Quote from: Christopher Brady;970290Idea:

Guns cause Con Saves, on a fail, drops player to 0HP.  Because bullets don't do a lot of physical damage, what gets you is hydro-static shock...

In d20 Star Wars, instead of Hit Points you had Health and Stamina. Health was basically your Constitution Score and Stamina was your hit points. So regular hits did damage to Stamina, which could heal overnight kind of like 5e hit points. Critical hits did damage directly to health. If your Con is 12 or less and you get hit by a heavy blaster, odds are you are dead. Nobody laughed at my Stormtroopers.

You could probably adapt that mechanic to 5e, which is kind of similar to what you are suggesting. Another thing, short and long rests could be kept as they are, but made to apply to Stamina only. I'd have to look up the rules to see how normal healing for Health works but it would probably be something like 1 point a day, with maybe more when First Aid is initially applied as well as subsequent medical care. In a Wild West setting, I think much of the health care system comprised of whiskey, tourniquets and hacksaws. Though a competent nurse might help with recovery by giving painkillers and cleaning and dressing wounds.

I just found this article called Frontier 5e. The article is only a week old and may be relevant.

Yeah, I don't buy that hydro-static shock thing.

There's definitely some kind of effect going on with small caliber, high-velocity bullets and temporary and permanent cavities, etc, but basically the types of shock that will kill you from a gunshot wound are
Cardiogenic Shock - caused by damage to the heart and/or heart and lungs.
Hypovolemic Shock - loss of blood volume ie. bleeding out.
Neurogenic Shock - caused by destruction of the central nervous system.

You basically need to immediately induce Cardiogenic or Neurogenic Shock for an instant kill. (Unless you want to fill them full of .22 short and wait until they die of Septic Shock or poison them with peanuts to induce Anaphylactic Shock )) That's why the old Mozambique Drill is so effective.  Two in the chest, one in the head.  The idea is that a double tap to the heart is extremely likely to induce Immediate Cardiogenic Shock.  However, due to everyone being different, it is possible to blow someone's heart out their back, and they will not suffer Cardiogenic Shock due to the effects of adrenaline, drugs, etc.  They will live for a few seconds until they die of Hypovolemic Shock, and those seconds are enough for them to kill you, which is why you follow up with the headshot, which is hard to make and can deflect, but at this point the only way to get an immediate stop is a Neurogenic Shock kill.

Getting hit in the hand and the super-high velocity fluid wave rupturing the brain and heart is a Myth, however, they have found that pigs shot with high velocity rifle rounds in the extremities at close range do show some small level of brain damage, but not enough to be deadly or possibly even noticeable.

A "Hydrostatic Shock" kill most likely is damage to a major nerve that disrupts the nervous system causing temporary disorientation similar to a Solar Plexus hit or Brachial Stun combined with damage to a major artery causing death or unconsciousness by Hypovolemic Shock before the person has recovered from the stun.

Once upon a time I was pre-med running Shadowrun and Cyberpunk 2020.  So sue me.

Quote from: CRKrueger;971258A "Hydrostatic Shock" kill most likely is damage to a major nerve that disrupts the nervous system causing temporary disorientation similar to a Solar Plexus hit or Brachial Stun combined with damage to a major artery causing death or unconsciousness by Hypovolemic Shock before the person has recovered from the stun.

Fun fact, you can lose half your blood and not experience hypovolemic shock if the blood loss is slow enough. And when you keep showing up at work, your coworkers have very amusing expressions.

As for Hydrostatic Shock, that sounds very much like how fitness blogger Rebecca Burger died, when a pressurized whipped cream canister exploded, launching a piece into her chest which caused cardiac arrest.

Quote from: CRKrueger;971258A "Hydrostatic Shock" kill most likely is damage to a major nerve that disrupts the nervous system causing temporary disorientation similar to a Solar Plexus hit or Brachial Stun combined with damage to a major artery causing death or unconsciousness by Hypovolemic Shock before the person has recovered from the stun.

Sounds more credible.