D&D General Good Lingering Injury table?
- Thread starter der_kluge
- Start date
jgsugden
Legend
Context will help identify the right suggestions here.
What are you looking to get out of the lingering injury? Do you want them to be healed by cure wounds / lay on hands or not? Do you want realistic lingering injuries (I hurt my knee and it will never be the same again - brain injuries that permanently change how the brain works,
If a player has a PC they love and the PC gets hit and takes a lingering injury - what do you want their experience as a player to be? For example, a 3rd level paladin gets a lingering leg injury. What experience do you want them to have - how long should it be an issue? What types of changes to their experience might you want to see them experience? Is this pure mechanics driven or is it RP driven? Is this an opportunity for the player to explore what it would be like to have those challenges? Or is it more about creating more diversity in combat challenges?
What are you looking to get out of the lingering injury? Do you want them to be healed by cure wounds / lay on hands or not? Do you want realistic lingering injuries (I hurt my knee and it will never be the same again - brain injuries that permanently change how the brain works,
If a player has a PC they love and the PC gets hit and takes a lingering injury - what do you want their experience as a player to be? For example, a 3rd level paladin gets a lingering leg injury. What experience do you want them to have - how long should it be an issue? What types of changes to their experience might you want to see them experience? Is this pure mechanics driven or is it RP driven? Is this an opportunity for the player to explore what it would be like to have those challenges? Or is it more about creating more diversity in combat challenges?
As mentioned you have to figure out what you want the player experience to be when they get an injury.
But here's a quick summary of my houserules for when we want to play with injuries.
Injuries have 3 severity levels determined by a d20 roll
Unlike the 14 rules magic healing doesn't fix things unless it's higher level stuff. So the end results are Superficial injuries only last the current fight, Light will often bring the adventuring day to an end if the stakes aren't time sensitive, but can continue if really needed, Severe either takes that PC out of the adventure or requires a high level spell to keep going. But there's never permanent force the character to retire type of injuries.
And generally when using this we also use a quality of rest mechanic that makes those LR not as easy to come by when outside of towns.
But here's a quick summary of my houserules for when we want to play with injuries.
Injuries have 3 severity levels determined by a d20 roll
- Superficial (17-20) which is usually a small penalty and lasts for 1min
- Light (5-16) which usually limits action economy in some way and lasts until a successful DC 15 Con save which happens after a LR. You get advantage on the save if someone proficient in Medicine is taking care of you.
- Severe (1-4) which is pretty debilitating and mostly takes someone out of the fight, it lasts until the player has made 3 successful DC 20 Con saves with a save happening after a LR and as above you get advantage on the save if someone proficient in Medicine is taking care of you.
Unlike the 14 rules magic healing doesn't fix things unless it's higher level stuff. So the end results are Superficial injuries only last the current fight, Light will often bring the adventuring day to an end if the stakes aren't time sensitive, but can continue if really needed, Severe either takes that PC out of the adventure or requires a high level spell to keep going. But there's never permanent force the character to retire type of injuries.
And generally when using this we also use a quality of rest mechanic that makes those LR not as easy to come by when outside of towns.
Pedantic
Legend
der_kluge
Adventurer
I found a pretty good one on Reddit.
I use some houserules that basically change how hp at 0 work. I didn't like death saves.
So instead, when you hit 0, you are conscious, but go prone, and suffer a lingering injury. You can choose from a limited number of options like disengaging, drinking or potion, or going full defense. If you want to continue to attack, you can, but you suffer levels of exhaustion.
So far it's working pretty well. Just the table in the DMG is a little lackluster and lacks some clarity. So, I was just looking to shore that up a little bit.
LordEntrails
Hero
Here's what we used in a campaign a few years back:
der_kluge
Adventurer
Some good ideas in here. I might steal a few of these. What I have is pretty similar, but I like some of your stuff around reduced healing factor, and adding exhaustion levels.
BookTenTiger
He / Him
Mannahnin
Scion of Murgen (He/Him)
Here are the tables I used for my last longterm game.
This was a three year old school campaign which was a mashup of B/X and 5 Torches Deep, and I used 5TD's death & dismemberment table. If you got dropped to 0HP you were unconscious, and had to be healed or bandaged within 1 minute or by the end of the fight for a battle. If that was done, you rolled on the table. The original table only gives a 1 in 20 chance of death, which was too little for me, so I doubled that. I also created my own sub-table for serious injuries. It worked out as follows:
1-2. Dead
3. Enfeebled, lose 1d6 Strength
4. Shaky, lose 1d6 Dex
5. Weakened, lose 1d6 Con
6. Addled, lose 1d6 Int
7. Confused, lose 1d6 Wis
8. Disfigured, lose 1d6 Cha
9-13 Lost body part (original table is GM's choice but I made a sub-table, see below)
14-19 Disadvantage on all d20 checks until you get a night's rest.
20. Sudden recovery! Regain 1d8hp immediately.
The original rules simply say ability score damage takes "weeks of rest and care" to recover. My rule was that each week of bedrest restores 1d6 points, and that if you pay for a healer's care you can roll that with advantage.
My Lost body part/lingering injury sub-table:
Lasting Injuries / Severed Stuff
Roll D8 + D12
2 --------- 1.04 % ---- Lose an Eye -1 TH melee, -3 TH ranged, flanking enemies get +2 TH
3 --------- 2.08 % ---- Lose a Leg/Foot - half MV speed, -2 AC
4-7 ------ 18.75 % -- Limp - 5’ MV speed (can be cumulative)
8-11 ---- 32.29 % -- Minor Scar - No penalty! Record/describe location & story. [Can also be a lost finger]
12-13 -- 16.67 % -- Broken Ribs - Disadv. on all checks, half move rate, 1 mth to recover or Cure Serious W
14-15 -- 13.54 % -- Internal Injury - Disadv. all checks, 1/2 mv, DC11 Con to recover w/disadv, check 1x /week
16-17 -- 9.38 % ---- Horrible Scar - 1 permanent Charisma, record/describe location & story
18-19 -- 5.21 % ---- Festering Wound - As internal injury and -1 HP per Unsafe Rest, no HP recovery Safe Rest
20 ------- 1.04 % ---- Lose an Arm/Hand – Cannot use that limb to hold or use items.
Broken Ribs, Internal Injury, and Festering Wound can be fixed by a Cure Serious Wounds (Deviscerate in 5TD) in place of it healing HP damage. For reference, an Unsafe Rest in 5TD means overnight outside a safe/comfortable town. A Safe Rest is overnight in town.
For 5E 2024 obviously you'd want to make some modifications, but hopefully there are some useful ideas in here.
This was a three year old school campaign which was a mashup of B/X and 5 Torches Deep, and I used 5TD's death & dismemberment table. If you got dropped to 0HP you were unconscious, and had to be healed or bandaged within 1 minute or by the end of the fight for a battle. If that was done, you rolled on the table. The original table only gives a 1 in 20 chance of death, which was too little for me, so I doubled that. I also created my own sub-table for serious injuries. It worked out as follows:
1-2. Dead
3. Enfeebled, lose 1d6 Strength
4. Shaky, lose 1d6 Dex
5. Weakened, lose 1d6 Con
6. Addled, lose 1d6 Int
7. Confused, lose 1d6 Wis
8. Disfigured, lose 1d6 Cha
9-13 Lost body part (original table is GM's choice but I made a sub-table, see below)
14-19 Disadvantage on all d20 checks until you get a night's rest.
20. Sudden recovery! Regain 1d8hp immediately.
The original rules simply say ability score damage takes "weeks of rest and care" to recover. My rule was that each week of bedrest restores 1d6 points, and that if you pay for a healer's care you can roll that with advantage.
My Lost body part/lingering injury sub-table:
Lasting Injuries / Severed Stuff
Roll D8 + D12
2 --------- 1.04 % ---- Lose an Eye -1 TH melee, -3 TH ranged, flanking enemies get +2 TH
3 --------- 2.08 % ---- Lose a Leg/Foot - half MV speed, -2 AC
4-7 ------ 18.75 % -- Limp - 5’ MV speed (can be cumulative)
8-11 ---- 32.29 % -- Minor Scar - No penalty! Record/describe location & story. [Can also be a lost finger]
12-13 -- 16.67 % -- Broken Ribs - Disadv. on all checks, half move rate, 1 mth to recover or Cure Serious W
14-15 -- 13.54 % -- Internal Injury - Disadv. all checks, 1/2 mv, DC11 Con to recover w/disadv, check 1x /week
16-17 -- 9.38 % ---- Horrible Scar - 1 permanent Charisma, record/describe location & story
18-19 -- 5.21 % ---- Festering Wound - As internal injury and -1 HP per Unsafe Rest, no HP recovery Safe Rest
20 ------- 1.04 % ---- Lose an Arm/Hand – Cannot use that limb to hold or use items.
Broken Ribs, Internal Injury, and Festering Wound can be fixed by a Cure Serious Wounds (Deviscerate in 5TD) in place of it healing HP damage. For reference, an Unsafe Rest in 5TD means overnight outside a safe/comfortable town. A Safe Rest is overnight in town.
For 5E 2024 obviously you'd want to make some modifications, but hopefully there are some useful ideas in here.
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