Has anyone ever played a D&D game where:
1. PC HP is hidden to the players
2. DM rolls for each PC's hp maximum for the day after a long rest.
3. DM rolls monster attacks and damage behind screen and applies it to the PC's hp and just narrates what is happening.
Are there benefits to such a houserule? Are there problems it can cause? Would you like to try a game that way if you haven't played that way? If you have played this way what did you think of it?
Personally I've never played this way. I would like to try it someday. I feel it would make a very gritty and dangerous feeling game where playing murder hobo's wouldn't be a real option. It would strongly disincentivize players from chargining into unncessary encounters just because they know they have plenty of remaining hp and such.
I think it'd just make for meek players. If your campaign is intentionally based on, say, espionage then I could see an advantage because the whole point of the campaign would be to work around combat. It would feel like Grounded Mode playing The Last of Us. On normal, you can see your health bar and can plan combat accordingly. On Grounded, I'm several hours into the game and have not yet so much as fired a bullet. I suppose I'm saying that it depends on what your aim is as a campaign.
tmsmilner wrote:
Can’t say it’s ever occurred to me to run a game like that. I don’t know that I’d want to take on the extra book-keeping.
On a related note, the OSR Carcosa book had PCs re-roll their HP every encounter. I like the idea as it reinforces HP more as a measure of luck than meat, and adds a greater degree of uncertainty, but I doubt players would feel the same way.
Ralif_Redhammer wrote:
As a Player of Charisma based Paladins: I would love this, except rolling HP every day. That would muddy my concept of consistency. "Feeling at your best" should feel the same. Homeostasis should feel like Homeostasis. It would also make me afraid to spend hit dice... what if the DM rolled all 1s on my hit points for the day and if I roll more than 1 HD it's a complete waste... why does today's "feeling great" not feel as great as yesterday's "Feeling great"... I'm so scared! D:
As a Dungeon Master: I would use this to teach my characters to stop being Murder Monkeys and treat monsters and NPCs with the same respect that we do in the real world. You don't shoot your neighbor's dog because it's in your yard in the city - you get the cops called on you for that. The biggest problem I have with my players these days is the "F*** it, it's a goblin. Kill it." mentality. I want them to know that drawing a sword is just like drawing a pistol in the modern world. The gravity of a weapon being drawn is grossly overlooked. I still wouldn't reroll the hp every long rest. That's just too much for me to worry about to set up and get going when my players have the attention spans of 2nd graders.
I already keep track of ac/hp/conditions on a spread sheet while we play. This would be easy to do and make the combat more story based rather than numbers based. I like it. :D :D :D :D :D :D
I would have to find a way to not have the players roll damage on monsters, though. You know when you're fighting a goblin that if you crit and deal 22 damage... you're probably going to kill it. So, I'd rather roll the damage behind the scene and let them worry about the hit if I'm going to keep things guessing. But then again as a player I would hate that. I love rolling all my dice at once. 
I have played a game that way. Overall, I would say it's not worth the effort.
Far from being timid, the players treated their characters as disposable. Since living or dying seemed completely capricious, they just had more characters in the wings when their current ones died.
I don't recommend it. It's one of those ideas you try once, go "Well, that was...odd." and then don't repeat.
ivstin wrote:
DemoMonkey wrote:
In Shadowrun (a futuristic cuberpunk RPG) players can buy a "pain editor" bioware upgrade. It essentialy made them ignore all pain and discomforts totally.... which of course has the added drawback that the characters sometimes wrongfully thought they succeeded in dodging the bullits and are suddenly suprised by that fresh trail of blood that has been following them for the last 200 meters. Great fun 
Of course most non undead/construct characters in D&D would be able to feel pain and thereby wont be as blissfully unaware of the damage taken.
Yes, I've played games where it was much more "role" playing than "roll" playing. I've played games that were basically people sitting around storytelling.
It depends on what you and your group wants. The example of characters being disposable like video game lives won't happen if the people you are playing with are into the spirit of the game you're trying to play.
FrogReaver wrote:
I ran a campaign once that took hidding info from the players to the maximum - they didn't even get to see their character sheets.
I rolled all dice behind the DM screen, kept their detailed character sheets behind the DM screen, and provided them only with index cards that listed the equipment they were carrying and a brief summary of their capabilities such as spells, with ability scores/proficiencies mentioned only in terms like "Rego is a genius, but not particularly wise, and is learned in ancient languages."
It was fun, and it certainly kept the players in a certain frame of mind, but I don't think the novelty of it was worth the added DM-side effort.
From my limited experience (it was in a modern setting and I was a PC) it did make the players more willing to avoid combat, but the players sought completely lopsided "combat" when it did happen.
Why get into a fight when you can blow up the enemy's car or snipe him? I think the one time the PCs were ambushed involved them just driving over their attackers as they sped off.
Don't be surprised if your vampire BBEG has his lair flooded with water and he dies without a round of combat ever happening. Making the PCs want to avoid combat applies to all combat, especially anything with a boss as those tend to be the really dangerous ones. If that's what you want, cool. If you're just trying to keep the PCs from commiting goblin genocide for xp then alter the way you award xp.
Now a days, I'm in the camp of not hiding info from the players. Let them see their own stealth checks, tell them monster HP/AC, etc. But I've played with rules like this. Like everything, I'm sure it differs from group to group. In mine, this adjustment achieved the effect I was going for. "Kill them and take their stuff" wasn't the default choice. Avoiding combat and/or seeking non-combat solutions was higher on their list.
Explain to your players what you're trying to get out of this and they'll be more likely to follow along.
- Eck
xanral wrote:
I always just throw out the xp system and level the party at appropriate points in the storyline, which is often after taking on a "boss" or big fight where they would have levelled from it anyway. Cuts down on bookkeeping, allows any mix of the three pillars that works for the particular campaign and helps the DM plan out the story in advance without worrying about balancing all the xp gains.
Weezel wrote:
iserith wrote:
ivstin wrote: