Less Killing
The body count in D&D really bums me out, especially when it comes to my players (my kids).
The kill count of an adventurer who makes it to level 20 is only one seen by a small number of machine gun operators in modern times. Soldiers who kill in war have high incidence of PTSD and other mental illness. I have a hard time getting away from that idea that this “Robocop 2”-level bodycount really makes the game bleak and sad.
What if…
- most enemies stopped attacking after half damage, and tried to reach safety instead
- when you take half your hit points worth of damage you get a level of exhaustion
- when you come back from zero hit points you have a level of exhaustion
- most opponents swoon or cower after 3/4 damage
- if you have killed a person, on a long rest you had to make a flat d20 roll and beat 10+ the number of people you killed or your rest doesn’t clear any exhaustion
Does that just ruin D&D or could it still be fun?
