Savage Switches - changes you would make to Savage Worlds

[E-Rocker]

The only change I've made to the core rules in my current Savage Worlds campaign, besides using the aforementioned "Hordes of Extras" setting rule, is that I let a player add additional extra dice to their damage roll if they make an absurdly high attack roll. I feel like if you roll a 64 on your attack, which has happened at least twice in my current campaign, there should be a bigger effect than just adding +1 d6. I haven't codified how many dice or what type of dice to add- it's just whatever I feel is appropriate in the moment.

ETA: also, the Action Deck from the Adventure Edition boxed set comes with an extra Joker, which I leave in.

 

[tenbones]

I just want it to feel cinematic. The "issue" is once you remove the cards from initiative - if the intent is to remove cards in general - is the fact that the cards are used for a lot of little sub-systems, which you would/could also have to re-engineer. Most of it would be easy, but you know... time is money, friend.

 

[tenbones]

The only change I've made to the core rules in my current Savage Worlds campaign, besides using the aforementioned "Hordes of Extras" setting rule, is that I let a player add additional extra dice to their damage roll if they make an absurdly high attack roll. I feel like if you roll a 64 on your attack, which has happened at least twice in my current campaign, there should be a bigger effect than just adding +1 d6. I haven't codified how many dice or what type of dice to add- it's just whatever I feel is appropriate in the moment.

ETA: also, the Action Deck from the Adventure Edition boxed set comes with an extra Joker, which I leave in.

Ooo putting in an extra Joker would be fun!!! Maybe even two. It would certainly be an incentive to go for the Deck-based Edges...

 

[Rob Necronomicon]

1) They work just fine IME.
2) What is hard to hurt in a game where you can very well sustain 6 wounds in one attack, exactly?

It's not that the cards don't work per se. I just don't like them in use. But I don't like any game that uses cards. I'm so used to dice and always have them to hand. It's all about personal preference at the end of the day. No one here is right or wrong, really.

Oh sure... I can bring out the bigger guns and monsters, I'm god. But the general baseline for SW I find that the bennys a bit too powerful (imo).

 

[Rob Necronomicon]

I just want it to feel cinematic. The "issue" is once you remove the cards from initiative - if the intent is to remove cards in general - is the fact that the cards are used for a lot of little sub-systems, which you would/could also have to re-engineer. Most of it would be easy, but you know... time is money, friend.

Me too!

Actually, it's been a few years since I've read SW, and I've not read the newer version yet tbh. So if you need cards for the subsystems then that's a totally fair point. But I always used the die for initiative.

 

[Brander]

Savage Worlds is a system where I've always ended up junking most of my tweaks and only going for genre style changes from the options in the game. It just works and I continually find it's surprisingly well tuned when I get out my "mod" hat. It's not perfect, but it is well tuned and small changes can have big effects.

I'm more inclined to start over with my own thing than to modify Savage Worlds too much.

 

[AsenRG]

It's not that the cards don't work per se. I just don't like them in use. But I don't like any game that uses cards. I'm so used to dice and always have them to hand. It's all about personal preference at the end of the day. No one here is right or wrong, really.

Oh sure... I can bring out the bigger guns and monsters, I'm god. But the general baseline for SW I find that the bennys a bit too powerful (imo).

Personal preference can't be helped. I should know.

No need for "bigger guns". I meant "a d6 strength character with a fist, no combat edges". Been there, rolled it myself (against the PC of my sister, no less). The d6 damage die exploded a couple times...
When the damage was 24, I stopped rolling the next explosions. It was just taking way too long by then!
She was kinda lucky it was a subdual attack.

 

[tenbones]

That's called the Shoryuken!

 

[AsenRG]

That's called the Shoryuken!

Yes, how did you know what happened in that game?

(After that accident the two extras that participated stopped being extras and opened martial arts schools).

 

[The Mad Hatter]

I think I've posted this before, but here is my Initiative house rules for Savage Worlds. Yes, I know it's blashemy to houserule out the cards, but I like dice better.

Every character has an initiative die, based on either their Armor or Agility attribute.
D12: No Armor.
D10: Cloth/Light Leather/Leather Jacket/Body Armor.
D8: Thich Leather/Tough Hides/ Kevlar Jacket/Infantry Battle Suit.
D6: Chain Mail/Bronze Armor/Kevlar Vest.
D4: Plate Mail/Bombproof Suit.
NPCS: If the NPC wears armor use that die, otherwise use Agility stat.
Monsters: Monsters just use their Agility stat.

Initiative rolls is handled by the following rules.
• Initiative rolls can explode like any other roll.
• Every Wild Card rolls a die. Any allies under that player’s control act on his initiative as well.
• Each group of Game Master characters, such as all zombies, all wolves, and so on, share a die.
• If a character gets a raise, he gets a +2 to all Trait and damage rolls this round!

Exactly which nonplayer character groups get their own die is up to the GM. If he wants to break his 30 zombies into 5 groups of 6, that’s fine. Your goal is to do whatever makes running the battle as quick and easy as possible. Generally, Wild Cards and other unique characters gets their own die.

The Countdown
Once the dice are rolled, the Game Master starts the round by counting down from highest to lowest, with each group resolving its actions when its number comes up.
Ties: In the case of ties, PCs and allies goes before the opposition.

Quick Edge: The Quick edge improves your initiative die by one step. Max D12.

Level Headed Edge: The Level Headed edge lets you roll two dice and take the highest roll. With Improved Level Headed, this becomes three dice.

I have some other ideas for house-rules, but will post about them later.

 

[Rob Necronomicon]

I think I've posted this before, but here is my Initiative house rules for Savage Worlds. Yes, I know it's blashemy to houserule out the cards, but I like dice better.

Every character has an initiative die, based on either their Armor or Agility attribute.
D12: No Armor.
D10: Cloth/Light Leather/Leather Jacket/Body Armor.
D8: Thich Leather/Tough Hides/ Kevlar Jacket/Infantry Battle Suit.
D6: Chain Mail/Bronze Armor/Kevlar Vest.
D4: Plate Mail/Bombproof Suit.
NPCS: If the NPC wears armor use that die, otherwise use Agility stat.
Monsters: Monsters just use their Agility stat.

Initiative rolls is handled by the following rules.
• Initiative rolls can explode like any other roll.
• Every Wild Card rolls a die. Any allies under that player’s control act on his initiative as well.
• Each group of Game Master characters, such as all zombies, all wolves, and so on, share a die.
• If a character gets a raise, he gets a +2 to all Trait and damage rolls this round!

Exactly which nonplayer character groups get their own die is up to the GM. If he wants to break his 30 zombies into 5 groups of 6, that’s fine. Your goal is to do whatever makes running the battle as quick and easy as possible. Generally, Wild Cards and other unique characters gets their own die.

The Countdown
Once the dice are rolled, the Game Master starts the round by counting down from highest to lowest, with each group resolving its actions when its number comes up.
Ties: In the case of ties, PCs and allies goes before the opposition.

Quick Edge: The Quick edge improves your initiative die by one step. Max D12.

Level Headed Edge: The Level Headed edge lets you roll two dice and take the highest roll. With Improved Level Headed, this becomes three dice.

I have some other ideas for house-rules, but will post about them later.

This is cool!

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Savage Worlds is a system where I've always ended up junking most of my tweaks and only going for genre style changes from the options in the game. It just works and I continually find it's surprisingly well tuned when I get out my "mod" hat. It's not perfect, but it is well tuned and small changes can have big effects.

I'm more inclined to start over with my own thing than to modify Savage Worlds too much.

Yeah, I've never done massive system tweaks, but I have done tweaks for settings (Savage Pendragon was the biggest overhaul I've done, but the core of the system remained intact).

The biggest thing that just outright irks me is no exploding damage when attacking inanimate objects/breaking things because of the supposed lack of "weak points"...when focusing on the weak point for breaking shit is 100% the best way to break something.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

I’d ditch the wild die.

You'll up the whiff factor pretty considerably. I don't know how many fights I've ran that turned into slogs because the Extras - who have no wild die - were no threat to anybody because they couldn't hit anyone.

Just a "be advised" thing.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

The cards must go.

And maybe limit the benny system. I found it actually quite hard to hurt the players when running Deadlands.

Interesting. I've gotten stacks of dead PCs in my games, and ones who got beaten up pretty bad, and I don't particularly consider myself a "killer GM".

This ETU game I'm running has made me less enamored of the Adventure Deck than I have been in the past, but my players just *love* it.

Conviction is something you have to be careful with, especially if they have a lot of bennies to maintain it, but I haven't personally found bennies themselves to be a problem (and I'm really not a fan of bennies essentially replacing the Fate Chips in Deadlands...I vastly prefer my Red, White, Blue spread, but that's me).

 

[Trippy]

You'll up the whiff factor pretty considerably. I don't know how many fights I've ran that turned into slogs because the Extras - who have no wild die - were no threat to anybody because they couldn't hit anyone.

Just a "be advised" thing.

I’m aware. However, I also think there is a balance against the WUH factor (We Usually Hit), and sometimes I want players to feel the pressure and success of getting a hit for a particular tone.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

I’m aware. However, I also think there is a balance against the WUH factor (We Usually Hit), and sometimes I want players to feel the pressure and success of getting a hit for a particular tone.

Fair enough. IME, without the wild die, it turns into the Keystone Cops with no one hitting anything outside of flukes. But your table, do as you will.

 

[Cross Planes]

I've tried to love SW since Shane wrote about it during the "Great White Games" days and he talked about the books just being 3-hole punched sheets like AD&D 2E's Monstrous Compendium so that errata could be added at any time.

What I have found is that I like hit points or rather I hate wound systems. So I'd give SW HPs and I'd get rid of the cards for initiative.

Runs hordes of enemies against a large group of PCs and henchmen has never worked out for me and maybe I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Silverlion]

I think I've posted this before, but here is my Initiative house rules for Savage Worlds. Yes, I know it's blashemy to houserule out the cards, but I like dice better.

Every character has an initiative die, based on either their Armor or Agility attribute.
D12: No Armor.
D10: Cloth/Light Leather/Leather Jacket/Body Armor.
D8: Thich Leather/Tough Hides/ Kevlar Jacket/Infantry Battle Suit.
D6: Chain Mail/Bronze Armor/Kevlar Vest.
D4: Plate Mail/Bombproof Suit.
NPCS: If the NPC wears armor use that die, otherwise use Agility stat.
Monsters: Monsters just use their Agility stat.

I've issues with this based on modern research, plate armor is not that likely to slow you down. Now a bombproof suit? Yeah. But plate armor (or more properly plate or plate and mail) do not cause hardly any slowdown of someone's actions. I would not suggest going swimming in it, but it is easy enough to move in and perform actions wearing such armor.

It's one of those misconceptions about the armor. Of course, I was doing research on armor cost compared to the modern dollars recently and stumbled onto a D&D-specific version of that myth. But there are numerous videos, articles, and more debunking plate armor as being hard to move in and perform actions in compared to other armors.

 

[tenbones]

What I have found is that I like hit points or rather I hate wound systems. So I'd give SW HPs and I'd get rid of the cards for initiative.

Can work if you find the right HP-progression balance or right derivative amount to suit your tastes. It might get tricky to find it because you'll have to balance the the whole task resolution of combat to reflect your desires. There will be corollary work with a lot of Edges that will be impacted by this - as well as combat features that give flat bonuses, especially the Wound penalties which are a big factor in combat.

It can be done, but it will take some work.

The abstraction of Wounds vs. HP is supposed to be illustrative of the cinematic nature of the baseline game. If HP makes things feel more "kinetic" for you - where you're seeing absolute degradation of a PC's performance, you might wanna just try using the Gritty rules, where PC's roll on the nasty-wounds table.

If it doesn't stick with you, then start your HP rework. I'll bet dollars to bacon-strips that someone has probably done it already.

Runs hordes of enemies against a large group of PCs and henchmen has never worked out for me and maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Well hordes of enemies means Mooks. That means they should have no Wounds which means there is a very good chance half-way competent PC's are dropping them like flies. Understanding the basic "break points" of what is a good Parry and/or Range difficulty (including penalties for cover, environment etc.) should allow you to ascertain fairly quickly what the Mooks chances of actually connecting with your PC's. Granted if they're using bad tactics (like not taking cover, or wading into melee and letting themselves get surrounded etc.) then you go with the "I can't cure stupid" rule, and let your players learn the hard way.

Hordes of enemies in SW *can* be dangerous with a good roll. But again, that means your PC's have to play smart. By all means reward them if they play stupid and succeed! Because then it means they're being DARING! LOL!

Make sure you incentivize the kind of play you want from them too! That's what Bennies are for. Finding the Bennie-flow that keeps the octane flowing is a big part of the game. Some games you may want really over-the-top shit going on, so let the Bennies flow! Sometimes you want things gritty and dangerous, and slow the Benny rewards down.

 

[SirFrog]

How?

The prominent presence of miniature rules creates the perception that play necessarily proceeds along that path

 

[Cross Planes]

Can work if you find the right HP-progression balance or right derivative amount to suit your tastes. It might get tricky to find it because you'll have to balance the the whole task resolution of combat to reflect your desires. There will be corollary work with a lot of Edges that will be impacted by this - as well as combat features that give flat bonuses, especially the Wound penalties which are a big factor in combat.

It can be done, but it will take some work.

The abstraction of Wounds vs. HP is supposed to be illustrative of the cinematic nature of the baseline game. If HP makes things feel more "kinetic" for you - where you're seeing absolute degradation of a PC's performance, you might wanna just try using the Gritty rules, where PC's roll on the nasty-wounds table.

If it doesn't stick with you, then start your HP rework. I'll bet dollars to bacon-strips that someone has probably done it already.




Well hordes of enemies means Mooks. That means they should have no Wounds which means there is a very good chance half-way competent PC's are dropping them like flies. Understanding the basic "break points" of what is a good Parry and/or Range difficulty (including penalties for cover, environment etc.) should allow you to ascertain fairly quickly what the Mooks chances of actually connecting with your PC's. Granted if they're using bad tactics (like not taking cover, or wading into melee and letting themselves get surrounded etc.) then you go with the "I can't cure stupid" rule, and let your players learn the hard way.

Hordes of enemies in SW *can* be dangerous with a good roll. But again, that means your PC's have to play smart. By all means reward them if they play stupid and succeed! Because then it means they're being DARING! LOL!

Make sure you incentivize the kind of play you want from them too! That's what Bennies are for. Finding the Bennie-flow that keeps the octane flowing is a big part of the game. Some games you may want really over-the-top shit going on, so let the Bennies flow! Sometimes you want things gritty and dangerous, and slow the Benny rewards down.

That is great feedback and in all honestly I think its more an idiosyncracy within me than a problem with the rules. I have similar problems with the D6 system & Storyteller/Storytelling/Storypath systems.

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Heroes vs hordes is what it does best, IMO.

It’s heroes vs A Bad Guy where it tends to stumble the most. Tonight, I have a solo bad guy, but I’m going to give him an extra card or two, and thus multiple turns in a round, to see if it helps.

 

[Jan Paparazzi]

Has anyone mentioned the Shaken condition yet?

 

[Tommy Brownell]

Has anyone mentioned the Shaken condition yet?

It’s already ridiculously neutered.

 

[EmperorNorton]

Has anyone mentioned the Shaken condition yet?

Latest edition kind of fixed Shaken already imo.

 

[Acmegamer]

Has anyone mentioned the Shaken condition yet?

What about it? If I recall it could be a problem in the Explorer edition but with the new Adventure edition it's not a problem. Or so I've read.

 

[Jan Paparazzi]

I recall reading it and it sounded to me as some sort of stunlock. But I think I just misrembered. I have to admit I never play SW. I just steal from their setting material and use it in other games.

 

[Acmegamer]

I recall reading it and it sounded to me as some sort of stunlock. But I think I just misrembered. I have to admit I never play SW. I just steal from their setting material and use it in other games.

That's my memory as well, that Deluxe and previous versions that stun lock was a potential problem. Of course I've had a bottle of pinot noir so my minds kinda fuzzy. Lol

 

[EmperorNorton]

I recall reading it and it sounded to me as some sort of stunlock. But I think I just misrembered. I have to admit I never play SW. I just steal from their setting material and use it in other games.

Yeah it could stunlock in earlier versions. SWADE fixed that.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

I've issues with this based on modern research, plate armor is not that likely to slow you down. Now a bombproof suit? Yeah. But plate armor (or more properly plate or plate and mail) do not cause hardly any slowdown of someone's actions. I would not suggest going swimming in it, but it is easy enough to move in and perform actions wearing such armor.

It's one of those misconceptions about the armor. Of course, I was doing research on armor cost compared to the modern dollars recently and stumbled onto a D&D-specific version of that myth. But there are numerous videos, articles, and more debunking plate armor as being hard to move in and perform actions in compared to other armors.

I'm aware that's the case with medieval armor. Have seen enough videos on youtube, from various weapon/armor nuts, to be convinced about it. I just like it, because it gives one more thing to think about when you choose which armor to wear. The must obvious other choices, would have been either the characters Agility or Skill die. Didn't like either of those.
My goal was to make these rules as easy to use, as normal rules. I have used these rules in two campaigns by now, so have in game experience with them. My players liked them. The only slight change I might make, would be to ditch the last upgrade to the Level Headed edge. Rolling three dice is quite powerful.

 

[AsenRG]

What about it? If I recall it could be a problem in the Explorer edition but with the new Adventure edition it's not a problem. Or so I've read.

You obviously haven't read it in my posts...

(I consider the Shaken rule to be working better in the Deluxe edition, and have rejected firmly the changes made in SWADE).

 

[tenbones]

That is great feedback and in all honestly I think its more an idiosyncracy within me than a problem with the rules. I have similar problems with the D6 system & Storyteller/Storytelling/Storypath systems.

I can totally see this happening for people coming from the D&D-sphere (I was like this too). BBS discussions on those initial flame-wars about "What ARE HP?" circa 1982 got me on the track of understanding the possible abstractions of how "health" could/should be represented.

It stands to note that the "what is HP?" debate still flickers on with every single generation, and the same ol' arguments pro/con proliferate. One of the things a lot of people (myself included) realized they like about wound-track concepts are death-spiral mechanics. Which don't really exist in D&D (but they're easy to add in - by breaking up HP blocks into percentages and adding penalties to which block your PC is in).

The problem with Death Spiral mechanics are that if done wrong, they can make a system unintentionally punishing. It's tricky because the system should be tuned to the kind of play you want to encourage. So often that tuning at the HP/Wound-track level can be "one note" (which is fine - think of CP2020 and it's hyper-kinetic and brutal mechanics).

Savage Worlds finds this really interesting middle-ground where not only do the Wound-mechanics (along with the SWADE Shaken rules) produce potentially brutal combat, it also allows strong recovery if you build your character for it. And if the GM wants to tune things up/down they have options (Gritty rules).

I find that a lot of GM's coming from D&D miss something kinda fun in the descriptions of combat with HP. Because a 9th level Fighter with 80HP taking 10-points of damage can be described as taking a cut on his arm, vs. a 5th level Wizard with 20HP taking the same blow and it nearly disemboweling him. The worst part of the abstraction, of course, is there are no mechanics to reflect such damage mechanically in terms of performance. Of course this is because D&D was never designed for that kind of detail. Which makes HP in D&D (and other systems) little more than a Health Bar in a videogame.

SW's Wounds system has an excellent way to ratchet up the tension merely by description of what those Wounds mean. And you know... a player with only 3 Wounds will take that description more seriously beyond the mechanical implications. Heh, for a lot of D&D players new to SW, they're getting their heads around the Wound system by thinking "I have ONLY 3 HP?!?!?!?" - but the narrative realities that duplicate high-level play in D&D (high HP) are expressed in other ways in SW.

Namely Melee Parry/Armor + Vigor, and Spellcasters ability to ratchet up Armor/Deflect capacities. SW stresses more avoidance (generally) than absorption, vs. D&D where AC is more abstracted alongside HP.

TL/DR it takes some getting used to, but once you get your head around it as a GM you can make it much more expressive and fun with less effort than D&D (small uniform numbers are easier to juggle than variable HP totals).

 

[AsenRG]

"What ARE HP?"

Other than a deal-breaker?

 

[tenbones]

You obviously haven't read it in my posts...

(I consider the Shaken rule to be working better in the Deluxe edition, and have rejected firmly the changes made in SWADE).

I had *no* problems with the Deluxe rules and I'm still partial to them.

I've been using the SWADE rules since it dropped. And it's fine too. Different, but fine. I adjusted my Benny economy (as well as upping the violence level) to keep things where I like it (bloody and raw), so everything works out fine.

 

[Ram]

I think I've posted this before, but here is my Initiative house rules for Savage Worlds. Yes, I know it's blashemy to houserule out the cards, but I like dice better.

Every character has an initiative die, based on either their Armor or Agility attribute.
D12: No Armor.
D10: Cloth/Light Leather/Leather Jacket/Body Armor.
D8: Thich Leather/Tough Hides/ Kevlar Jacket/Infantry Battle Suit.
D6: Chain Mail/Bronze Armor/Kevlar Vest.
D4: Plate Mail/Bombproof Suit.
NPCS: If the NPC wears armor use that die, otherwise use Agility stat.
Monsters: Monsters just use their Agility stat.

Initiative rolls is handled by the following rules.
• Initiative rolls can explode like any other roll.
• Every Wild Card rolls a die. Any allies under that player’s control act on his initiative as well.
• Each group of Game Master characters, such as all zombies, all wolves, and so on, share a die.
• If a character gets a raise, he gets a +2 to all Trait and damage rolls this round!

Exactly which nonplayer character groups get their own die is up to the GM. If he wants to break his 30 zombies into 5 groups of 6, that’s fine. Your goal is to do whatever makes running the battle as quick and easy as possible. Generally, Wild Cards and other unique characters gets their own die.

The Countdown
Once the dice are rolled, the Game Master starts the round by counting down from highest to lowest, with each group resolving its actions when its number comes up.
Ties: In the case of ties, PCs and allies goes before the opposition.

Quick Edge: The Quick edge improves your initiative die by one step. Max D12.

Level Headed Edge: The Level Headed edge lets you roll two dice and take the highest roll. With Improved Level Headed, this becomes three dice.

I have some other ideas for house-rules, but will post about them later.

How are you defining a raise for the purposes of this initiative roll? (You state if a character gets a roll they get a +2 bonus.) Is it a roll of 8 or more on the initiative roll (so using a target number of 4 for the roll)? That seems like an easy target number to hit given how rare the joker bonus is available, but I haven't actually done the probability comparison.

Is that +2 bonus for a raise meant to replace the bonus for being dealt a joker?

I assume you considered making the quick edge a simple bonus to the initiative roll? I would think a +2 bonus for this edge would be worthwhile. It also makes the Edge attractive even for characters that will be at the d12 due to their choice of gear. I like this because you control the die type with your character's gear. Increasing the die type increases the range of possible results of any single roll, but still leaves the possibility to roll a one. The static bonus shifts your results further up eliminating the lower end of results.

That leaves room for the Level Headed Edge to allow for either increasing die type or adding additional dice. Which might make for Level Headed to increase the die type and Improved Level Headed to grant a second die.

If you worry over the power of allowing the choice from among a roll of three dice you could always make the rule that the third dice only comes into play if it explodes. So, if you have two dice you pick the highest. If you have three you pick the highest from the two normal dice but the third dice applies only if it explodes granting the player three chances to explode but no benefit from the third die otherwise.

 

[arjunstc]

"what is HP?"

Oh baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. No more.

The question bothered me so much that for my 5E game, I had my players split their HPs into two halves: Wind and Wound.

Wind represents luck, concentration, and stamina. When you take damage, you first deduct it from your Wind. When you have run out of Wind, you deduct your Wound.

Wound represents actual physical damage. When you run out of Wound, you "drop".

The twist is when you take a rest, you can spend Hit Dice on your Wind, but Hit Dice don't restore Wounds.

Wound is restored by magic or natural healing.

This means that if you took a lot of Wound damage, you can't just short rest, spend all your Hit Dice, and be good to go. Conversely, if you had a hard fight, you need to stop and take a breather if you want to be at full strength - you can't just slay a bunch of mooks, quaff a potion, and be ready to face the big boss all fresh.

Added: I understand this is a little like Starfinder in that you have more than one pool of Hit Points.

 

[E-Rocker]

That sounds like an approach I would like very much.

 

[PencilBoy99]

Heroes vs hordes is what it does best, IMO.

It’s heroes vs A Bad Guy where it tends to stumble the most. Tonight, I have a solo bad guy, but I’m going to give

Yep

 

[AsenRG]

Oh baby don't hurt me. Don't hurt me. No more.

The question bothered me so much that for my 5E game, I had my players split their HPs into two halves: Wind and Wound.

Wind represents luck, concentration, and stamina. When you take damage, you first deduct it from your Wind. When you have run out of Wind, you deduct your Wound.

Wound represents actual physical damage. When you run out of Wound, you "drop".

The twist is when you take a rest, you can spend Hit Dice on your Wind, but Hit Dice don't restore Wounds.

Wound is restored by magic or natural healing.

This means that if you took a lot of Wound damage, you can't just short rest, spend all your Hit Dice, and be good to go. Conversely, if you had a hard fight, you need to stop and take a breather if you want to be at full strength - you can't just slay a bunch of mooks, quaff a potion, and be ready to face the big boss all fresh.

Added: I understand this is a little like Starfinder in that you have more than one pool of Hit Points.

"Deal-breaker" resolves this in one go!

 

[The Mad Hatter]

How are you defining a raise for the purposes of this initiative roll? (You state if a character gets a roll they get a +2 bonus.) Is it a roll of 8 or more on the initiative roll (so using a target number of 4 for the roll)? That seems like an easy target number to hit given how rare the joker bonus is available, but I haven't actually done the probability comparison.

Is that +2 bonus for a raise meant to replace the bonus for being dealt a joker?

I assume you considered making the quick edge a simple bonus to the initiative roll? I would think a +2 bonus for this edge would be worthwhile. It also makes the Edge attractive even for characters that will be at the d12 due to their choice of gear. I like this because you control the die type with your character's gear. Increasing the die type increases the range of possible results of any single roll, but still leaves the possibility to roll a one. The static bonus shifts your results further up eliminating the lower end of results.

That leaves room for the Level Headed Edge to allow for either increasing die type or adding additional dice. Which might make for Level Headed to increase the die type and Improved Level Headed to grant a second die.

If you worry over the power of allowing the choice from among a roll of three dice you could always make the rule that the third dice only comes into play if it explodes. So, if you have two dice you pick the highest. If you have three you pick the highest from the two normal dice but the third dice applies only if it explodes granting the player three chances to explode but no benefit from the third die otherwise.

A raise is indeed an 8 (as if using a target number of 4). The +2 is meant to replace the bonus for being dealt a joker. You could change it to a +1 for every raise instead. In fact, I think I will do this next time I run SW, because it would make it more fun.
The probability chance of a joker for 1 character is 1 in 27, and obviously increases as combat goes on. LH edges improves this even more.
The probability of a raise with these rules is this; d4/6%, d6/14%, d8/12%, d10/30%, d12/42% without any LH edges.
With LH edge the chances are this; 2d4/12%, 2d6/26%, 2d8/23%, 2d10/51%, 2d12/66%.
With ILH they are this; 3d4/18%, 3d6/36%, 3d8/33%, 3d10/66%, 3d12/80%.

No I didn't consider making the quick edge a bonus, at the time.To be honest, I made these rules pretty quickly and then just used them in the game. My players liked them and so did I, so no changes were ever made. I do like where your thinking goes here, I just find it more fun either improving the die or adding extra dice. A possible change to the Quick edge could instead be, that you get to roll a wild die along your initiative die. I think I like that better.
Here are the chances for either your proposal or mine.
Quick +2; d4/19%, d6/17%, d8/38%, d10/50%, d12/58%.
Quick Wild Die; d4/19%, d6/26%, d8/25%, d10/40%, d12/50%.

This would make your change to Level Headed edge possible. So LH would increase the die size by one, with a max of d12. ILH would give an extra die to roll. Here are the probabilities for these changes.
LH no Quick; d6/14%, d8/12%, d10/30%, d12/42%. ILH no Quick; 2d6/26%, 2d8/23%, 2d10/51%, 2d12/66%.
LH with Quick +2; d6/17%, d8/38%, d10/50%, d12/58%. ILH with Quick +2; 2d6/31%, 2d8/61%, 2d10/75%, 2d12/83%.
LH with Quick Wild; d6/26%, d8/25%, d10/40%, d12/50%, ILH with Quick Wild; 2d6/36%, 2d8/34%, 2d10/58%, 2d12/71%.