Thoughts on health/endurance/suplies mechanic

[dododad]

I really think endurance/helth combo may be a huge advancement in party based rpgs, and may stay for good, but I also think it's still plenty of room for improvement.

 

In IE engine games and up to Wasteland 2 you'd have to reload when a party member would die. Now they are only knocked out, but still get a penalty for taking damage. The good sides of it are less reloading and pressure added, while the bad is that getting knocked out is less of a threat.

 

For me the best system was in Baldur's Gate 1 before getting resurrection spell/scrolls. You'd worry whenever a character would fall, and often got incredible logistical problems just bringing fallen compatriot to a temple for revive. But it was nevertheless very satisfactory doing all that just to revive a party member after a hard fought battle. With resurrection spell and higher levels of BG2, it all got easier. Death was irrelevant as long as your had a spell ready.

 

Here, health bar offers some worry, and even punishes every hit a party member takes. Still, it's not perfect seeing all the hurt gone after a single rest in the middle of the battlefield. And after a while, you are simply forced into a required restocking of camping supplies, and that's the dullest thing of it. Supplies are completely tied to health, and backtracking to a store is always and option. It's almost the same as having unlimited supplies. It turns a decent underlying mechanic into a slight annoyance.

 

Now, I don't think anything need to be fixed, but possibilities are countless. I'm wondering how the game would play without endurance regeneration outside combat? With resting disturbances? Without full recovery of health per camping. With no supplies at all, and much higher health bar? Or, more supplies, but leaving them only effecting spell recovery? How the system would work under locked areas with fixed supplies?