Health and Battle Points

The d20 term “Hit Points” can be used to refer to Battle Points, Health Points, or a combination of both as appropriate. This is not a redefinition of “Hit Points”, but rather a reflection of the fact that Battle Points and Health Points are essentially sub-types of Hit Points. The d20 term “Damage” can be used to describe Battle Damage, Health Damage, or both when appropriate.

Damage that is applied to Battle Points is called Battle Damage, and that which is applied to Health Points is called
Health Damage.

The original terms hit points and damage should be used when there is no need to distinguish between battle points or health points, battle damage or health damage. The term “character” is used throughout this work to describe player characters, non-player characters, and monsters.

Like the hit points they replace, battle points and health points represent the amount of physical damage a character can absorb before collapsing. Battle points are based on your hit die type and class levels, rising as your character grows in power and experience. Health points are initially based on your hit die type but are limited by your Constitution, and your Size.

If a character’s battle points are reduced to 0, the character becomes Fatigued. They remain Fatigued until they receive 8 full hours of complete rest. Furthermore, there is a chance that they may become Exhausted. They remain Exhausted until they receive 1 hour of complete rest, after which point they revert to being merely Fatigued.

If a character’s Health Points are reduced to exactly 0, that character is Disabled, conscious and able to act but horribly wounded. Characters who’s health points are reduced below 0 are Dying, and will continue to lose health points unless their condition is stabilized. A character who’s health points reaches (0 – the character’s Constitution score) or less is Dead.

A character’s battle points represents the luck, skill and physical fitness that allows them to avoid the worst effects of damage, effectively converting a telling blow into a glancing one, or a miss altogether. An owlbear’s bite or a dragon’s claws don’t necessarily pierce or rend the character; rather the character is able to bend and twist to avoid the worst of the attack. As a character’s battle points drop, the character becomes tired and thus less able to avoid the damage from these blows. Powerful, high-level characters have great reserves of battle points to draw on, making them much more able to avoid mortal wounds.

A character’s health points reflect their ability to endure physical damage. A loss of health points always means that the character has been struck and injured in some way, ranging from a nasty bruise to lethal organ damage.

Every creature has a maximum number of health points that it can sustain, based on its Constitution and Size category. To determine this maximum, add the Size adjustment for health points to the character’s current Constitution score. Thus, a Huge creature with a Constitution of 20 can have a maximum of 24 health points. No creature can have less than 1 health point. Creatures without a Constitution score have no battle points – all of their hit points are health points. All hit points a character receives up to their Maximum health points are split in half. Half goes to health points, the other half are battle points. Once the character reaches his maximum number of health points, all hit point gained thereafter are battle points.

For Example: Tomas Robertos, a 2nd level Channeler has a Constitution of 14 and 12 hit points. Six are health points and six are battle points.

When Tomas reaches 8th level, he has a total of 39 hit points. 14 are health points, while the remaining 25 are battle points.

Temporary ability score losses to Constitution may affect both the character’s battle points and health point totals. Spells such as Reduce Person, Enlarge Person, and Alter Self do not affect maximum health points, though spells such as Polymorph, Baneful Polymorph, and Shapechange do adjust a character’s maximum health points. Spells which adjust a character’s maximum health points do not alter a character’s total hit points, rather any difference is balanced by a corresponding gain or loss of battle points.

The Toughness feat is a special exception. Hit points gained through this feat are always Health Points, regardless of modifications due to Size. Thus a Pixie with Toughness still has 4 Health Points despite its Diminutive size.

Size Adjusted  / Maximum Health Points
Fine    ----------------(-16)    
Diminutive   ------------(-8.)    
Tiny    -----------------(-4)    
Small   -----------------(-2)    
Medium   ----------------(0)    
Large   -----------------(+2)    
Huge   ------------------(+4)    
Gargantuan   ------------(+8.)    
Colossal   ---------------(+16)

Normally, when a character receives damage, it is subtracted from the character’s current battle points. However, there are several situations where damage is applied to health points directly.

When a character’s battle points are reduced to zero, any remaining damage, and any further damage inflicted after that point is applied to their health points.

Characters who are exhausted for any reason may not use their battle points to absorb damage. All damage received is applied directly to health points.

Whenever a character is damaged by a critical hit, the damage sustained is split in half. Half goes to the character’s health points, while the other half goes to his battle points.

A character that receives damage whilst Flat-Footed splits the damage sustained as if struck by a critical hit.

When a character makes a sneak attack, the normal weapon damage (with all modifiers) is done directly to his victim’s health points. The additional damage from the added d6’s are subtracted from the victim’s battle points. If the additional sneak attack damage reduces the character’s battle points to 0, subtract the remaining damage from the victim’s health points.

Nonlethal damage is treated as battle point damage until the character reaches 0 battle points. After that point, the character suffers normal nonlethal damage to their health points. A character that reaches 0 health points due to nonlethal damage is Staggered. A character that is reduced to negative health points through nonlethal damage is Unconscious and Helpless.
Additional damage done after the character’s health points are reduced to (0 – Constitution score) is treated as normal damage.

battle points and health points replace hit points as an abstract measure of how hard it is to kill a character. Although there are many special attacks that can incapacitate or kill a character outright, the most common effect is simply to inflict damage in the form of lost battle points or health points. This damage accumulates with every blow, reducing your battle point or health point total, to 0 or perhaps below. At that point the character is pretty much out of the fight, and probably in deep trouble. Fortunately simple rest will restore lost battle points, and given sufficient time most health damage will heal. Spells and magic items can greatly speed the recovery and healing process.

Losing battle points or health points as a result of damage has no effect on a character’s capabilities so long as they don’t lose them all. If a character’s battle points are reduced to 0, that character is at least Fatigued and must make a Fortitude save (DC of 10) to avoid becoming Exhausted. Characters whose health points are reduced to 0 through nonlethal damage are also Staggered. Characters who are fatigued cannot run or charge and suffer an effective penalty of -2 to Strength and Dexterity. Doing something else that would normally cause fatigue Exhausts a fatigued character. After 8 hours of complete rest, fatigued characters are no longer fatigued.

A character who is staggered is so badly weakened or roughed up that he can only take a partial action when he would normally be able to take a standard action. Characters who are Exhausted move at half normal speed and suffer an effective penalty of -6 to Strength and Dexterity. After 1 hour of complete rest, exhausted characters become fatigued.

If a character’s health points are reduced to exactly 0 from normal damage, that character is Disabled. He is conscious and able to act but horribly wounded. He can take only a partial action each round, and if he performs any strenuous action, he takes 1 point of health damage after completing the act. Strenuous actions include running, attacking, casting a spell, or using any ability that requires physical exertion or mental concentration. Unless the strenuous action increased the character’s health points, he is now Dying

A character that reaches -1 Health Points through Nonlethal damage is unconscious. While unconscious, a character is helpless. Each full minute that a character is unconscious, a character has a 10% chance to wake up and be Staggered until the character’s Health Points exceed the character’s Nonlethal damage again. Nothing bad happens to a character if the character misses this roll.

A dying character has negative Health Points. She is unconscious and near death. At the end of each round (starting with the round in which the character dropped below 0 hit points), her player rolls d% to see whether she stabilizes. She has a 10% chance to become stable. If she doesn’t stabilize, she loses 1 Health point. A character whose Health Points reaches (0 – the character’s Constitution score) or less is Dead.

A character who was dying but who has stabilized and still has negative Health Points is Stable. The character is no longer dying, but is still unconscious. If the character has become stable because of aid from another character, then the character no longer loses hit points. He has a 10% chance each hour to become conscious and be disabled (even though his hit points are still negative). If the character stabilized on his own and hasn't had help, he is still at risk of losing hit points. Each hour, he has a 10% chance to become conscious and be disabled. Otherwise he loses 1 Health point.

First aid usually means saving a dying character. If a character has negative Health Points and is losing Health Points (at 1 per round, 1 per hour, etc), then a caregiver can make him stable by making a Heal check vs. a DC of 15. The injured character regains no health points, but he does stop losing them. This is a standard action.

A character recovers 1 battle point per character level (+ Con Modifier) per eight hours of rest. A character recovers 1 health point per day of rest. They may perform light, non-strenuous activity during this period, but may not engage in combat or cast spells. If the character undergoes complete bed rest (doing nothing for an entire day), the character recovers both health and battle points at 1.5 times the usual rate. If tended by a character with the Heal skill, this rate can be increased to 2 times the usual rate by making a Heal check (DC of 15) once per day. Characters may not recover battle points while they are Exhausted.

Special abilities, spells, and devices that normally restore hit points now restore lost health and battle points. Magical healing won’t raise a character’s current battle or health points higher than a character’s health point or battle point total.

When a healing spell is cast, such as Cure Light Wounds, the spell heals an amount of Health Points equal to half the amount it normally would. The remaining half is damage done to the character’s Battle Points. This Battle Point damage represents the painful and exhausting effects of the spell’s energies forcing his body to mend at such an advanced rate. A spellcaster may choose to voluntarily reduce the number of health points a spell heals.

Certain effects give characters temporary hit points. These are always considered battle points. When a character gains temporary battle points, note the character’s current battle points. When the temporary battle points go away, the character’s battle points drop to that score. If the character’s battle points are already below that score at that time, all the temporary battle points have already been lost and the character’s battle point score does not drop. Temporary battle points cannot be restored the way real battle points can be, e.g. by resting, healing, etc.

When any character’s Constitution score is reduced to three, he or she becomes unconscious. At zero, the character is dead.