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Are there plans to have an equivalent of the pain threshold from Symbaroum translated to the 5e version? Maybe as an optional rule?

A pain/Wound threshold could work in the 5e version, or even something additional triggered on a crit, with consequences like a small risk of dropping to zero hit points, stunned, or knock down etc. There’s an equivalent system shock rule in the DMG, but it’s very much tied to the high heroic curve of vanilla 5e. Something a little more grounded may be appropriate, less of a super hero curve?

Situational options like receiving damage when surprised or incapacitated could also be a trigger for effects similar to the Symbaroum pain threshold.

I like the heroic 5e attritional combat, but sometimes if the setting allows, as I think Symbaroum does, it’s fun to add a touch more threat to the game.

Any game design is a balancing act between familiar elements (so that folks can say 'oh, this works like so-and-so') and unfamiliar elements (new or different things you must introduce in order to represent the setting). The same holds true for monsters and combat in Ruins of Symbaroum.

For experienced 5e players, combats work very much as expected — the 5e combat engine is a cornerstone of the game, is very well tested, and very familiar to lots of folks. For players, there will be some differences, especially in the types of weapons they have available and those weapon properties (and what they can do when triggered, for example with a critical hit). Monsters also work within the familiar combat system but the range and types of damage they are able to deliver has been tweaked for the setting, along with the sorts of conditions they can impose and their ways of delivering damage/conditions. A Ruins of Symbaroum monster comfortably lives within the 5e rules but usually has several more options than a standard monster, more regularly making use of things like bonus actions, reactions, and critical hits.

So you won't find anything quite like Pain Threshold in Ruins of Symbaroum but you will find combats (even between matched foes) to be challenging.

Thanks for the detailed reply Jacob. That’s sounds really good. It sounds like there’s been very carful consideration to adjusting the threat level of vanilla 5e for Symbaroum. Also sounds like a complicated balancing act with lots of factors to consider.

One thing I often wonder about the attritional combats of 5e is how you can model the one-shot take downs, particularly when you have a high hit-point monster.
I was watching the original Clash of the Titans the other day and the scene with Medusa. There’s great tension as the hero uses stealth and trickery to hide from Medusa and draw her within range for a severing one-shot blow to the neck. Be great if there was a way to introduce these sorts of possibilities in symbaroum 5e as an added dimension to attritional combats. Perhaps this is already accounted for in the rules? Certainly you could make a ruling in game - Perhaps some kind of con save when someone takes damage when surprised etc?

I think there's a lot of opportunities to use conditions to represent sudden reversals of fortune.

Of course, players will alway want (deservedly) a fighting change as well.

Yes intriguing. Looking forward to seeing this game develop. Sounds great already

A pain/Wound threshold could work in the 5e version, or even something additional triggered on a crit, with consequences like a small risk of dropping to zero hit points, stunned, or knock down etc. There’s an equivalent system shock rule in the DMG, but it’s very much tied to the high heroic curve of vanilla 5e. Something a little more grounded may be appropriate, less of a super hero curve?

Our Ruins of Symbaroum campaign makes use of the lingering injuries table from the DMG. It is, as you said, tied to the high heroic curve of 5e, and that makes it all the more scarier for us. A couple sessions ago, our Knight got his arm chopped off due to a result on the table. Luckily, he has the Shelter of the Faithful background feature and got heals in the nearest temple.