Applying conditions when sustaining massive damage

[RealMarkP]

I'm thinking of employing a massive damage rule in my 3.5 game. If a character sustains 25% or more damage in one blow, they are subject to a minor condition (ie. Shaken, Flat-footed, knocked prone, stunned). If they sustain 50% or more damage, they are subject to a "major" condition (ie. Exhausted, Staggered, Unconsciousness, Death).

Has anyone tried something like this? Is it too much to ask for?

EDIT: I should have mentioned that I'll be running this campaign with the Armor as Damage Reduction variation. This should lower the amount of damage taken by the PCs so that this massive damage rule is less likely to apply.

[RobbyPants]

I've thought about it, but I haven't. Are you going to apply it to monsters as well? It seems like a pain to keep track of, but it wouldn't be fair if you didn't.

Just realize that the end result of this is that it will raise the difficulty of the game on the players, sort of like how crits favor monsters. Also, it gives them incentives to stock up on wands of Cure Light Wounds to stay at full HP between fights, and you might find them reluctant to press on if they're below 75% health.

[Unbeliever]

And, not to knock on the idea further, I think it's weird that it favors guys with one single big attack (e.g., Shocktrooper charging builds), but does nothing for someone doing a ton of damage over multiple attacks (e.g., Rogues, Swift Hunters). 

If I were going to do something like this, I'd probably just introduce a couple of conditions based on having low hit points.  Something like "bloodied" at half hit points that inflicts some penalty and "wounded" at a quarter that enhances that penalty.

P.S.:  there was some talk about scaling healing based on HP in another thread.  You could use one of these numbers as an added healing bump to make that matter more and less difficult to optimize.  That's one of the ideas I actually liked from 4E. 

[RealMarkP]

Are you going to apply it to monsters as well? It seems like a pain to keep track of, but it wouldn't be fair if you didn't.

Yes, I will be. I'm using a software program I wrote to keep track of these things, so managing it is not that big of an issue. It may become tedious for the PCs to maintain counters on all the conditions that they sustained. At higher levels, some of these conditions are seldom used because many characters are immune to them (or can be).

Just realize that the end result of this is that it will raise the difficulty of the game on the players, sort of like how crits favor monsters. Also, it gives them incentives to stock up on wands of Cure Light Wounds to stay at full HP between fights, and you might find them reluctant to press on if they're below 75% health.

These conditions would only be applied if a single blow does >25% or >50% in one single attack. They won't be applied when the character is below 75% or 50% life. What I want to avoid is a PC getting hit by a flying boulder, sustaining 99% damage, then getting up and charging back without hindrance.

And, not to knock on the idea further, I think it's weird that it favors guys with one single big attack (e.g., Shocktrooper charging builds), but does nothing for someone doing a ton of damage over multiple attacks (e.g., Rogues, Swift Hunters). 

I forgot to mention that I will be using the 'Armor as Damage Reduction' variation, which will lessen the impact of a single blow. But I see your point. I was thinking of extending this to the amount of damage sustained within a single round, rather than a single blow. Thoughts on this?

If I were going to do something like this, I'd probably just introduce a couple of conditions based on having low hit points.  Something like "bloodied" at half hit points that inflicts some penalty and "wounded" at a quarter that enhances that penalty.

This is not a bad idea. If there are more ideas like this, keep them coming .

[SneeR]

You could have the condition Bloodied add extra damage to attacks taken. Basically, they are less tough or able to shift to lessen the blow when they are down to 25% max hp, so they take +1 damage per damage die, or something not too impressive (but certainly noticeable).

[RobbyPants]

Just realize that the end result of this is that it will raise the difficulty of the game on the players, sort of like how crits favor monsters. Also, it gives them incentives to stock up on wands of Cure Light Wounds to stay at full HP between fights, and you might find them reluctant to press on if they're below 75% health.

These conditions would only be applied if a single blow does >25% or >50% in one single attack. They won't be applied when the character is below 75% or 50% life. What I want to avoid is a PC getting hit by a flying boulder, sustaining 99% damage, then getting up and charging back without hindrance.

No, you're right. I was thinking about total HP thresholds, not from being hit with a single blow.

Since you have an easy way to track it, it might not be bad. It's just that when the PCs get hit by something that is already a pretty big deal, it suddenly becomes a bigger deal. Just like crits, this will have a more negative effect on the PCs than the monsters. It can work so long as you take it into account when designing encounters.