Now, I like giving sometimes long-winded narrative examples to introduce my topic.
This particular one has Curse of Strahd spoilers in it, so maybe skip below to where things get bold if you don’t want to know a bit about the bogs of Bavaria…
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The wood spider sauntered through a minute gap in the floorboards of the treehouse as a battle raged all around. A witch, hell bent on the group’s destruction, flew around her home (that was literally alive and trampling people on the ground, creeping through the murky swamp like a Stilt) sending an arcane barrage from her vantage above. In the innards of the hut — its crawlspace, if you will — housed the core that animated the structure.
The crawlspace had enough room for a Halfling Druid, who took his normal form and inspected the gem.
“Harry is going to try to remove it.”
Gnarled roots like bony fingers wrapped around it.
“Sure. How?”
“I cast Flaming Sphere on what’s holding it in place.”
“Ok. You’re in a small space, you’ll definitely feel some of the heat, though it may not touch you.”
“Fine by me.”
Damage is rolled. The player piloting Harry, Zak, says, “Is it loose?”
“No.”
The camera pans out and up to players, some inside the hut, others moving around it on the ground dodging the massive feet of a quadrupedal tree stump, and so, so many spells.
Things are getting dicey. The witch has cover, mobility, and a seemingly endless amount of magic at her disposal.
Another damage roll for Control Flame.
“The fire is still there, but the wood is too soggy to catch alight.”
“Ok. I’ll use Shillelagh on the chord, try to hit it off like a baseball.”
“Yeah, ok. Cool.”
(More than one of the character’s had the necessary tools to rid the enchantment that held the house… and I just wanted them to figure that out, ok?)
“Nothing?”
“The staff makes a comical twang and it jars your wrists like you got jammed by an inside pitch.”
The situation worsens for the party as a Chain Lightning rips through them, just above Harry.
Harry is the party’s main support, but bringing down this colossus is, in his mind, the best support he can provide. Zak throws his hands in the air. “I’m going to try to just pry it off then.”
Cooooool coolcoolcoolcool.
“Two rolls. First Dexterity. Second Strength.”
Zak had been rolling high all night. Statistically that had to change at some point, that’s just the math.
1. 11.
“You get both hands around the gem. As you begin to pull wooden spikes from the floorboards above and below jut out and snap together like teeth. You manage to get one hand free, but your right is just too slow. You don’t get your hand fully away when the teeth clamp down together.”
Roll damage.
“You take 16 piercing damage. Additionally, you lose from just below your knuckle up on your middle, index, and pinky finger. Blood comes pouring out in three heavy streams, quickly pooling around your feet, soiling your clothing and boots.”
The player looks around at his friends, their faces a mix of sympathy and fear. “I guess I’ll have to cauterize it on the Flaming Sphere…”
“Sure, but that’ll be on your next turn. I’ll give it to you as a bonus action.”
Zak is taken back. He has a lot of questions, so he voices a few. “How am I going to use my quarterstaff? Will my bear form be missing claws on the right paw?”
His character just got a permanent, fundamental change in a bigger way than any ability score increase. This was going to change the way the character interacted with the world.
(It didn’t last long, though. In a failed reckless pursuit of revenge, the hut won the second and final round, squashing the halfling’s body in the swamp under its monumental weight, nixing any hopeful final Death Saving Throw. But hey, they knew the risks involved.)
Call me evil if you want (please do, it gives me and my patron greater strength), but I’m in the camp that you don’t become an immensely powerful character without braving some real dangers.
You’re going to get a few cuts and bruises, suffer a few falls and bonks to the noggin. And fire. Lot’s of fire. There should be repercussions to slogging through dungeons to acquire riches and magic artifacts. Otherwise, everyone would be doing it.
There’s a reason most NPCs tend to keep in their hamlets, or hire guards when venturing out on the road. The world is a dangerous place.
The only character I’ve ever played got his right eye sucked out from a Mindflayer. A dark purple blotch was added to his mini to solidify the evidence of how harrowing the fight was. He gained proficiency in Intimidation, disadvantage on Perception rolls that require sight, as well as on ranged attack rolls. Whew. Totally worth it for that sweet, sweet Illithid juice, and the story behind it.
So, here’s why you should introduce Lingering Injuries to you table.
Higher stakes. It’s as simple as that. More risk means more reward, not just in regards to in-game wealth but at-the-table immersion.
It grounds characters with a sense of permanence in the world. This creates more consequences to their actions. Amplified tension makes for a more triumphant victory, or a better realized defeat.
All this adds up to better stories OoC and in-game, and a much more character-driven narrative.
(This could all kick off a whole new quest searching for a powerful healer than can aid them, as well.)
Try it.
How? You may ask. Simple. Many things can trigger a lingering injury, and as DM you can always just choose for story-sake.
A player may suffer a lingering injury if:
● they are struck by a critical hit
● drop to zero hit points
● fail a death save by 5 or more
Of course, you can always add your own, too, such as, but in no way limited to:
● rolling a 1 on a save against damage (like what happened to Harry in the story above)
● they take an excess of X amount of damage in a single turn
● falling backward from a force and hitting your head resulting in a concussion
● falling from a high enough point, breaking bones on impact
● burns can be suffered a number of ways, but I’ll leave that to your twisted imaginations
Reddittor u/KingFerdidad created a Bell Curve system that I believe is handedly better than WotC’s (and it lets you roll a d12, how exciting!):
The result is a higher probability of injuries that will heal over time but can still remain cosmetic (lots of minor scars) before mechanically changing them.
So debilitate your player’s characters. It’s for the good of the story. Just think of Anakin and Luke!
See how they look and feel after a few sessions. Just remember to have them write down how and when they received the injury.
Eventually, like so much of the info on a character sheet, it will become firmly ingrained in the player.
And will make one hell of a story, both in game and out.
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