I hate death saves. Propose your solution.

[Charlaquin]

Pretty much just looking for the most fun way to make that happen.

Right, but fun is subjective. I find the death and dying rules fun as written. You don’t. I’m order to suggest something you will find more fun, I need to understand what it is about the rules as written that you find unfun. If having an unconscious state is part of what you find unfun, then it would be a waste of time to suggest alternatives that involve unconscious states.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Pretty much just looking for the most fun way to make that happen.

Well fun is subjective, and you haven't really outlined what is fun for you, just that you hate the idea of death saving throws. So is your goal for character death to happen more often and more likely be the result of the dice rather than player choice or character action?

Without some transition period between being alive and dead, it can lead to situations where death is anticlimactic, and there is less tension because there is no opportunity for your teammates to intervene. In my experience, if players are not prepared for this and accepting of it, then it can lead to hurt feelings or a sense that the hero they put so much time and effort into creating was ripped from them.

If you want more player death, than remove the death saving throw. More hit points won't negate or balance the removal of death saves I don't think, because even at half HP or even full for the weaker characters, a well rolled fireball can still kill everyone without any opportunity for recourse.

You could always adopt the previous death and dying rules as posed by [MENTION=6857879]neogod22[/MENTION], or consider any number of methods. But it is hard to provide adequate assistance if all we know is that you want to remove the death save, but cannot define the purpose or end goal outside of that. Because it's easy enough to just say "No more death saves." You don't need us for that, if that's all you want.

 

[FrogReaver]

Die at -10. Starting at -1, you lose 1hp per round until you die, or someone stabilise you. You can adjust the die @# as you see fit.

Depending on how often players actually entered the -1 to -10 range vs just dying outright due to taking more than -10 of their hp in damage I might could go with this system. It's close but sometimes yields a not instant death state which I'm not against

 

[FrogReaver]

Well fun is subjective, and you haven't really outlined what is fun for you, just that you hate the idea of death saving throws. So is your goal for character death to happen more often and more likely be the result of the dice rather than player choice or character action?

Without some transition period between being alive and dead, it can lead to situations where death is anticlimactic, and there is less tension because there is no opportunity for your teammates to intervene. In my experience, if players are not prepared for this and accepting of it, then it can lead to hurt feelings or a sense that the hero they put so much time and effort into creating was ripped from them.

If you want more player death, than remove the death saving throw. More hit points won't negate or balance the removal of death saves I don't think, because even at half HP or even full for the weaker characters, a well rolled fireball can still kill everyone without any opportunity for recourse.

You could always adopt the previous death and dying rules as posed by [MENTION=6857879]neogod22[/MENTION], or consider any number of methods. But it is hard to provide adequate assistance if all we know is that you want to remove the death save, but cannot define the purpose or end goal outside of that. Because it's easy enough to just say "No more death saves." You don't need us for that, if that's all you want.

How about … stop being so worried about what I want and tell me what you would do about it. I'm more than capable of telling you if I like a proposed solution or not. If I could give as much detail as you want about what I find fun then I likely wouldn't need to bring this topic up in a forum in the first place would I?

 

[neogod22]

Depending on how often players actually entered the -1 to -10 range vs just dying outright due to taking more than -10 of their hp in damage I might could go with this system. It's close but sometimes yields a not instant death state which I'm not against

And that becomes the gamble when the player is low in HP, do I stand and fight and risk instant death, or do I hope that I have enough HP to just fall unconscious, or should I not risk it?

 

[FrogReaver]

Right, but fun is subjective. I find the death and dying rules fun as written. You don’t. I’m order to suggest something you will find more fun, I need to understand what it is about the rules as written that you find unfun. If having an unconscious state is part of what you find unfun, then it would be a waste of time to suggest alternatives that involve unconscious states.

Don't worry about me. What would you find fun. I'm more than capable of dismissing it as not fun to me if it doesn't sound fun to me. If I knew every implementation of an unconscious state I could answer you. I don't so I can't tell you if all are unfun. I just know the one in the 5e PHB with death saves is unfun.

 

[Charlaquin]

Depending on how often players actually entered the -1 to -10 range vs just dying outright due to taking more than -10 of their hp in damage I might could go with this system. It's close but sometimes yields a not instant death state which I'm not against

And see, this suggestion doesn’t even involve death at 0 HP, which was your only stated criteria. Yet you say you could go with this system, and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t go with a system that worked identically to the current one but started at 3 HPband made you lose 1 every time you got a failed death save. So I’m getting the impression that the number of HP you die at isn’t really your key issue, and I’m trying to better understand what is. If you explain WHY you don’t like the system as weritten, it will be much easier to devise one you will like better.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

How about … stop being so worried about what I want and tell me what you would do about it. I'm more than capable of telling you if I like a proposed solution or not. If I could give as much detail as you want about what I find fun then I likely wouldn't need to bring this topic up in a forum in the first place would I?

I'm not telling you what to post or how to go about it. Just that without defining what you are looking for outside of "I hate death saves" it makes it hard to provide guidance, support, or even know what kind of response you are seeking. You are more likely to avoid frustration and to get better responses if you are better able to communicate and define what you are looking for.

 

[FrogReaver]

And that becomes the gamble when the player is low in HP, do I stand and fight and risk instant death, or do I hope that I have enough HP to just fall unconscious, or should I not risk it?

Gambles are fun

 

[FrogReaver]

I'm not telling you what to post or how to go about it. Just that without defining what you are looking for outside of "I hate death saves" it makes it hard to provide guidance, support, or even know what kind of response you are seeking. You are more likely to avoid frustration and to get better responses if you are better able to communicate and define what you are looking for.

I've defined it. It's not that hard. What would you do if you were going to remove death saves?