"Bloodied" is back in the D&D 2024 Player's Handbook and there's exactly one creature that uses it

While operating more like a supplement like Tasha's Cauldron of Everything than a brand new edition of the game, the Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Player's Handbook has a lot of changes in it. Changes to rules and mechanics, classes and subclasses, races species and backgrounds, artwork and layout. Wizards of the Coast made enough changes that we may be reporting on things we've only just discovered a year from now. 

Here's one: the Bloodied condition makes a comeback in D&D 2024 from D&D 4e. That's right, it's back from D&D Fourth Edition from 2008.

When a creature became Bloodied, that meant it was reduced to half or fewer of its hit points. This could trigger special abilities in that creature as they became more desperate and dangerous in their tactics. Not all creatures could become Bloodied in this sense. But a Dungeon Master might still inform their players that a creature had become Bloodied as shorthand for "the creature is down to half its hit points."

Perhaps to streamline combat and remove that extra layer of tactical complexity, Bloodied never carried over from 4e into 5e. Until now. Bloodied appears in the 2024 Player's Handbook, but only in the glossary near the back of the book. While the 2024 PHB also added several creature stat blocks—basic creatures like bats, cats, and rats—none of them has the Bloodied condition. Except one.

The boar. Boars will now have a trait called Bloodied Fury. "While Bloodied, the boar has Advantage on attack rolls." So, a boar, which has an average of 13 hit points, will go into a Bloodied Fury the moment it drops down to 6 hit points or fewer. 

Advantage is great (if you're the DM, in this case). Advantage allows you to roll two 20-sided dice (instead of just one) and take the higher result. And when it comes to rolling dice in D&D, you always want to roll high when a d20 is involved. Say you want to roll a 10 or higher to hit a creature. On a d20, there's a 50% chance you'll roll 10 or higher. Not bad! But when rolling two d20's, that 50% goes up to 75%, which represents a 50% increase in your chances.

Look, I had ChatGPT do the math. You don't want me doing the math. I'll somehow come up with a decrease in chances.

I suspect we'll see a lot more creatures with a trait that takes advantage of the Bloodied condition in the D&D 2024 Monster Manual (due early next year). Until then, Dungeon Masters, start practicing calling out "the creature is bloodied" when they reach half their hit points. It's going to come into play a lot more often. Especially since it's going to make DMs more dangerous to their heroic, nearly undefeatable players.