Bleeding rules. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Bleeding rules. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Quinthous
12-08-04, 09:10 AM My friends and I play a home made rule for bleeding but I was wondering if there was ever an actual bleeding rule.

We play that after you take 5 or more points of damage from a single hit you begin to bleed and a rate of 1 hit point per round. I noticed that some creatures such as the Dire Weasle have a special attack that can cause bleeding damage but instead of hit points it drains CON.

Does anyone know of an offical bleed rule?

Thanks!
CruelDM
12-08-04, 09:16 AM Bearded devils in the MM have a rule called infernal wound. Any hit they score inflicts damage and 2 HP blood loss/rd until a DC 16 heal check is applied or a healing spell is applied after a DC 16 caster level check. If the caster level check fails, so does the spell, and the bleeding continues.

CW contains a feat called arterial strike which enables a character with sneak attack to inflict such a wound, its not open source so I cant post it, but in summary it allows 1 pt hp damage after a hit, each round, that can only be stopped by a heal check or cure spells.

Hope this helps

Good gaming.
Kheldren
12-08-04, 09:39 AM The old wilderness survival guide for 1st Ed had bleeding rules, you could try to convert them.

The problem is they are horribly unbalancing at low levels. Also the entire philosophy behind hit points is that you haven't been injured, or not more than a scratch until you are down to around 10hp - the rest is stamina and reflexes - your "edge". The idea that someone who gets scratched (5 points of damage from 200 hp) will bleed to death if left untreated (without special circumstances like anti-coagulants) is pretty silly.
Back to the low levels. As things are if one of the support fighters gets badly injured they pull back leaving the party healer to concentrate on the main fighter - at low levels (especially 1st) there is not enough healing to go round. With bleeding rules they have to be healed - at which point there is a good chance that the main fighter will die! Even if the healer just uses a heal check to stop bleeding, it won't be long before timing and position (i.e. AoOs) mean that the heal check on someone else makes it impossible to save the fighter who just went negative.

That said, good luck with getting them to be balanced if you give it a try :)
Naeron
12-08-04, 10:05 AM Basing bleeding rules on a flat HP amount does not makes sense within the HP system that dicates that part of HP loss represents the reduction of the actual effectiveness of the attack.

So 6 HP damage from an arrow on a 1st level fighter is quite serious, on a 10th level fighter its probbaly nothing (its about the physical equivalent of 2 HP on the 1st level fighter). It can also be said that damage already includes bllod loss in its HP to a certain extent.

If you want rules for bleeding base it on something like 10% of total HP in a single blow causing bleeding of 1 HP/minute until treated and 25% causing 1 HP/round until treated.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Quinthous 12-08-04, 09:10 AM	My friends and I play a home made rule for bleeding but I was wondering if there was ever an actual bleeding rule. We play that after you take 5 or more points of damage from a single hit you begin to bleed and a rate of 1 hit point per round. I noticed that some creatures such as the Dire Weasle have a special attack that can cause bleeding damage but instead of hit points it drains CON. Does anyone know of an offical bleed rule? Thanks!
CruelDM 12-08-04, 09:16 AM	Bearded devils in the MM have a rule called infernal wound. Any hit they score inflicts damage and 2 HP blood loss/rd until a DC 16 heal check is applied or a healing spell is applied after a DC 16 caster level check. If the caster level check fails, so does the spell, and the bleeding continues. CW contains a feat called arterial strike which enables a character with sneak attack to inflict such a wound, its not open source so I cant post it, but in summary it allows 1 pt hp damage after a hit, each round, that can only be stopped by a heal check or cure spells. Hope this helps Good gaming.
Kheldren 12-08-04, 09:39 AM	The old wilderness survival guide for 1st Ed had bleeding rules, you could try to convert them. The problem is they are horribly unbalancing at low levels. Also the entire philosophy behind hit points is that you haven't been injured, or not more than a scratch until you are down to around 10hp - the rest is stamina and reflexes - your "edge". The idea that someone who gets scratched (5 points of damage from 200 hp) will bleed to death if left untreated (without special circumstances like anti-coagulants) is pretty silly. Back to the low levels. As things are if one of the support fighters gets badly injured they pull back leaving the party healer to concentrate on the main fighter - at low levels (especially 1st) there is not enough healing to go round. With bleeding rules they have to be healed - at which point there is a good chance that the main fighter will die! Even if the healer just uses a heal check to stop bleeding, it won't be long before timing and position (i.e. AoOs) mean that the heal check on someone else makes it impossible to save the fighter who just went negative. That said, good luck with getting them to be balanced if you give it a try :)
Naeron 12-08-04, 10:05 AM	Basing bleeding rules on a flat HP amount does not makes sense within the HP system that dicates that part of HP loss represents the reduction of the actual effectiveness of the attack. So 6 HP damage from an arrow on a 1st level fighter is quite serious, on a 10th level fighter its probbaly nothing (its about the physical equivalent of 2 HP on the 1st level fighter). It can also be said that damage already includes bllod loss in its HP to a certain extent. If you want rules for bleeding base it on something like 10% of total HP in a single blow causing bleeding of 1 HP/minute until treated and 25% causing 1 HP/round until treated.