D&D 5E Creative Surgery

[iserith]

Two wizards, a rogue, and a ranger delve into the dungeon, seeking to capture the wizard Bargle who lay somewhere within.

Exploring carefully, they find an ogre sleeping in an oversized, ramshackle bed, under which the PCs spy a bearskin bag full of something they presume is treasure. The halfling ranger attempts to sneak up to steal the treasure, but fails the Dexterity (Stealth) check. The ogre angrily awakens just as the ranger grabs his sack. Combat ensues and the ranger is dropped from a single blow of the ogre's greatclub! The rest of the party fights a running battle with the brute until it falls, at which point they return to their dying comrade. Lacking any healing spells or potions, they work to stabilize her, succeeding on the Wisdom (Medicine) check.

Now they have some tough decisions to make: They are about halfway through the time they have to delve the dungeon and the ranger might not wake up for 4 hours. And even if she woke up in 3 hours, she'd only be on 1 hit point and there'd be no time to short rest since they'd only have 1 hour left to explore. So there's basically a 50/50 chance that she wakes up in time to get in a short rest and still have time to press on.

Ultimately, they come up with a risky plan since they can't afford to waste time. One of the wizards stands by to stabilize the ranger with the rogue helping. The other wizard stands 10 feet away and drops a damaging spell on them (saving throw, not attack roll). This causes the ranger to accrue a death saving throw and start making death saves again in hopes of getting a natural 20. If the ranger gets a second failed death saving throw, she is stabilized by one of the wizards and the rogue, then the process starts over again. Once the ranger gets that nat 20, they can all short rest and press on, saving up to 3 hours in the process. They describe this as a hilariously dramatic wizardly surgery and ultimately prevail.

Have you ever seen something like this happen at your table? What do you think about this tactic?

 

[monsmord]

This feels like a meta-mechanic solution on the face of it. Were I GMing, I'd insist they produce an in-game rationalization for how magically hurting their fallen comrade is the best chance for survival. Then, if they somehow manage one, I'd give them three tries tops before stabilization is no longer possible.

Looking forward to the responses. Wow, what a weird, interesting plan!

 

[Lanefan]

Were it me DMing, on realizing they're gaming the system like this, down comes the banhammer. (IMO this is the sort of exploit that, once found, should be banned before it ever reaches play)

What I'd much prefer is their being forced to make a hard choice at the three-hour point when the Ranger awakes; whether to press on with an injured comrade; or to rest up and risk going overtime*; or to abandon the Ranger and come back for him/her on their way out.

* - you don't mention why they are on a clock and-or what the consequences are if they take too long.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'd just let them make a group check using medicine, arcana, ask for suggestions on a third proficiency, and work with them to translate the game mechanics idea into the narrative of the game.

 

[iserith]

* - you don't mention why they are on a clock and-or what the consequences are if they take too long.

Do you suppose some particular consequence might change your perception of this approach?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I'd just let them make a group check using medicine, arcana, ask for suggestions on a third proficiency, and work with them to translate the game mechanics idea into the narrative of the game.

I would let it work if they use a lightning spell in the process.
And on a critical failure during this process I have the ranger die from stress.

First change to simulate shock therapy.
Second to involve some risk.

I would not ban it outright as the idea seems fun and desperate and just needs a little risk to make this not a standard procedure.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I would let it work if they use a lightning spell in the process.
And on a critical failure during this process I have the ranger die from stress.

First change to simulate shock therapy.
Second to involve some risk.

I would not ban it outright as the idea seems fun and desperate and just needs a little risk to make this not a standard procedure.

Crit fails are much too common for me to put that big a consequence on one, but YMMV. I also tend to go with 3 checks, with the outcome determined partly by each check, and partly by the number of successes in the whole event.

The model for this is the Crime downtown activity in Xanathar's, where 3 successes gets you more money that you aimed for, 2 gets you what you aimed for, 1 gets you nothing but you also don't get caught, and 0 gets you arrested.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Crit fails are much too common for me to put that big a consequence on one, but YMMV. I also tend to go with 3 checks, with the outcome determined partly by each check, and partly by the number of successes in the whole event.

The model for this is the Crime downtown activity in Xanathar's, where 3 successes gets you more money that you aimed for, 2 gets you what you aimed for, 1 gets you nothing but you also don't get caught, and 0 gets you arrested.

I did not mean death at first critical fail. Having 3 out of 3 rolls fail is critical enough. Maybe one even has to fail by 5 points.

 

[iserith]

I would not ban it outright as the idea seems fun and desperate and just needs a little risk to make this not a standard procedure.

The risk is rolling a nat 1 and dying due to accruing two death save fails on top of the one you already have. So it's good to be a halfling in this case since you can reroll the 1. (Or having access to anything that'll let you do some rerolls as needed.)

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The risk is rolling a nat 1 and dying due to accruing two death save fails on top of the one you already have. So it's good to be a halfling in this case since you can reroll the 1.

Skills fail critically if you fail them by 5 or more. Not by rolling a one.