A BRIEF REMINDER TO ROLEPLAY
INJURIES IN AD&D

First let me warn you that this guide follows the precepts laid out under the article on the justification of AD&D hit points. Also, the article on hit points may be relevant. If you wish, you may read them here:

The Justification Of The Hit Point System (Are Hit Points Realistic Or What?)

A Closer Look At The Hit Point System (What The Numbers Mean)

If not, a brief summary of what Armor Class (AC) and Hit Points (HPs) really are should suffice.

ARMOR CLASS: This is NOT, despite what some people say or think, a measure of how difficult it is to hit someone. During the course of melee it is assumed people are being hit nearly all the time. What AC measures is how hard it is to injure someone through various protections. Thus, you may easily hit a man in plate mail armor, for example, but it is not so easy to injure him. In fact, you may even more easily hit someone in plate than without it - since most people are not strong or even well trained in the use of armor, most people will have negative modifiers to their DEX and movement rate, though their AC may still improve. Thus, you may more easily hit them, but it is harder to hurt them. But hitting them is rarely the point; doing damage is the goal - more often than not.

However, when the goal is simply to make contact - for various touch spells, for example, or even a counting coup attack - one may achieve this if they roll well enough to hit AC 10, less dexterity bonus, less any magical protections that afford speed and/or a repulsive force and add to their AC in that manner. The DM will be the one to make this call, so ask. Some items, like a ring of protection, for example, may afford the wearer a layer of repulsive armor and thus would count against even a touch. Other things, like the pluses on the plate mail, will not prevent an opponent from touching them so much as it prevents damage from going through and causing injury. Boots of Speed, another fine example, make someone quick enough to avoid even being touched. With a little thought and imagination, your DM will make a judgment on each item when and if it becomes necessary.

So even if you need only roll well enough to hit AC 4 to touch a man wearing plate (no help) and employing a shield (-1 as it may help keep you away) with a 16 DEX (-2), boots of speed (-2), and a +1 ring of protection (-1), you still need to roll well enough to hit AC -3 to actually damage them with a melee attack. Do NOT fool yourself into thinking if you rolled between hitting AC -3 and AC 4 that you didn't even touch him when, in fact, you did, and probably several times during the round. Note that these touches are probably not too hard or nothing more than a fleeting grasp, but they are touches. The closer one comes to actually doing damage, the harder the hit or the firmer the fleeting grasp, but until you roll well enough to hit their AC, you will not actually DAMAGE them.

HIT POINTS: Usually one has no problem thinking of larger, more powerful creatures as having many hit points while smaller, weaker ones have few hit points. The problem typically arises when you see a man (a farmer) has a handful and hit points while another man (a warrior) has scores of hit points. Your every day experiences in the real world tell you with certainty that a dagger can kill just about anybody with a single stroke. Yet, not that warrior. Why not? In fact, it can, but only if the warrior is helpless - magically sleeping, magically held, tied up, or similarly incapacitated. This is why such characters - in the absence of open melee or other pressing concerns - can be automatically slain, and one need not spend 30 rounds whittling away at that warrior's neck. When not so inflicted, the warrior moves quickly, avoids the dagger more (perhaps entirely), and escapes this certain death. Even while normally sleeping or the victim of a surprise back stab, at the last second it is assumed he has sufficient warning to mitigate the normal consequences of a dagger thrust or other attack.

If a roof collapses on the farmer and the warrior, the farmer is killed, yet the warrior walks away almost unscathed. How? He sees the collapsing roof at the last instant and perhaps dives under the table or simply avoids the major chunk of debris or that falling structural beam.

And why, pray tell, does he go into battle with 60 HPs, get wounded for 30 HPs, and still fight as well now as he did at the beginning? All, good questions.

To find out answers we take a harder look at the AD&D combat system. Here, it will be assumed that the only "real hit points" a character has are from their first hit dice (plus CON bonus or penalty for that dice) as if they rolled maximum on that dice. If they rolled less, their second, third, forth, etc. hit dice would count as real hit points up to what one may have gotten had they rolled maximum on their first hit dice. This means, for example - assuming CON 18 for all characters in these examples - a warrior would have 14 (10+4), a priest 10 (8+2), a rogue 8 (6+2), and a mage 6 (4+2). If their CON was lower, naturally, their "real hit points" would be calculated using whatever CON bonus or penalty they had.

NOTE: On my world, I simply prefer all PCs start with their first hit dice at maximum (thus avoiding the wait until their subsequent dice bring them up to their "real hit point" potential. I still insist they roll every other hit dice under direct DM supervision. A hit dice roll not witnessed by the DM is not at all acceptable. It is slightly amusing to me that 3rd edition D&D has finally caught up to me in this regard and maximizes the first hit dice now as well. Better late than never, I always say.

FURTHER NOTE: In one variation, CON bonuses for ALL dice are considered real hit points, though only the first dice itself is real and other dice are something else, their CON bonuses are still considered real and physical hit points.

ANY HPs beyond this are not really there but are, instead, a measure of a combination of other factors - mostly, the favor of the gods, innate resistance and saves, dodging area of effect spells, luck to avoid injury, etc., and act as a barrier or buffer between them and the harsh outside world.

NOTE: Luck to avoid injuries is not the same as luck in general. Avoiding injuries is something that is internal or very close to one's own person - where AD&D assumes the character has greatest control. This "luck" is not to be confused with luck at the gaming tables, for example, or elsewhere. Someone with high HPs should NOT do better at craps than someone with lower HPs, for example, nor should they be able to fill an inside straight better than most.

From these assumption we conclude if someone shoots an arrow at a warrior and it hits his AC such that it causes damage, then what really happens is the warrior uses his reserves, luck, favor, etc. to avoid the arrow's usual effect - i.e., sticking out of his chest or through his eye, for example. He may have pulled a muscle doing this, received a scratch, backed up too hard into the wall behind him to avoid it and bruised himself, or simply used up some of his favor with the gods. Only if the arrow's damage brought him into the realm of his "real hit points" would his player more properly "act" injured. It is here that characters begin to cry out more, actually bleed a great deal, or have arrows that are actually sticking out of them. Also, it is when damaged in this range that scars or maiming injuries may result - assuming magic does not heal later them.

At this point your DM may insist - or he may not, it just depends on the level of realism he wishes in his game - that you play your characters accordingly. He may also start to assign negative combat modifiers to your character's speed, movement rate, THAC0, STR rolls, DEX rolls, Saving Throws, etc. I mean, you couldn't expect to lift 480 lbs. over your head - assuming 18/00 STR - with an arrow actually sticking out of you. Ask your DM what guidelines he wishes to use.

I present some guidelines here for your consideration. However, I discourage their use as the inclusion of any table makes the system needlessly complicated. The DM is often better at assigning some small penalty for some minor thing or a large penalty for a major thing or just using their common sense. But for those who like tables, however, here is one that may be employed.

While within the range of one's "real hit points" AND if injured, characters may use the above penalties to THAC0, movement, STR, DEX, and SAVES. At zero hit points they are either unconscious (preferred) and may do nothing, or the DM may consider they are dead at that point (rather harsh, but it's his world). Death occurs either at -10 (standard rule), or one beyond -CON (my rule).

NOTE: If the DM wishes death to occur at zero hit points, then unconsciousness should occur before then. Where exactly is the DM's call, but I found the last positive hit point to be a workable rule. Thus, at 2 or higher we proceed as normal, and at 1 hit point, the character would be unconscious, and at zero hit points, they would be dead. This is a harsher game, but many like it.

The DM may even require a level of realism such that when one is injured in the realm of their first hit dice, they must stop and attend to their wounds - bind wounds - or bleed for 1 hit point every round until they do or receive magical healing - he may rule some wounds do not "bleed," though most slashing weapons would produce bleeding wounds, and blunt weapons may cause severe enough internal injuries as well such that they bleed internally. This can make for a more exciting game too. And if injured again - and still standing - they would have to bind their wounds again. It's a tough game.

I do not generally do that. I do, however, have people fall unconscious at zero hit points, and if they are at negative hit points, they "bleed" or "suffocate" or in some other way, lose 1 hit point per round until they are treated - certain magic notwithstanding, like a periapt of wound closure, for example. Or a character must take one round to bind the wounds of a fallen comrade - or an enemy if they wish to question them later for example - or they must employ some healing magic which also stabilizes all injuries as well as heals for its set amount.

Finally, some DMs may wish to give a roll to see if one's wounds may close on their own. This natural clotting may take effect if one rolls 1d100 and gets a % less than their CON score. They may roll this each round. If they succeed, their bleeding stops. They may even recover after a time, but they would usually still die if left untreated. So even if they gain so many hit points per day, they may lose more hit points due to continued exposure, thirst, or hunger.

Actual combat aside, when injured to this degree, roleplaying properly would have your character "Act" injured, in pain, greatly concerned or worried about death, bandaging themselves, asking for help, etc., and not flippantly running around doing everything under the sun as if they were not even scratched. Roleplaying is like that - though gaming may not always be so - but as this is both roleplaying AND a game, some compromise must be found for your group and your style of play.

Take note that 1st level characters may use this table a lot more than most. They are still in the realm of our real life experience, even though they are highly proficient warriors and adventurers, so what the lowly dagger does to a farmer can also be done to a 1st level character with about the same results. Once hit points begin accumulating, once you have the favor of the gods, things begin to look rather different from what we'd normally expect, and it is therefore not all that surprising that much of this may "seem" unrealistic. It is well outside OUR experience; after all, who can claim to have god's help AND demonstrate it like a cleric or other adventurer can? Surely no one on Earth has such demonstrable powers.

Remember, I am not claiming your characters are unscathed until they reach their "real hit points," but only that the injuries are relatively minor, and certainly not what you'd expect from an arrow in the eye or a dagger across the throat. Characters still hurt a bit, they still bleed and get bruises, and any other thing the DM feels is appropriate or makes a smashing story are allowed.

As an example of how this might look, consider James Bond. Let's assume he's still alive because he has a lot of hit points. (In Espionage games I've seen this represented as "Luck" but it all amounts to the same thing; they are only different ways at arriving at similar results. So luck or HPs, it's all the same, really).

The evil-baddy - highly proficient with his weapon - shoots his machine gun at him, but James ducks. This could easily be James taking "damage" and losing some of his hit points, and no one complains then. "How can he keep going with all those bullets in him?" Well, in fact, they missed, used up some his luck, or made him scrape his knees as he dived for cover. So in a game they did damage, but they didn't pierce his skin - or if they did, they didn't hit anything vital. Similarly, characters are not often walking pincushions with many arrows and crossbow bolts sticking in them - even when they "hit" and do damage, it doesn't have to be massive physical damage on par with what you'd expect it to be for a normal person. Bruce Willis in those Die Hard movies is another pretty good example. He wanders around, even bleeding quite a bit, but mostly from relatively minor injuries. Did those bullets actually hit him, or did he just have to cross a field of broken glass in his bare feat? He certainly didn't have any major organs impaled, in either event.

Other optional rules may be employed. One I like is when any single attack does more than half your maximum hit points that you should play it as a serious injury - even if this doesn't bring your character down to his "real hit points".

Since a character's "real hit points" or more "physical" hit points come from the first hit dice, loss of hit points above this mark may not be particularly serious, or at least may not seem to be physically detrimental. Thus, a warrior with a maximum of 85 hit points may be "damaged" for 71 hit points - god, that's a lot - but still walk and act as if essentially uninjured. Granted, they probably know they've been pushing their luck, asking god for too many favors, are fatigued and sore, and may be sporting innumerable scratches and bruises, or what have you, but they may appear to be virtually unharmed in any meaningful way. Even the party cleric may not really be able to tell how badly a character is hurt if the character in question is still above their first hit dice. Some DMs may wish to play this differently, however, so ask.

Healing may seem odd as well if you feel healing only means the natural repair of physical injuries. But it may be much more. After healed to the point of having more HPs than awarded by the first dice, they are essentially uninjured, physically speaking. But their spiritual side, luck, connection to god, or whatever may be weak, and this will either take a long time to strengthen, or a blessing from a cleric - i.e. healing spells - may restore this as well. It is important to realize, then, that even when a character may appear physically whole, when they are down hit points, they will feel this loss of power and may seek out healing, even if it isn't particularly physical in nature.

These rules and guidelines explain why many adventurers may take damage - even large quantities of damage - and act as if it is nothing or continue to fight as well then as before they were injured.

All these assumptions do two very nice things. They add realism without hampering the game or slowing it down, and they provide roleplaying guidelines that we can live with. Otherwise, you should be roleplaying the problems from paper cuts and stubbed toes at every turn and making adjustments to numerous factors, but that's hardly fun - and such injuries, depending on where they are, CAN actually make a huge difference, so don't pretend they are always inconsequential either.

Remember, other systems exist that can offer a higher degree of realism - particularly in combat - but usually the price is paid in ease of play, time, and bookkeeping chores, and it makes you dwell on certain mundane aspects you may rather not. AD&D combat was never intended to be a shinning example of realism - though its abstract nature is far more realistic than some people give it credit, or more realistic than many can even begin to grasp considering how far outside the realm of our everyday experiences it takes us. But I think in many roleplaying games we are not as likely to dwell on minute aspects of combat anyway - unless that's the only or the greatest enjoyment one finds in these games. The AD&D system was designed to glide over the less roleplaying aspects of combat and support a more story driven scenario - despite how some people tend to play these games, most notably hack and slashers and munchkins.

Yes, there, I've said it. But don't get me wrong. If you enjoy those styles of play, no one can tell you that you are playing incorrectly. Fun is fun. But one need not mistake it for the epitome of roleplaying either. As always, to each his own.

As many of us strive for role-playing - and try to avoid roll-playing - we should, finally, try to embrace the role of our characters when their injuries are more dire and debilitating - i.e., within their "real hit point" range or within the realm of their first hit dice. So if your characters find themselves in this range as a result of injuries, play them as hurt, suffering, hard to move, and perhaps very worried or concerned that their life is in immediate jeopardy. You certainly should NOT be running over to the treasure chest and flinging it open - even if the battle is over - nor should you even wish to do such things while your comrades are seriously injured, even if you aren't, unless your character is that kind of guy, naturally ;-)

© June of 2000
by
James L.R. Beach
Waterville, MN 56096