Kyamsil
First Post
I have been working on an alternative way of dealing with death and dying in my FR campaign that doesn't use negative hit points.
Until now I had been using an alternative that was based in the one presented in the Epic Levels Handbook and something I saw on the Sean K Reynolds website. Basically it was: 0: disabled;from -1 to -Con Score dying with the usual chance for stabilization; from -Con to -(Con+level) dying without chance of self stabilization, you are pretty much dead unless healing magic gets you back the -Con Threshold. The system didn't work badly, but character mortality rate was astonishingly low. I was thinking on fixing the extremely benign system by making it more random and less predictable. I was trying to decide how to do it: which DC?Fortitude saves?plain Constitution checks?I even considered level checks!
Then Unearthed Arcana was released. While perusing through the book a rule caught my eye...
I liked the "Death & Dying" alternative rules published in Unearthed Arcana. When I finished reading the whole article I saw it as a "step in the right direction but not quite there yet". The system needed some fixes or high fortitude save guys would be like immortals, going from disabled to dying only to get up and disabled a round later by passing the Fortitude save with so low DC by 10 or more.
After a bit of playtesting (which went horribly bad with some tough NPCs that the cleric player insisted that he should be able to turn them as undead as they rised from the floor over and over again...) I have reached a system that seems like it could work fine. It is still "playtest pending" until the next session, but perhaps now it is fixed. The system goes like this:
Death & Dying: Basically, there are no more negative hit points. Once you reach 0 you have to begin to make Fortitude saves and your fate will be decided on the results as explained bellow.
There is a concept that I must explain before going on. I added to the UA rule something I called the ADR (Accumulated Damage Reserve). Basically this is what makes even tough creatures finish biting the dust. This reserve is a number that goes up each time you receive damage while being at 0 hit points. It goes up by +1 per 10 points of damage (so blows of 1-10 make it go up +1,11-20 +2, and so on). Its effects don't apply instantaneously however, so the ADR modifier to the saves DC doesn't apply on the blow that makes the ADR go up, but you would apply any ADR modifier from previous blows. That is, the process of this ADR going up is like. You receive damage that gets you to 0 or while you are at 0->make appropiate save with DC modified by any ADR you have accumulated so far->then update ADR modifier. This continues to go up until you receive any sort of healing. Each 5 points of magical/standard healing makes the ADR to go back down 1 point.
When something deals enough damage to you to reach 0 hit points you must make a Fortitude Save. The DC of this save is 10 +2 for each 10 points of damage (10 for 1-10; 12 for 11-20; 14 for 21-30 and so on...) + ADR modifier if any (keep in mind that most likely ADR will start at 0 at the beginning of a combat unless the characters are really beaten up from previous encounters in which they reached 0 hit points and that the modifier you apply is the one before the blow, not the one you have after the blow).
Depending on the results three things can happen:
Failure by 10 or more: you die instantly.
Failure by less than 10: you are unconscious and dying (see bellow)
Success: you are disabled (see bellow)
A natural 20 always counts as a success no matter how high the DC. A natural 1 always counts as a failure so you go to a dying status (unless on a 1 you would fail by 10 or more which means that you die instead).
Disabled: you can take only a standard or a move action each round. If you do something that is streneous activity and that action doesn't improve your hit point total to above 0 you have to make a second fortitude save with the same DC as the original blow and apply its effects (you can keep being disabled, go dying or just die because of the heroic effort if you botch it and fail by 10 or more). If you receive damage while on disabled status you must make another Fortitude save with the DC calculated as above (remember that if you are already disabled this will mean that the ADR will be at least +1). The only difference if you are already disabled is that no matter how high you roll the best you can get is a Dying result, even on a success on the save. (so basically you roll to see if you go to a Dying result or if you fail by 10 or more that means you die instantly).
Dying: While you are dying you have to fight with the reaper itself to continue being on this world. Each round on your action you must roll a Fortitude save. The DC of it is only 10 + ADR modifier +1 for each previous consecutive round of Dying status. The results of this save would be:
Failure: You die
Success by less than 10: You hold on but continue in a Dying status so you have to roll again in the following round.
Success by 10 or more but less than 20: You hold on and even stabilize yourself so you are not in danger anymore. (but you keep being unconscious but stable, most likely in the middle of a combat, so that means that you are far from safe anyway).
Success by 20 or more: You have the stamina and endurance to not only hold on and don't pass to the afterlife, but to regain your consciousness in a feat of will. You are disabled again.
A natural 1 always fails on this save (so you die)
A natural 20 always counts as if you had succeeded by 10 or more so you stabilize, unless you would count as stabilized with a lesser result (19 or less) in which case it counts as if you had succeeded by 20 or more, so you are disabled.
Well, that's it. I really want feedback on it. If someone has any doubts or thinks that some examples would explain it better I can do so as soon as I have the time. Thanks.
Until now I had been using an alternative that was based in the one presented in the Epic Levels Handbook and something I saw on the Sean K Reynolds website. Basically it was: 0: disabled;from -1 to -Con Score dying with the usual chance for stabilization; from -Con to -(Con+level) dying without chance of self stabilization, you are pretty much dead unless healing magic gets you back the -Con Threshold. The system didn't work badly, but character mortality rate was astonishingly low. I was thinking on fixing the extremely benign system by making it more random and less predictable. I was trying to decide how to do it: which DC?Fortitude saves?plain Constitution checks?I even considered level checks!
Then Unearthed Arcana was released. While perusing through the book a rule caught my eye...
I liked the "Death & Dying" alternative rules published in Unearthed Arcana. When I finished reading the whole article I saw it as a "step in the right direction but not quite there yet". The system needed some fixes or high fortitude save guys would be like immortals, going from disabled to dying only to get up and disabled a round later by passing the Fortitude save with so low DC by 10 or more.
After a bit of playtesting (which went horribly bad with some tough NPCs that the cleric player insisted that he should be able to turn them as undead as they rised from the floor over and over again...) I have reached a system that seems like it could work fine. It is still "playtest pending" until the next session, but perhaps now it is fixed. The system goes like this:
Death & Dying: Basically, there are no more negative hit points. Once you reach 0 you have to begin to make Fortitude saves and your fate will be decided on the results as explained bellow.
There is a concept that I must explain before going on. I added to the UA rule something I called the ADR (Accumulated Damage Reserve). Basically this is what makes even tough creatures finish biting the dust. This reserve is a number that goes up each time you receive damage while being at 0 hit points. It goes up by +1 per 10 points of damage (so blows of 1-10 make it go up +1,11-20 +2, and so on). Its effects don't apply instantaneously however, so the ADR modifier to the saves DC doesn't apply on the blow that makes the ADR go up, but you would apply any ADR modifier from previous blows. That is, the process of this ADR going up is like. You receive damage that gets you to 0 or while you are at 0->make appropiate save with DC modified by any ADR you have accumulated so far->then update ADR modifier. This continues to go up until you receive any sort of healing. Each 5 points of magical/standard healing makes the ADR to go back down 1 point.
When something deals enough damage to you to reach 0 hit points you must make a Fortitude Save. The DC of this save is 10 +2 for each 10 points of damage (10 for 1-10; 12 for 11-20; 14 for 21-30 and so on...) + ADR modifier if any (keep in mind that most likely ADR will start at 0 at the beginning of a combat unless the characters are really beaten up from previous encounters in which they reached 0 hit points and that the modifier you apply is the one before the blow, not the one you have after the blow).
Depending on the results three things can happen:
Failure by 10 or more: you die instantly.
Failure by less than 10: you are unconscious and dying (see bellow)
Success: you are disabled (see bellow)
A natural 20 always counts as a success no matter how high the DC. A natural 1 always counts as a failure so you go to a dying status (unless on a 1 you would fail by 10 or more which means that you die instead).
Disabled: you can take only a standard or a move action each round. If you do something that is streneous activity and that action doesn't improve your hit point total to above 0 you have to make a second fortitude save with the same DC as the original blow and apply its effects (you can keep being disabled, go dying or just die because of the heroic effort if you botch it and fail by 10 or more). If you receive damage while on disabled status you must make another Fortitude save with the DC calculated as above (remember that if you are already disabled this will mean that the ADR will be at least +1). The only difference if you are already disabled is that no matter how high you roll the best you can get is a Dying result, even on a success on the save. (so basically you roll to see if you go to a Dying result or if you fail by 10 or more that means you die instantly).
Dying: While you are dying you have to fight with the reaper itself to continue being on this world. Each round on your action you must roll a Fortitude save. The DC of it is only 10 + ADR modifier +1 for each previous consecutive round of Dying status. The results of this save would be:
Failure: You die
Success by less than 10: You hold on but continue in a Dying status so you have to roll again in the following round.
Success by 10 or more but less than 20: You hold on and even stabilize yourself so you are not in danger anymore. (but you keep being unconscious but stable, most likely in the middle of a combat, so that means that you are far from safe anyway).
Success by 20 or more: You have the stamina and endurance to not only hold on and don't pass to the afterlife, but to regain your consciousness in a feat of will. You are disabled again.
A natural 1 always fails on this save (so you die)
A natural 20 always counts as if you had succeeded by 10 or more so you stabilize, unless you would count as stabilized with a lesser result (19 or less) in which case it counts as if you had succeeded by 20 or more, so you are disabled.
Well, that's it. I really want feedback on it. If someone has any doubts or thinks that some examples would explain it better I can do so as soon as I have the time. Thanks.
But it still allows that heroic sacrifice for those willing to risk their lives.
