D&D 5E Hit Points as a Ki Force Shield or a Life Force Field

[jodyjohnson]

According to the Monk flavor-text, Ki is magical life energy flowing through living creatures. Life force.

Thus living creatures have Ki around them and a part of them that certain Monk powers can disrupt. What if that Ki or life force energy actually acted as a Force Field?

Here's are some game effects by raw that make more sense for me with Hit Points being a protective force field generated by a creature's Ki.

1. Getting hit while paralyzed (held) or sleeping. Sure it is a Crit but with sufficient HP you can still short or long rest that off. So you're not really that injured.
2. Effectively your gear is protected while held or worn. Sounds like a personal force field to me.
3. Magic Missile and Eldritch blast do force damage and don't effect objects (the living force of creatures can be damaged but not the physical lifeless objects).
4. Your force field can regenerate quickly with a short rest and HD, second wind, or long rest.
5. It helps you survive unearthly falls.
6. It is determined by your power level. The more powerful you are, the more potent the HP shield. It also increases with size (droideca shields, versus starship shields, versus Death Star or Planetary based shields).
7. A huge or gargantuan creature can hit and knock a character back dozens of feet, step on them, or fall on them but not crush them into lifelessness.

They are superheros. (Go ahead and shoot me in the eye with that 20mm cannon)

Other side effects of Hit Points as a Life Force Field.
1. It could be sensed by the creature itself - a creature might be aware of it's own strength of shield without needing to feel like it's meta-gaming.
2. It might be observable with a certain skill or practice as levels of vividness or vibrancy (Vivid: lively and vigorous; Vibrant: 1. quivering; pulsating, 2. (of color) bright and striking). Maybe like observing Video Chroma or Contrast and changes in level. Not quite like a green floating Hit Point bar but it could be analogous.
3. Skin deep allowing for slight cuts, scrapes, and bruising but nothing a few hit dice can't recover. Flexible enough to extend outward to gear, clothing, and certainly your long flowing tresses. Something acid could try to dissolve without actually maiming the character. Fire to flame around and leave blackened smudges without months in the burn unit. Poison to wear down. Lightning to arc across. Etc.
4. Proof against Disintegration but once it is out - poof into dust.

Within the Death save mechanics the character might still be drawing on unreliable reserves of life force shielding. Sometimes they recover without effect almost instantly and other times they might wither and die with the slightest of injures (falling 10' with low HP and then failing enough Death saves.)


P.S. House rule: when Dying from Death Saves or massive damage a character might choose to instead roll on the Lingering Injury Chart (up to your gluttony for loss of limb and appetite for battle scars) and then become Incapacitated until the next Short or Long rest. An attacker delivering a fatal blow (critical in melee with the creature at 0 hp) can choose the result. Both superheroic HP force shields and the potential for Lingering injuries. Because it's all fun and games until a Jedi loses an appendage, possibly multiple times over several movies.

 

[Sunseeker]

You could split HP.
Class HD after level 1 generate this "field" you speak of.
Level 1 HD + Con mod per level generates "meat".

It's be fairly clear cut and understandable to readers. It'd also give you a nice little line wherein damage moves from "chutzpah" to "wounds".

 

[Xeviat]

You could split HP.
Class HD after level 1 generate this "field" you speak of.
Level 1 HD + Con mod per level generates "meat".

It's be fairly clear cut and understandable to readers. It'd also give you a nice little line wherein damage moves from "chutzpah" to "wounds".

Kind of like going with HP is endurance and Con score is meat, a different way of handling death saves/dying.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

I think you're overthinking this.

D&D is an action movie. Hit points are the stuff that keeps Bruce Willis alive all the way through Die Hard. You don't need to posit a magical life-force shield to explain how he can survive all that gunfire, stabbing, and explosions. He just... does.

 

[neogod22]

I've always explained hit points as your character's skill to not die. For example a,person with 10 hit points get stabbed with a sword, and take 8 points of damage, that's a near fatal wound. He was only skilled enough to deflect the blow in a way that didn't kill him immediately, but his wounds are so grievous that he doesn't have the strength to deflect another blow.

On the flip side, a person with 100 hit points gets attacked with a sword and take 8 points of damage. This person is a veteran, he deflected the blow in such a way, it only causes minor damage, a mere scratch. Of course after a few rounds and 50 HPs later, he is starting to slow down, the bleeding from many minor wounds are starting to add up, while still in good shape, the cuts are starting to hit their mark.

Fast forward, he's down to 20 HP. He is blooded, his movements are slowed. The sword attacks are actually hitting vital organs, the waalrrior is in trouble and will soon die if this fight goes on much longer.

5 HP, he can barely move, his wounds are grievous, and like the inexperienced fighter, the next blow will kill him, but at least he took 10 of his enemies down first.


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[neogod22]

According to the Monk flavor-text, Ki is magical life energy flowing through living creatures. Life force.

Thus living creatures have Ki around them and a part of them that certain Monk powers can disrupt. What if that Ki or life force energy actually acted as a Force Field?

Here's are some game effects by raw that make more sense for me with Hit Points being a protective force field generated by a creature's Ki.

1. Getting hit while paralyzed (held) or sleeping. Sure it is a Crit but with sufficient HP you can still short or long rest that off. So you're not really that injured.
2. Effectively your gear is protected while held or worn. Sounds like a personal force field to me.
3. Magic Missile and Eldritch blast do force damage and don't effect objects (the living force of creatures can be damaged but not the physical lifeless objects).
4. Your force field can regenerate quickly with a short rest and HD, second wind, or long rest.
5. It helps you survive unearthly falls.
6. It is determined by your power level. The more powerful you are, the more potent the HP shield. It also increases with size (droideca shields, versus starship shields, versus Death Star or Planetary based shields).
7. A huge or gargantuan creature can hit and knock a character back dozens of feet, step on them, or fall on them but not crush them into lifelessness.

They are superheros. (Go ahead and shoot me in the eye with that 20mm cannon)

Other side effects of Hit Points as a Life Force Field.
1. It could be sensed by the creature itself - a creature might be aware of it's own strength of shield without needing to feel like it's meta-gaming.
2. It might be observable with a certain skill or practice as levels of vividness or vibrancy (Vivid: lively and vigorous; Vibrant: 1. quivering; pulsating, 2. (of color) bright and striking). Maybe like observing Video Chroma or Contrast and changes in level. Not quite like a green floating Hit Point bar but it could be analogous.
3. Skin deep allowing for slight cuts, scrapes, and bruising but nothing a few hit dice can't recover. Flexible enough to extend outward to gear, clothing, and certainly your long flowing tresses. Something acid could try to dissolve without actually maiming the character. Fire to flame around and leave blackened smudges without months in the burn unit. Poison to wear down. Lightning to arc across. Etc.
4. Proof against Disintegration but once it is out - poof into dust.

Within the Death save mechanics the character might still be drawing on unreliable reserves of life force shielding. Sometimes they recover without effect almost instantly and other times they might wither and die with the slightest of injures (falling 10' with low HP and then failing enough Death saves.)


P.S. House rule: when Dying from Death Saves or massive damage a character might choose to instead roll on the Lingering Injury Chart (up to your gluttony for loss of limb and appetite for battle scars) and then become Incapacitated until the next Short or Long rest. An attacker delivering a fatal blow (critical in melee with the creature at 0 hp) can choose the result. Both superheroic HP force shields and the potential for Lingering injuries. Because it's all fun and games until a Jedi loses an appendage, possibly multiple times over several movies.

The force field you're talking about would be Temp HP

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[Cap'n Kobold]

You're thinking something similar to the way it works in RWBY?

 

[Fanaelialae]

For a certain style of campaign it works (Cap'n Kobold mentioned Ruby's aura effects).

However, it isn't really necessary. As TheCosmicKid says, it's equivalent to the 'plot armor' that protects many action protagonists (as well as antagonists) from the harshest aspects of reality. In that respect, the traditional definition of hit points (luck, divine providence, a little meat, etc) works.

Nothing wrong with taking the RWBY approach, but that is going to have very significant implications for your setting and ought to be incorporated into your world building. In a traditional setting, most people might scoff at the idea of a warrior who can take down a dozen soldiers without suffering lasting harm. In RWBY, it's scientifically demonstrable.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

I've always explained hit points as your character's skill to not die. For example a,person with 10 hit points get stabbed with a sword, and take 8 points of damage, that's a near fatal wound. He was only skilled enough to deflect the blow in a way that didn't kill him immediately, but his wounds are so grievous that he doesn't have the strength to deflect another blow.

On the flip side, a person with 100 hit points gets attacked with a sword and take 8 points of damage. This person is a veteran, he deflected the blow in such a way, it only causes minor damage, a mere scratch. Of course after a few rounds and 50 HPs later, he is starting to slow down, the bleeding from many minor wounds are starting to add up, while still in good shape, the cuts are starting to hit their mark.

Fast forward, he's down to 20 HP. He is blooded, his movements are slowed. The sword attacks are actually hitting vital organs, the waalrrior is in trouble and will soon die if this fight goes on much longer.

5 HP, he can barely move, his wounds are grievous, and like the inexperienced fighter, the next blow will kill him, but at least he took 10 of his enemies down first.


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Yes, but the mechanics don't support this.

In our campaign, we use the same basic concept, but people all essentially have 5 actual "hit points." They are tracked using the exhaustion track. When you're reduced to 0 hit points you are at level 1 on the exhaustion track, and have to make a save each round. If you are hit, you take 1 level, and possibly a second if you fail a saving throw. If you fail the save, you get worse, if you succeed on 3 non-consecutive saves, then you stop getting worse. A short rest heals it completely. This replaces the dying rules entirely.

If you suffer a critical hit, you get a saving throw, otherwise you suffer a wound, which engages the same system.

Hit points, therefore, only reflect skill, stamina, and a bit of luck to avoiding a more serious blow.

We have a separate injury system for long-term effects. These wounds can be healed by magic, or a short rest, as it's intended to be an encounter-level effect.

 

[neogod22]

Yes, but the mechanics don't support this.

In our campaign, we use the same basic concept, but people all essentially have 5 actual "hit points." They are tracked using the exhaustion track. When you're reduced to 0 hit points you are at level 1 on the exhaustion track, and have to make a save each round. If you are hit, you take 1 level, and possibly a second if you fail a saving throw. If you fail the save, you get worse, if you succeed on 3 non-consecutive saves, then you stop getting worse. A short rest heals it completely. This replaces the dying rules entirely.

If you suffer a critical hit, you get a saving throw, otherwise you suffer a wound, which engages the same system.

Hit points, therefore, only reflect skill, stamina, and a bit of luck to avoiding a more serious blow.

We have a separate injury system for long-term effects. These wounds can be healed by magic, or a short rest, as it's intended to be an encounter-level effect.

But you're talking about your own house ruled mechanics, not the mechanics in the game. Because when talking about mechanics in the game, they definitely support this. Think of real life. No matter what you do to make yourself physically stronger, you will always be in danger of someone cutting your head off with a sword or axe, but an experienced warrior can deflect blows to make something that should be fatal, trivial, but any lucky attack can instantly take him down, or even battle fatigue can cause him to make a mistake and take a fatal blow. Your explanation seems unnecessarily complicated, but if it works for you, who am I to argue?

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