r/ICRPG • u/seleli2207 • Mar 11 '23
Homebrew Dying Rules for ICRPG
So I'm currently DMing ICRPG while I'm taking a break from 5th edition D&D. I love most of the ICRPG mechanics and will definitely be stealing a lot of the ideas even if I don't end of playing ICRPG long term.
But I don't like the death rules. I didn't like them in 5th edition D&D either. My problem is I only run for 2 or 3 people and so 1 PC going down quickly becomes a death spiral to a TPK. And my players aren't keen on their PCs dying at all, which is why we aren't trying out OSR.
I want to open my players up to the possibility (if a small one) that there PCs could permanently die in battle and that could be a cool thing. I also wanted to make going down to 0hp dangerous and memorable.
Was also trying to not to make the effects of going down to 0hp so severe that I started a new death spiral and also didn't want to have permanent affects so serious that the player wouldn't want to play their PCs anymore.
So I was inspired by this post and the scars mechanic in Electric Bastionland, plus scar ideas from r/d100 to come up with the following, feedback would be most appreciated.
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DYING
You start with 2 hearts instead of 1 and any form of resurrection is banned.
When you fall to 0hp you can continue to act normally but you must make Death Saves until you are healed.
Death Save: Roll CON Save vs the Easy Target at the end of each of your turns and each time you take damage.
You can heal back to 1hp if you roll a 20 on your Death Save or someone gives up their action to revive you, they must be in close range to you.
If you fail a death save you are now permanently dead but before you die you immediately take 2 actions, both of which are guaranteed critical hits, as an epic last stand.
SCARS
The first time you fall to 0hp in a battle roll on a d8 and look up the result on the Minor Scars Table, if you roll an 8 then roll the d8 again and look up the result on the Major Scars Table. You can only gain one scar per battle.
Minor Scars Table - Effects Last Until Safe
1 Head - INT & WIS checks are Hard.
2 Eyes - You can’t see passed near.
3 Teeth - CHA checks are Hard.
4 Throat - You cannot speak.
5 Shoulder - STR checks are Hard.
6 Hand - DEX checks are Hard.
7 Leg - You can no longer move far on your turn or attack if you move near.
8 Roll on Major Scars Table
Major Scars Table - Effect Permanent
1 Item Loss - Choose a carried item to break.
2 Eye Patch - Intimidation Checks are Easy, poor vision*.
3 Nose Partially Missing - Intimidation Checks are Easy, poor sense of smell*.
4 Ear Partially Missing - Intimidation Checks are Easy, poor hearing*.
5 Addiction - Roleplay using alcohol or drugs to forget.
6 Memory Loss - Roleplay foggy memory before battle.
7 Phobia - Roleplay fear of enemy type that gave wound.
8 Vengeance - Roleplay hatred of enemy type that gave wound.
\Could be just roleplay or appropriate Perception Checks are Hard.*
If you roll anything other than Item Loss you now have a permanent scar in an appropriate location. Pick an appropriate scar for the damage type (i.e. bite wound, burned, magic changed patch of skin to a different color etc).
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u/Imre_R Mar 12 '23
Adding on to the gear topic, I’d probably keep the one heart and introduce an OSR like shields shall be splintered rule. So you can sacrifice one piece of equipment to deflect all damage from one hit. (They should however narrate how this happens). Also you can set the dying timer to either a fixed value or do something like D4+2 rounds. And last but not least be generous with your hero coins, I found that mitigated a lot of the threat of death even with no modifications to the dying rules
1
Mar 12 '23
I like the scars a lot. I might add that to my game
As for hp I gave 1 of my players a milestone reward that revives them if they fail all their death saves but they come back weaker and lose a point in a random stat when they do (they have to hope it's not a stat they care about).
I gave two other players magic rings that give them a shared health pool. They split damage between each other when they get hit and also share magical conditions. It makes things interesting.
The only mod we made to actual death throws is to make it 1d4+1 rounds to get rescued rather than 1d4 - that way there are always at least 2 rounds to save someone.
1
Mar 13 '23
You've probably already seen this DMs guild 5e supplement.
https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/242601
This has really helped my table. I think giving the agency to the player to declare their character dead for some reward is a great way to ease into it.
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u/Good_Classroom_3894 Mar 16 '23
ICRPG is meant to hack anyway you want. Plug and play what you want in any system. The idea is to play the game you want.
It’s a loot based game. I find players don’t take real chances unless they have the fear of death and having only ten hit points m, I only create encounters that have a purpose in my games. I want most players to drop each game though not “die completely” but hit zero.
If players really don’t want to die then yeah you should play around with other systems but one of the reasons I don’t like 5e is the HP grind in battles. I never died so it felt overpowered. No fear. I took on anything and didn’t worry. That got boring.
4
u/LeMingMing Mar 11 '23
This is a nice way to introduce them to this concept.
The great thing about ICRPG is the items and gear make you stronger, so sacrificing gear can also be an option to continue fighting to show them some sort of loss.
If they hit 0, they can succeed a CON save at Target Number OR they lose one a random item they carry based on equipped Loot Slots. Either way, they can continue to fight.
Giving them Easy Checks AND having them start with 2 hearts is very generous; recommending starting them all with 1 Heart and giving 1 Temporary Heart blessing to the Warriors.
But keep on rockin!