Death (and insta-death)

[Cheiromancer]

I've been thinking about characters getting killed, and I realize there are a number of issues that might deserve our attention:

1. Death at -10 hp.

When attacks do more than a hundred points of damage, a 10-point buffer between health and death is not very much. Should we recommend an alternative? There are various house rules around. Being disabled from 0 to minus your Con Bonus is one; death usually occurs at negative Constitution or negative (Constitution + level) or something.

2. Death by massive damage

A single attack that does 50+ points of damage requires a DC 15 fortitude save to avoid death. Should the DC scale? E.g. a 100+ points of damage requires a DC 20 save, etc.? If DevCrit uses the massive damage mechanic (with a save penalty) the exact formula might be important. I think there are variant rules in the SRD, but I don't know which would be best.

3. Devastating Critical, Assassin's Death Attack, etc.

You raise the question here and my response is here. Another draft of the feats is here.

4. Nerfed/overpowered [death] attacks.

This issue tied in very closely with that of save DCs, and the availability of death ward items. There is a delicate balance between [death] spells never working, and their working too well. It's yet another incarnation of the problem of absolutes. Perhaps the "epic effect" of [death] is not that it completely ignores death ward, but that it inflicts a lesser effect. 10 points of Con drain (or something) to creatures who fail their save, but who are protected by a non-epic spell (or an item that mimics a non-epic spell).

5. Cheap resurrection (i.e resurrection w/o level loss).

I still have reservations about true resurrection being able to return high level characters from the dead without level loss. Or any cost, assuming use of the Ignore Material Components epic feat, or epic spells which provide the same benefits. Mass, componentless, true resurrections will eventually be available without mitigation as a swift action.

In one sense, having cheap resurrection means that it is less important to address issues like death at -10 hp, protections vs [death] spells and the like: if people die, then resurrect them. However, easy resurrection plays into the arms race; pretty soon techniques of soul capture (and/or destruction) are invoked, and what then?

I'd prefer to address the issues in order to prolong the arms race as much as possible. If cheap resurrection is difficult, then the issues of soul capture/destruction won't come up as quickly; if they don't come up very often, then the issue of countermeasures can also be delayed.

There's probably other issues, but I think this is a good place to begin.

[Sepulchrave II]

1. Death at -10 hp.

When attacks do more than a hundred points of damage, a 10-point buffer between health and death is not very much. Should we recommend an alternative? There are various house rules around. Being disabled from 0 to minus your Con Bonus is one; death usually occurs at negative Constitution or negative (Constitution + level) or something.

That seems perfectly reasonable, actually (Con + Level).

2. Death by massive damage

At the risk of being branded whimsical, I think we should drop DBMD altogether. It's just too much of a lottery. Which means we still have to find a replacement for DevCrit - Brutal Critical just served to remind me that the DBMD rule sucks. Not to mention it's just cobblers, given that HP are supposed to be 'abstract' anyway.

Maybe the [Devastating Critical] replacement feat should deal a whole bunch of Con damage instead - equal to the weapon's maximum base damage, or something. A DevCrit with a greatsword (12 Con damage) on a 30th-level character would deal an extra 180 points of damage from Con-Loss. Maybe you could Fort Save for half (DC = attacker's BAB).

Just throwin' it out there.