Damage

I hate hit points.  I've gotten to the point that when I play dnd it's hard for me to not to think of all the characters like gummy bears.  No blood, no internal organ, or anything like that.  Just a pool of matter that can be carved away one hit at a time until the character is finally dead and gone.

I've seen games that have really realistic damage systems, but the problem is that a lot of those systems are very slow or require a lot of complex math.  First off: math is a part of gaming, but at this point most systems have pretty basic equations.  I think a thresh hold system that uses simple math is doable.  Will it be the most realistic system ever?  No, but what I want is something that's believably realistic and smooth running.  I'd take perfectly realistic and smooth running, but I don't think that's on the table right now.

So, what have I got?

Well, Dead Lands had a thresh hold system that I liked, but I'm not just using it.  There's was based on size and unless you had a merit or flaw that changed your size category everyone took damage equally.  I still think that Con should factor in, but when I look at the D20 system, I think: Yes, a dragon w/a 30 con should be better off than a human w/ a 30 con.  So, I think size and armor will both play a role in this.
Essentially I want the formula to follow: size+con+armor+feats/perks+misc modifiers=threshold.

So, if a medium creature were size 1, then a human w/ a con of two would be a threshold of 3.  That means that every three points of damage is a wound level.  I'm planning on having 5 wound levels: Flesh, light, moderate, severe, and maimed.  Every three points will be a level of damage.
So, 1-3:Flesh, 4-6 light, etc.
Heroes will suffer pain penalty's, blood loss, and shock (subdual damage) based on the wound level they take.

I don't want to use the same math for everything, but I have some basic ideas.  Some friends of mine came up with a blood system for a game they called: Lords of War.  In it an average person had 30 points of blood.  Some how, this number has stuck with me as the norm.  So, If I want an average guy to have 30 blood points.  However, I don't want the progression to be too steep.  What I'm thinking is 15+(Con+size+perks+misc)X5.  So an average person would again have 1 size and 2 con making them a 30.

Shock I haven't quite worked out yet.  Too little and the heroe's go out like a light.  Too much and it becomes a non-factor.  Right now, I'm thinking 15+ConX5 for that.

Armor, for my current line of thinking I've been having the "AC" bonus of armor in DnD just be a thresh hold bonus instead.  So, a guy w/ a con of 2 would be Size:1+Con:2+armor:8=11.  It'll be hard to do any more than a flesh wound using the current damage system for DnD.  I'm going to be tinkering with that.  Don't get me wrong:  Armor should protect you, but I don't want a hero to be invulnerable either.

Essentially I'm looking at the wounds working like this:
Flesh: little to no bleeding, some shock, some pain
Light: bleeding, shock, pain
Moderate: more bleeding, more shock,  more pain
Severe: Even More bleeding, more shock, lots of pain.
Maimed: Extreme bleeding, shock, and pain.  Also the limb will be rendered useless and if it's a head or torso hit, the hero may die (More on this later).

The amount of shock, pain, and bleeding will be determined by the type of weapon, but I haven't worked that out yet, either.

Essentially, when a hero takes a hit.  Damage will be rolled and applied against his thresh hold.  Depending on the wound level he will take shock damage (which could knock him out on the spot), pain modifiers will be applied to any future rolls the hero makes and bleeding will be noted.  The hero does not take any blood damage until his initiative though.  On the hero's initiative is when he bleeds.  A character will bleed from every wound they have, but only take pain from the highest level wound.  Also, a hit location roll should be used on each hit to determine where the wound is located.  I use a simple D10, but a lot of games have their own. 

I'm looking for a system that is dramatic and has a built in sense of urgency, but is also quick enough that it doesn't bog game play down.  I've even decided that when I run it, I'm going to give the players their blood points and they're going to have to give them back to me when they bleed.  Imagine sitting at the table w/ 30 red poker chips or red magic counterstones in front of you.  Your hero takes a light wound and on your next turn you have to give me one leaving you w/ 29.  Then your hero takes a severe wound.  So, on your next initiative you bleed from both wounds: you have to give up 4 tokens.  Now, you have 25 left.  Your hero takes a moderate wound and that's two more tokens each round, so next time you give up 6.  Your hero is bleeding to death and without some kind of healing, he will keel over in the middle of battle.

I'll have to go into more detail on this when I talk about my thoughts for armor and weapons.  That's down the road a ways for me.  But, I hope this gives you something to chew on.