Vampiric Strike and High Health

[Dragyn]

That's the benefit for spending a lot of points to get that high HP.

[UncreativeNameMaker]

You can of course always rule the other way for your game. In particular in a game where extreme HP totals are common, it might be a good idea to nip this in the bud.

My main concern would be the loops that could be created my multiple characters with high HP and Leech-like attacks. Not just allies intentionally exploiting it, but also enemies who could never defeat each other.

[PseudoFenton]

Originally Posted by UncreativeNameMaker

enemies who could never defeat each other.

Healing HPs doesn't restore lost limbs however, and someone who is stunned/misses an attack doesn't get the healing that turn. As such, clever use of attacks and defences can easily make all the difference in such a fight, in GURPS very few fights (in my experience) come down to two foes just whaling on each other until the other one drops down dead.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

It just strikes me as weird that the amount of healing could thus easily exceed the amount of damage actually done

HPs aren't some universal currency of injury, they are a very abstract game statistic. If you do ten points of damage to normal person that's proportionately a lot of damage but if you are Godzilla with 300hp, that's not even a scratch. If a giant vampire leeches a person, the High HP and Healing rule means that the vampire heals basically proportionately, which makes at least as much sense as the alternative.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

HPs aren't some universal currency of injury, they are a very abstract game statistic. If you do ten points of damage to normal person that's proportionately a lot of damage but if you are Godzilla with 300hp, that's not even a scratch. If a giant vampire leeches a person, the High HP and Healing rule means that the vampire heals basically proportionately, which makes at least as much sense as the alternative.

In keeping with that, it might make sense to reduce the HP stolen in proportion to the target's HP total. For example, if you stab a HP 10 human and an HP 20 ogre for the same damage, you'd heal only half as much from the ogre, because it's a smaller fraction of his total HP.

However, a simpler solution would just be to exempt Leech attacks from the normal scaling for healing effects. It would just be a campaign option, since it's contrary to RAW.

[PseudoFenton]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

In keeping with that, it might make sense to reduce the HP stolen in proportion to the target's HP total. For example, if you stab a HP 10 human and an HP 20 ogre for the same damage, you'd heal only half as much from the ogre, because it's a smaller fraction of his total HP.

However, a simpler solution would just be to exempt Leech attacks from the normal scaling for healing effects. It would just be a campaign option, since it's contrary to RAW.

A perfectly valid argument, this would enable an HP 20 ogre stabbing a HP 20 ogre to get the same gain as a HP 10 human against a HP 10 human if you kept scaling before and after. This would mean that once you scale up creatures they wouldn't gain trivial amount of restoration when fighting things similar sized, however larger creatures would gain more from stabbing smaller creatures - which might not be intended.

Which ever way you choose to rule it, it should be clearly laid out at the start of the campaign (or at the inclusion of any leech based mechanic) so that it's handled consistently and everyone know what to expect. Everything else is just setting toggles to keep things in line with the game you want to play, really.

[Lamech]

Another solution is that creatures with high HP take "-X% magical/supernatural/whatever healing not increased".

[Godogma]

So instead of scaling healing you're suggesting to add even more math into the process by reducing a percentage of damage taken by high HP creatures?

Seems like you've missed the entire point of the discussion.

[vicky_molokh]

Come on, just declare that the maximum healing gained cannot exceed injury dealt. Quick and reasonably sensible. (This is more a matter of sensibility than balance.)

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Godogma

So instead of scaling healing you're suggesting to add even more math into the process by reducing a percentage of damage taken by high HP creatures?

Seems like you've missed the entire point of the discussion.

My suggestion was, if you're going to scale the healing based on the attacker's HP, you should also scale it on the target's HP - if it's 1-for-1, inflicting 10% damage would heal 10%. If you're not going to scale by both the attacker and the victim's HP, you shouldn't scale at all.

I never thought that excessive math was the point of the discussion.