IDEA:
Resources:
- Hit Points (hp)
- Reserves (equal to 50%, 100%, or some such of hp)
- Temporary hp
Any damage dealt to a character removes temporary hp first. Lots of effects grant temporary hp (healing potions, bolstering, non-daily healing spells). Temporary hp typically stacks, but the combined total of hit points + temporary hp cannot exceed a character’s base hp (some effects may allow this total to be exceeded, by some cap amount). Ways to generate temporary hp are plentiful.
If a character’s hp + temporary hp is less than 33% of their max hp, they gain the Shock condition. While in Shock, a character receives one less action and has a minor disadvantage on all checks. If a character’s hp is less than 10% of their max hp, they gain the Critical condition. While Critical, a character receives two fewer actions and has a major disadvantage on all checks. If a character’s hp drops to zero or below, they fall unconscious and are dying. I’ll come up with rules on dying later. But the basic idea is that a character with 0 hp or less is out of the fight. Even if they are granted temporary hp, they remain unconscious. The only way for a character to wake up is to spend Reserves or receive a Revive from a healer character.
This incentivizes proactive healing to prevent characters from reaching 0 hp.
During a short rest, characters can spend their reserves to restore an equal number of hit points (this could be a straight shot, or a declining metric: for example, hp cannot exceed the character’s remaining reserves. So a character who loses 50% of their hp in a fight could only replenish 25%, leaving 75% hp and 75% reserves. If we go with the second route, maybe start reserves at more than 100% base hp)
IDEA: maybe casting high-level spells requires characters to spend points from their reserves? This could be thematic, and would strongly incentivize protecting spellcasters from damage, but it might make it harder for characters to save resources for a big boss fight at the end