery skill challenge. Healing powers and healing surges function normally, subject to this limit.
For example, a Fighter with 32 maximum hit points could continue adventuring, but his hit points could never exceed 16 while he remains Wounded. He can fight, travel, and use his abilities normally, although he's taking a considerable risk by doing so.
The character must still participate in the weekly Recovery skill challenge, including the mandatory Endurance check. Three failures still mean death. If he's reduced to zero hit points again, another Mortal Wounds roll is required, replacing the previous injury.
Characters who are Seriously Wounded or Grievously Wounded cannot take advantage of this option. Their injuries are too severe to permit further adventuring.
I'm inclined to leave the decision to the adventurer. Sometimes returning to the dungeon with half your hit points might seem preferable to sitting out the expedition. Whether that proves wise is another matter.
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