D&D 4E What do you want in 4E, HP or the VP/WP system?

[Mr Fidgit]

then what would affect wound points? (and i have played games with VP/WP - criticals mean you're really, really hurt, or really, really dead! players fear the 'natural 20'! MWAHAHAHA )

 

[Cougar]

Well, certain spells, for sure. Damage over and above your Vitality. Criticals are too nasty for a VP/WP as is.

 

[GILGAMESH]

I'm of the opinion that the whole vp/wp thing is nice for the modern/star wars/spycraft type thing. But I feel that the hp system is better for the fantasy/DnD type thing. The modern angle with is copious weapons and variations, technologies etc. would make it more.....buyable. DnD with it's no tech-low tech angle makes it scream for the hp system. I know if you boil these games down to there essence, they would probably be the same. But that would be taking away the flavor of these games.
I say, let DnD retain it's flavor. It wasn't meant to be just like the moderns or vice versa. If it's not broke, why fix it? That's what I believe, thanks for listening.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, I mean, even with VP/WP, you've still basically got the same stuff as Hit Points. You just add a little more in. There's a lot of precedents for times that character have had long-lasting injuries that take them a while to recover from, so that's where Wound Points come in.

So you've got hit points to represent all they represent in normal high fantasy D&D. Vigor, stamina, resilience, tenacity.

And you've also got wound points to represent those few times when characters should fear for their lives regardless of what level they are. Falling off cliffs, being dipped into lava, having a limb lopped off, etc. You might even have an optional rule that, when you're totally defenseless, damage goes straight to your wound points.

 

[hong]

I'm using quasi-VP/WP right now, and it seems to be working out okay. Basically the change I make is that instead of crits going direct to WP, they come off your VP. Once you do that, VP/WP isn't much different to hp, except with a faster healing rate.

An upside of this is that there's less need for healing spells and items. This is a Good Thing in my book, since it's my experience that not many people like playing a medic -- at least not in an extended campaign.

One complication is that D&D has a lot of exotic features like regen and fast healing that work with hp, but are hard to fit into the VP/WP paradigm. This was one reason that d20 modern is using hp, IIRC.

 

[Humanophile]

VP/WP, with special allowances. Primarily, that combat damage be directed entirely at WP, with the exception that criticals do normal damage, plus VP damage equal to the weapon's critical multiplier. And, of course, VP are lost after WP are depleted. This makes combat slightly more dangerous without all the baggage that instakills can bring.

I just see too many advantages for this system not to use it. PC's without extreme CON scores or magical protections won't be able to brush off massive physical trauma, reducing the need for healers while at the same time realizing that badly beat up characters should put up their feet for a while, giving PC's a handful more hit points, and allowing mooks and other unnamed parts to go down without the heroic WP's backing them up.

Granted, armor and regeneration will probably need some retooling, but since this is just idle theory now, I figure it'll be playtested when need be.

 

[Psion]

I think that VP/WP is a great system, and think that for the right setting it is preferable to HP. I think the d20 modern team really flubbed by not using VP/WP.

but...

For D&D, HP remains the system of choice. It is well suited to the heroic fantasy feel; VP/WP is not.

 

[green slime]

I think critical damage SHOULD go to VP damage, albiet not on a one for one scale.

More that you have VP equal to your Con, or Con + lvl, I dunno, I don't have SWRPG, and that a critical should do damage equal to the weapon's critical multiplier, irrespective of the amount of WP damage rolled.

Also; you shouldn't be allowed to continue to fight with 0 WP, irrespective of WP left. Sort of like being at 0 hp now.

 

[Tsyr]

Both. HP as a default, VP/WP as an option, with little notations on the bottom of all spells and stuff how they function in a VP/WP game.

 

[Cougar]

I would like some sort of notation as well, but I think it is much easier for a publisher to go with ONE system to avoid confusion.

I am kind of on the fence now after reading opinions. I still like the idea of VP/WP, but it isn't quite the same as heroic D&D, if only because it changes a mechanic that has been around the longest, besides spell progression. I thing everything else has been changed.