Death & Dying - a better (and simple!) system.

[Angel Tarragon]

This is what I do.

 

[Quartz]

Upon dropping to negative hit points, creature must roll a fortitude save DC 1/2 negative hit points.

Just a suggestion: make it 1 round after, to allow colleagues time to heal him.

 

[wolff96]

One house rule I've used in the past is that the character needs to make a Fortitude save: DC = (10 + HP below zero - Con modifier).

So if you're a 16 Con fighter at -10HP, you make the save at DC 17.

Regardless of the result of the save, your friends always have until the end of the initiative round to get some form of stabilization to you. (This did lead to the odd case where the cleric wasn't allowed to take Improved Initiative, because everyone in the party wanted him to go LAST in every combat. )

 

[Pbartender]

The basic mechanism is a fortitude save vs. death on which you must succeed. The DC of this fortitude save is 1/2 your negative hit-points, and you lose 2 further hit-points even on a successful saving throw. You must succeed on such a saving throw as soon as you drop, and repeat it each round on your initiative, and whenever you are damaged. You stabilize in the fifth round.

I've been using something similar, but slightly different...

At 0 or fewer hit points, you are Disabled. If you are at 0 or fewer hit points and not Stable, you are Dying.

Every round, you lose 1 hit point and then must make a Fort save DC is equal to your negative hit points.

If the Fortitude save succeeds by 10 or more, you automatically become stable without assistance. A character who becomes stable is no longer dying.

If the Fortitude save succeeds by 9 or less, you are still dying. You continues to lose hit points, but survive for a short while longer.

If the Fortitude save fails by 9 or less, you fall unconscious and can take no actions. You continue to lose hit points, but survive for a short while longer.

If the Fortitude save fails by 10 or more, you die.

It extends the "dying, but not yet dead" range considerably, introduces a "conscious, but severaly wounded" range, makes it relatively easier to stablize on your own, and makes it easier to survive a mortal wound as a character gains levels. Plus, it only requires one dice roll per round.

 

[Ilium]

Ooh. I like it. It also introduces the "conscious until suddenly dead" which is so common in movies but almost never happens in games. Good for death speeches!

 

[borble]

i think it should start at 0 hp and auto death at -25, with rolls made in the middle.
then it sound vary good.
ben

 

[Obergnom]

Just wanted to let you know:

In tonights session, we used the system. (With 4 in a row stable modification, as mentioned above)

What happend? The sorcerer was able to stabilize after being knocked down to -9 hit points by a couble of balistae bolts, making 4 saves in a row.

Our ranger managed not to die (stbilized himself), after being droped to -17 hit points by an advanced thoqqua. During the same fight, the sorcerer died, rolling a natural 1 for is second save, after being droped down to -11 hp.

All in my group agree that this system is brilliant. It adds so much tension and fun. Tension, because it is allways dangerous to be dropped. Fun, because dying without even rolling a single die to prevent that, is not that funny. (Happend in our game four sessions ago. The main tank got hit for a total of 100hp during a single round. Going from full health to death, without even having a chance to become stable)

Summary: It works Without this system, the sorcerer and the ranger would have been dead because of racing through the -10 zone. In this case it was just the sorcerer, but that was def. okay. Even better is the sudden haste to get people healed. (But that will change once sthe player of the Dragon Shaman is back, I guess.)

 

[BobbyMac]

I like this...

Just to be totally clear though, when a creature drops into negative hp are they still disabled/dying? or can they act normally?

 

[Frogemoth]

The DM could also not tell the player his remaining hp, this would put even more suspense into the action

 

[borble]

The DM could also not tell the player his remaining hp, this would put even more suspense into the action

hell no, my DM once said i could not see any of my rolls...... i died in a dragon acid pipe....... and the next time i die in a super high lvl doungone (o what ever).
dosent work.....
ben