Alternative to "HP"

[HwitVlf]

I've always thought "HP" was kind of a cheap, lazy way for games to measure a player's condition. It seems like it would be neat to implement a system of "wounds" as an alternative to HP.

Taking damage would cause long lasting negative statuses like bleeding, sprains, disorientation etc which would hinder the player's abilities till they slowly heal. Armor could protect against specific types of wounds (helmet=resist disorientation etc). ‎  Severe wounds could cause unconsciousness or ultimately death (game over). ‎ 

If balanced properly, it would be a way to make the player's performance have a lasting, but not devastating impact on the gameplay - beyond just having to "chug a potion" to heal at the end of battle.

Opinions?

[Verdite]

This sounds good, SomEx has a setup where you get knocked back by attacks, which you'l know about, but it also has a knockout effect where if your HP drops drastically from an attack you will have to wait to get back up again and move around.

It makes more sense than having simple defence values. Protecting certain parts in fear of becoming disabled by attacks would greatly increase the pressure and stop people from being lazy. Equipment plays a massive part in combat. If monster attacks wernt simply directional, but targeting ... That could prove very interesting. If you could flag a monsters attack to be 'arm' directional, for example. A random counter would be nice that affected where the monster would target, like right arm / left arm.

Then the damage would be absorbed only by that items defence. So instead of having an average defence you would be catering for individual armour defences. This would also mean that players who havent searched or 'earned' their armour would think twice about attacking elites.

[HwitVlf]

Cool Ben, the system I was going to set up in my SoM game was quite similar to your "targeted" attack system. Since SoM calculates each damage type separately (slash, smash fire etc) you can simply rename these categories to "head, R Arm, L Arm" etc. If an enemy attacks with something like an overhead swing, you could have it inflict only "head" damage on the player.

If you wanted to add some randomness, you could make an enemy with 3 identical "Direct" attacks, then use the Parameter editor to "AI odds" and set the first to do only "head" damage, the second to inflict some "head + arm" damage, third to inflict only "arm" damage and so on. I think that would feel more real and entertaining than SoM's default slash/smash/stab/elemental categories. ‎ 

[Verdite]

Thats a good idea, the only question i have is, how about the players weapons? Im assuming that they wont have any head / body / arm damage affixed, and rather basic slash and smash damage?

[HwitVlf]

Thats a good idea, the only question i have is, how about the players weapons? Im assuming that they wont have any head / body / arm damage affixed, and rather basic slash and smash damage?

It's mainly just a perceptual difference so you could change player weapon damage category names to "Head" "Arms" etc. A weapon that attacked with an overhead swing could have extra head and arms damage and so on. If you designed enemies with armored and un-armored regions on their body, it would make sense that a weapon which swung at their un-armored area does more damage. ‎ 

[dmpdesign]

I vote for groin shot! ‎  But seriously speaking that is actually a neat idea i have played games like that before and it was definitely more challenging.

[Mord of Swoonlight]

Ah, I like this. ‎  I was always kind of a fan of Deus Ex's system for targeted damage, even though it had its annoying bits.

[HwitVlf]

Groin shot... yeah! That could cause the abnormal status "funny walk" and give a +10 bonus to the "voice pitch" stat. ‎ 

[Verdite]

That tickled my funny bone.

[Guyra]

I just thinks this goes for how realistic you want things to be. If you want your game to be as realistic as possible, then using a "wounds" system would certainly be better than using HP. But that doesn't mean either is "better" than the other in general, as I see it. :)