Alternative Consequences for Losing Boss Battles
My students love boss battles but many of the weaker students refuse to participate because they are afraid of falling battle and being punished, which is a great shame as they could use the assessment style of boss battles for practice.
I think it would be brilliant if losing a boss battle had alternative consequences, like if you hp drops to zero, you do not fall in battle, but rather you do not only lose a chance to not gain the xp/gp from the boss, but could lose that xp. Students would be more willing to participate if that was the case instead of a punishment.
Otherwise we are giving the impression that not answering questions correctly and being deemed less intelligent deserves a consequence/punishment equal to misbehaviours in class. Which I feel strongly against, learners must not be punished for getting something wrong, otherwise they prefer to not even try.
There should either be no consequence for losing all hp in boss battles (Only loss of chance to gain the reward) or loss of XP/GP or game master's choice.
Now I know we could work around this by simply cancelling the punishment, restoring the student's hp and simply minus the points ourselves, but that is a very long and difficult work around method. I think this is a feature worth considering or discussing.