Unconscious/Dead Heroes House Rule

[mikemacdee]

I wanted to write this down before I forget, and thought you fellers might be interested it giving it a shot. It's a "hero death" rule replacement I've been kicking around, since most will agree the official rules for hero death are pretty poorly thought out.

UNCONSCIOUS HEROES
When a hero loses all his body or mind points he falls unconscious: his piece is replaced with a custom marker that does not block movement or line of sight for other pieces, and also holds all of the unconscious hero's possessions. Any hero may pick up and carry (or drop) an unconscious hero once per turn as a free action, as long as he is adjacent to or standing on the unconscious hero and only carries one hero at a time. While carrying his comrade, the hero cannot attack or defend.

If the unconscious hero is within six spaces of the dungeon exit when the surviving heroes leave the dungeon (or is carried through the exit), that hero survives the dungeon. Otherwise he is left for dead, and all his un-looted possessions are lost forever.

LOOTING UNCONSCIOUS HEROES
A less savory hero may find it easier to loot his injured companion and flee for his own life. The first hero who searches the unconscious hero's room/corridor for treasure claims all of that hero's possessions. If there are multiple unconscious heroes, the looter must choose which victim to loot first.

STABILIZING UNCONSCIOUS HEROES (???)
If a surviving hero does not have a healing item or spell at his disposal, he may attempt to stabilize and revive an unconscious comrade at the cost of his action. The hero attempting to do this stands adjacent to the fallen hero and rolls red dice equal to half of the fallen hero's maximum body points (or mind points, depending which stat was reduced to 0): if at least one 6 is rolled, the hero revives with 1 body point and is "in shock." While in shock, the hero receives -1 to all maximum stats until the end of the quest. The "shock" effect stacks each time the hero is knocked unconscious, and kills the hero permanently if any of his stats are reduced to 0.

[Sjeng]

You mean you roll 1 red die, and it has to be higher than half his starting BP; or 1 red die for EACH of his starting body points and you have to roll at least 1 six? I'd say the latter, seems more logical. Tougher heroes are easier to revive.

Nice idea, but I only render a hero unconscious if his mind points reach 0, or if it's specifically noted in the quest notes. Otherwise he's plain dead
I do like the total party kill option for an afterlife / underworld quest where you get the chance to return the entire party to the living

[torilen]

What about unconscious due to being asleep or loss of mind points (mental shock)?
Would these basic rules apply for them, as well?


Might I offer an idea that I like to use: If a character is just asleep or in mental shock, magical
protections might offer some amount of defense, even though they would not normally get any
defense roll. Just a thought.

[mikemacdee]

Yes, it's the latter: 1 red die for each of his body points / 2.

I suppose the same would apply for body OR mind points, and then reviving them would require rolling red dice for half of his mind points: so physically tough heroes would have a tougher time recovering from mentally devastating attacks, and vice-versa.

Updating accordingly.