LogFAQs > #905224242

shadowsword87 posted...

The part I would be worried about is that if the PC ever hits 0 hp, the encounter is over no question. With other players they could be a rallying point to try and save them and a back and forth, but if it's just 1 PC, it's much more of a tight rope.

I could see an option there for at least some sort of second-chance ability, similar to the one some Barbarians have and Half-Orcs have, where a character reduced to 0 HP automatically second-winds back to consciousness with 1 HP, at least giving them a chance to heal or flee once they realize they're in trouble. That could also combine with house ruling healing potion drinking as a free action they can do on any turn rather than just on their own, allowing them to recover at least somewhat immediately (which would probably have to go hand-in-hand with greater availability of healing potions in general, plus having access to stronger types of healing potions than normal at any given level).

There's also the possibility if enemies are more sapient, to have them be more inclined to take characters who reach 0 HP prisoner rather than kill them outright (and then have the character forced to escape whatever sort of prison they wind up being put in). This wouldn't make sense for more instinctual monsters (a gelatinous cube isn't going to take prisoners), and it might start to feel stupid after the 3rd or 4th time you've been taken prisoner and forced to escape, but it would at least add something of a safety net for unconsciousness.

The other idea I was thinking about was having the PC discover something almost immediately in the story, before any combat, that gives them healing and recovery on par with having a Cleric. ie, something that can cast a limited number of healing spells as a free action on the PC's turn (or maybe even as a free action during any turn/as a free reaction during an enemy's turn). This could either be some sort of powerful artifact (which probably becomes a major plot point in the ongoing story), or even something like a strange Modron-like orb that comes to life when they touch it, that floats around and follows them wherever they go, keeping them alive (possibly a magi-tek relic of some long-forgotten civilization, which could also easily become a major plot point in the ongoing story). Or something even more sinister, like the little clockwork spider in Cronos ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronos_(film) ), or even the silver spheres from Phantasm.


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