OK, so I'm not going to say tha tthe hit point system in the core B5 book is broken. It does work, especially when you're running a game that focuses on the station, diplomacy, ship to ship combat, etc. I'm not about to argue the wisdom in setting it up the way it appears in the book. However, I do think there's some reason to tinker with the system a bit to accomodate different play styles.
In B5 we know that combat is lethal, and that is how it should be. B5 uses the D&D 3.0 core book for its baseline mechanics. Under the 3.0 rules, you make a massive damage check once you sustain 50 HP of damage in a round (or is it one blow, I don't remember, not that it matters for this discussion anyway). In order to keep combat deadly, Mongoose set very low limits on hit points.
One of the proposed changes that JMS pitched with Crusade was to make it more action oriented. Granted, what TNT wanted was a lot more action than JMS was prepared for (something that led to the untimely demise of what could have been a grat show) but an action oriented version of B5 would require more gunplay, more melee fights, etc. which would result in the need for more hit points if you want to keep your character alive.
A system that I propose, which borrows a page from the D20 Modern book, is to allow characters to gain a set hit die per level, but vary your massive damage threshold depending on the type of game you want to run. If you want to keep the game light and fluffy, keep massive damage at 50 and don't worry about it. Characters will be much harder to kill. If you want to make the game dark and gritty, set the massive damage at the character's Con score. If the character sustains as many points in a round as they have Con, they need to make a save or fall unconscious. You could make it slightly lighter by making it so that you only make the massive damage save if your character suffers an amount of damage equal to their Con score from a single blow. You could also set the number at an arbitrary number, such as 25.
In the D20 system, the average Con score is 12. A standard PPG deals 2d6/X2 points of damage. What this means is that there's a 1 in 12 chance per ordinary PPG shot that the average character will need to make a save after being hit. If the hit is critical then the chances go up considerably. Of course other weapons in the game deal more damage than this.
What changing this rule does is make the game a bit more cinematic. A hit now means that you were grazed rather than taking the brunt of the shot to a vital part of the body. You can now have a moer action oriented game and potentially get into more than one gun battle without having to recussitate half of your party. It also allows the game master the ability to set the lethality of their game. I know that a lot of GM's (myself included) really don't like killing characters unless the player is doing something to bring it upon him or herself. The GM is given more flexibility and doesn't have to resort to fudging die rolls in order to keep the characters from needlessly dying.
In B5 we know that combat is lethal, and that is how it should be. B5 uses the D&D 3.0 core book for its baseline mechanics. Under the 3.0 rules, you make a massive damage check once you sustain 50 HP of damage in a round (or is it one blow, I don't remember, not that it matters for this discussion anyway). In order to keep combat deadly, Mongoose set very low limits on hit points.
One of the proposed changes that JMS pitched with Crusade was to make it more action oriented. Granted, what TNT wanted was a lot more action than JMS was prepared for (something that led to the untimely demise of what could have been a grat show) but an action oriented version of B5 would require more gunplay, more melee fights, etc. which would result in the need for more hit points if you want to keep your character alive.
A system that I propose, which borrows a page from the D20 Modern book, is to allow characters to gain a set hit die per level, but vary your massive damage threshold depending on the type of game you want to run. If you want to keep the game light and fluffy, keep massive damage at 50 and don't worry about it. Characters will be much harder to kill. If you want to make the game dark and gritty, set the massive damage at the character's Con score. If the character sustains as many points in a round as they have Con, they need to make a save or fall unconscious. You could make it slightly lighter by making it so that you only make the massive damage save if your character suffers an amount of damage equal to their Con score from a single blow. You could also set the number at an arbitrary number, such as 25.
In the D20 system, the average Con score is 12. A standard PPG deals 2d6/X2 points of damage. What this means is that there's a 1 in 12 chance per ordinary PPG shot that the average character will need to make a save after being hit. If the hit is critical then the chances go up considerably. Of course other weapons in the game deal more damage than this.
What changing this rule does is make the game a bit more cinematic. A hit now means that you were grazed rather than taking the brunt of the shot to a vital part of the body. You can now have a moer action oriented game and potentially get into more than one gun battle without having to recussitate half of your party. It also allows the game master the ability to set the lethality of their game. I know that a lot of GM's (myself included) really don't like killing characters unless the player is doing something to bring it upon him or herself. The GM is given more flexibility and doesn't have to resort to fudging die rolls in order to keep the characters from needlessly dying.
I think it works really well for our group.
