The Toolbox - Roleplaying Game Hacks and Nifty Stuff

System: True20 (www.true20.com)
Hack Type: Revised Mechanics

So, good on True20 for not using hit points. Bad on True20 for clouding up their damage system with more criss-crossed "if, then" condition-oriented statements than I care to keep track of in the course of a tense action scene, and allowing for combats where people can totally get owned without even getting to act just because they roll bad a few times in a row. Instead, I propose this alternate approach, stealing a little from Mutants and Masterminds and my brain on over-the-counter cold meds:

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When you fail a damage save, compare your results to this chart, noting whether the attack is lethal or non-lethal:

Damage Save Failed By:
1-5       = 1 Hit
6-10    = 2 Hits
11-15  = 3 Hits + Staggered (non-lethal) or Disabled (lethal)
16+      = Unconscious (non-lethal) or Dying (lethal)

A Hit: -1 on all future damage saves. That's it; no other rolls are affected.

Staggered/Disabled: You are severely shaken, losing all dodge and parry bonuses to defense as well as taking a further -2 penalty. Until the condition is healed, you can only take a single standard or move action in any round. If you push yourself and do both, you immediately worsen to Unconscious or Dying. This replaces the definition of these conditions in the standard rules.

Unconscious/Dying: As per standard True20 rules.

Cumulative Results: All Hits that you receive in combat stack, so if you get a Hit in one round and two more in the next round, you'll be at -3 to your damage save for the following round. Condition effects do not stack from multiple hits; you can only receive any condition one time from any source. So if you fail your save by 11 two times in a row, you'll have 6 Hits and be Staggered or Disabled.

Recovery: Non-lethal Hits fade at the rate of one per minute, and lethal Hits fade at a rate of one per hour. The Cure power instantly removes all Hits. Other conditions recover as per the normal rules, and require a recovery check, which the Cure power can also provide.

Adepts and Fatigue: Whenever you fail a fatigue save, compare the results to the above chart and apply Hits/conditions as per the above. Unlike damage, these Hits are applied both as a penalty to power checks *and* to future fatigue saves, as you wear down your inner spiritual strength; they do not, however, stack with Hits from damage saves. Also, Hits/conditions from fatigue are always non-lethal, and recover appropriately.

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Groups looking for more heroic results can nix the penalty to the power check and just have the adept's Hits affect fatigue saves. Consequently, groups looking to be real bastards to their magic users can say that Hits from fatigue also stack for damage saves. This is appropriate in some genres, but I went more with the idea of fatigue from casting representing an inner "soul-weariness" type of thing. Fatigue effects not related to magic would just go down as non-lethal damage, in my game.

And that's all. I choose you, TheraFlu. Peace out.