Hearts & Hit Points

#1

Okay, have kind of a dumb question. I’m new to ICRPG. Just got the hardcover Master Edition last week. Absolutely love the system and core mechanics. Can’t wait to get started playing this. My question… I understand that one heart= 10 hp and that you can acquire additional hearts as your character progresses. The book says you can get more hearts in several ways but for the life of me I can’t find anything in the book explaining how to do this. Am I just not seeing it? One of those “if it was a snake things”? What am I missing??

#2

don’t have Master edition in front of me but there are pieces of loot (Heart stones and the like) which gives hearts, or you can get/give hearts as milestone rewards

#3

its very rare for players to ever get another heart. face it, life now is just 10 hp. make good descisions. lol

#4

You can get more hearts. but most characters never will unless of course you specifically like that style of play.
how you can more hearts is upto the GM, there are a couple items in the loot tables. but potentially the GM could include an option as a milestone and things like that.

Just remember anytime something isn’t described in depth, it’s basically upto the GM and the table to decide.

#5

Telling this to new converts is one of my favorite things to watch hit. Your decisions matter.

#6

Usually, when it’s time to take a milestone, a player could elect to take another heart. And sometimes you could roll one randomly on the loot tables. Finally, the DM could award one at the end of the session or as an on-the-spot award.

In one great game, our healer rolled a natural 20 to heal a player, then rolled a maximum effort roll, and finally rolled a 12 on the ultimate die … three perfect rolls. So, in that instance, I just said, “you know what, take a heart!” and the receiving player’s hit points “leveled up” by 10.

#7

Thanks for all the replies. I kind of assumed everything I’m reading in the replies before I posted. This seems to be a very intuitive system. I can’t believe how simple and easy it is to pick up. And all without sacrificing anything in the way of playability. This is brilliant. Sooooo glad I found it.

#8

There’s no reason you can’t increase HP or Hearts as you wish. I don’t like the 10 point blocks so I use normal HP. It allows for more nuance. PCs in my game can have 9, 12, 15, 17 HP, etc. Do what works best for you.

#9

Hearts dont have to represent 10 HP. The game i designed designates them as 6 HP. You start characters with 2 hearts, not one, this way.

Also i am considering an option where damage by weapons are rolled on a d12 chart (ALL WEAPONS have a particular chart). Damage possibilities can be 1/2 Hearts, full Hearts, 1 1/2 Hearts, or even 2 Hearts depending on the dice roll. *no more random numbers, no 1s or 7s or any other numbers. So…in a way its like systems that have set damage and systems where it is random at the same time.

There is another thread that talks about hearts where i mention black hearts versus red hearts. I talk there about red hearts being 1d6 and black hearts being a solid 6. …or the other way around? lol