I’ve been making a setting based fantasy game for about the last year now, and after reviewing some of the rules I realized that if the players are going to survive combat I need something like the fate points mechanic that was used in the warhammer fantasy, and 40k rpgs. So after going back I remembered a little ideal that I had to give death scenes I called it Strength of the heart.

The mechanic is that characters have a stat (Will) with a value 1-10, and when they hit 0 Hp they roll a percentile if they get under their Will X 10 they are revived with a quarter of their Hp or something like that. The idea behind this mechanic was to give combat the cinematic feel from the action flicks, or the big fighter anime were the hero is basely died then just gets back up, and starts fighting again.
I would like to know if this could game breaker, or if anyone else has any good ideals on creating a mechanic that gives this kind of a feel to combat. Over all I just what to hear what people think.

Thanks :)

Hi Trollkin,

I guess the big question is this: How deadly do you want your game to be?

That really determines what methods would make the most sense.  If you have a flat stat to roll against before reviving, realize that it becomes a very, very powerful stat and, if someone can revive 70, 80, or 90% of the time, they'll be like a horror movie villain who Just.Won't.Die.

It's also worth considering if the opposition has that ability too, and how players will end up responding to that.

It might be helpful to look at other games for ideas and inspiration:

Riddle of Steel is very deadly, though characters get bonus dice for having pursued their passions, loyalties, etc., which favors the PCs heavily.

Burning Wheel's combat makes it possible to be too wounded to fight, but makes instant-death difficult.  Players usually have a good idea of when it's time to run.

Pendragon has a threshold of hitpoints after which you drop below, you are unconscious, but not dead.  This threshold means characters are often defeated but not killed outright.

D&D4E has players make "death checks" after dropping - with three separate rolls- making death less likely but still possible.

Chris

well also DnD 4th and Star Wars Saga have Second Wind where you essentially get some amount of HP back usually based on CON and level.

Ive heard people mention that in DnD 4th this mechanic makes it impossible for a party to be defeated as everyone can heal themselves...  but I don't have much experience with it.

Thanks Chris,

The way I have my combat system geared at the moment is that it’s deadly, such as armour breaks down from damage over time, and that a single shot can hurt a character pretty badly. I want to give it the feeling that “if we don’t plan this out we could likely get killed”. I want to encourage the ideal that just kicking down the door is most likely not the best idea.

The way I thing I want to work the Will stat is that it a 1d4, and likely its every going to increase. Also I’m thinking of making this was what I call it a Hero stat were the hero’s, and any big bad that can act as a major plot point, but not the average little monster.

Thanks for the ideal on the four games that you mentioned, but I don’t think any of them have the feeling that I’m after. I have read through a lot of games over the years, but I never really found one that caught my eye.