houserule on fighting fitness.

[Segev]

I am actually considering my first DMing experience, and am fully aware that the experience might not really take the shape I would ideally want it to take, for me or my players (even though I have known most of them for 5+ years now).
I am trying to get into it with the least amount of expectations and with the purpose of having fun with my friends.

Then I strongly recommend not house-ruling things where you don't need to. Just run it as-is, and rule where gaps come up. With your first experience DMing, I do not recommend toying with game (re)design.

I'm merely trying to look for options that might lead one or two people to consider "ok.. I've been fighting toe to toe with this guy/creature and it's not working.. soon I'll be out of breath.. is there anything I can do differently other than just trading blows/trying to beat his spell resistance?"
maybe it won't work, maybe it will.. maybe congealing that thought into a "ruled" dynamic is the wrong approach. I don't know yet.


to clarify, the above (a potential and minor shift in game-style) is more a consequence that might (or might not) spring from me tackling my insatisfaction with the 100% VS 0% thing.. not my primary concern.. just something that came up as I was thinking the main thing over.

I think you'll find that this happens as people get low in hp anyway. They know how much damage they're taking per hit, and how many hp they have left, and therefore how many more hits they can take.



Oh, and as a recommendation for RP-encouraging mechanics, take a look at the rules for Inspiration. Players respond a lot better to rules that reward them rather than rules which threaten/punish them.