D&D 5E How has your DM handled death before and after the party getting the spell Revivify?

[Paul Farquhar]

It's never actually happened in one of my games, but I don't have a problem with low level characters dying if that's how the dice roll. Better they die at low level, before the players become too attached to them, and the possibility of death serves to make the peril real and the game more exciting. (If anything 5e makes adventuring too safe).


As it happens, whilst the party in my current game technically has access to Revivify, I don't think anyone actually has it prepared, so I'm not sure what will happen in the event of an unfortunate accident...

 

[jasper]

Hmm. #gavin.o is the ink dry on your pc sheet. If yes then your pc can be killed just getting out of bed the next morning. Don't blame me. Your other party members thought would be fun to put move you and your bed to over the shark tank. Too bad you didn't wake up.
.....
1. Can the group or dead pc loot pay for a raise dead? If yes see 2.
2. Was your pc a pill in town?
Cleric, "so you want to raise Gavin O master of murder paladin of Thor? Didn't he punch out the mailman, burn down the tavern, sell off the Mayor's Daughter to slavery, and has two unpaid parking tickets for parking his horse in a loading zone?"
jasper the quick, "Yes. So are you going to raise him or not?"
****
Striking zeroed heroes depends on INT of monster, and various other things. Your pc may thinking he is the hero of the story. But if the dice go south on him, he just 6 days from retirement and getting his pension. And will all know what happens to that extra!

 

[Blue]

That's very campaign-dependent. Strictly speaking, it's extremely rare for a cleric to be able to accomplish this, because any character aside from the PCs dies immediately upon hitting zero hitpoints, and the material component for Revivify is expensive enough to not be commonly available.

Eh ... you are correct, but in a way that makes me cringe. D&D sidesteps the idea of having to deal with unintentionally captured enemies by making foes die at zero.

But if the in-game narrative holds true, it makes a weird case for every single inhabitant except the PCs. In that everythign they have ever experienced is that if you intend the last blow to be a killing blow IT IS - except for this one batch of PCs. Which means that every single game that ever has foes that survive should have all of these rumors about how they can't be killed (because bringing to zero DEFINITELY KILLS every time with mechanical precision, and there is NO WAY to knock someone out unintentionally) - in other words just the type of rumor that would run around the world before truth can get it's boots on.

Since this doesn't happen, the in-game narrative can't be this. People can go unconscious even if you are intending to kill them. So, doing an extra attack against a foe that could get back up makes sense in-game, even if NPC fighting NPC it wouldn't make sense mechanically.

 

[MarkB]

Eh ... you are correct, but in a way that makes me cringe. D&D sidesteps the idea of having to deal with unintentionally captured enemies by making foes die at zero.

But if the in-game narrative holds true, it makes a weird case for every single inhabitant except the PCs. In that everythign they have ever experienced is that if you intend the last blow to be a killing blow IT IS - except for this one batch of PCs. Which means that every single game that ever has foes that survive should have all of these rumors about how they can't be killed (because bringing to zero DEFINITELY KILLS every time with mechanical precision, and there is NO WAY to knock someone out unintentionally) - in other words just the type of rumor that would run around the world before truth can get it's boots on.

Since this doesn't happen, the in-game narrative can't be this. People can go unconscious even if you are intending to kill them. So, doing an extra attack against a foe that could get back up makes sense in-game, even if NPC fighting NPC it wouldn't make sense mechanically.

True enough. I guess the compromise is to make it work both ways. Yes, in combat encounters featuring the PCs, anyone aside from them falls down dead at 0 hp unless the blow was deliberately non-lethal - but in combats in general, out in the wide world, things don't work out that tidily. Soldiers are left injured or dying on the battlefield, and people with healing abilities can get them back on their feet - if still attached.

I do get the point, but I still feel that the sort of fast in-combat healing employed by PC adventurers should have a degree of rarity to it in the wider world, to the extent that, while it won't catch absolutely everyone off-guard, it shouldn't be something that every single intelligent opponent takes into account as a matter of routine.

 

[Oofta]

Eh ... you are correct, but in a way that makes me cringe. D&D sidesteps the idea of having to deal with unintentionally captured enemies by making foes die at zero.

But if the in-game narrative holds true, it makes a weird case for every single inhabitant except the PCs. In that everythign they have ever experienced is that if you intend the last blow to be a killing blow IT IS - except for this one batch of PCs. Which means that every single game that ever has foes that survive should have all of these rumors about how they can't be killed (because bringing to zero DEFINITELY KILLS every time with mechanical precision, and there is NO WAY to knock someone out unintentionally) - in other words just the type of rumor that would run around the world before truth can get it's boots on.

Since this doesn't happen, the in-game narrative can't be this. People can go unconscious even if you are intending to kill them. So, doing an extra attack against a foe that could get back up makes sense in-game, even if NPC fighting NPC it wouldn't make sense mechanically.

Death at 0 for monsters is much like the pirates code. More of a guideline really. One that the DM can ignore if they so choose.

From DndBeyond

Monsters and Death
Most DMs have a monster die the instant it drops to 0 hit points, rather than having it fall unconscious and make death saving throws.

Mighty villains and special nonplayer characters are common exceptions; the DM might have them fall unconscious and follow the same rules as player characters.​

If the bad guys have a healer, I occasionally track NPC death saves. Something I only use once in a blue moon, but it's always nice to keep the players on their toes.

 

[Staccat0]

I once had Strahd stomp out a downed cleric to make the final battle more epic. Every other dead character we’ve had was from the Instant Death rule or people rolling a “1” on their second death save.

I’ve never played in a campiagn where revivify came up.

The more I play 5e the less interested I am in giving the players “balanced” dungeons full of things they are meant to kill. So I don’t think I would change my style if they had Revivify.

 

[DRF]

As a general rule, death spirals are unfun. Exhaustion has a large negative impact on play.

I strongly disagree. I always use Exhaustion, and it makes my players think, and the feedback has been that they enjoy the world being more dangerous and falling to zero having consequences. Dying in modern D&D is pretty difficult!

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I strongly disagree. I always use Exhaustion, and it makes my players think, and the feedback has been that they enjoy the world being more dangerous and falling to zero having consequences. Dying in modern D&D is pretty difficult!

Yeah, one they got revivify death was either TPK or didn't happen anymore. And some players like the challenge and grit of a system that doesn't end up a game of wack a mole as PC are up and down over and over then ready to rock and roll like nothing happened.

 

[ad_hoc]

I strongly disagree. I always use Exhaustion, and it makes my players think, and the feedback has been that they enjoy the world being more dangerous and falling to zero having consequences. Dying in modern D&D is pretty difficult!

I disagree with that.

Take this example:

Cleric casts Healing Word on downed PC.
PC now has a few HP but is still prone.
The PC is attacked by 2 creatures with Multiattack. They have advantage. 1 hit to knock the PC to 0, 2 more to kill the PC. Even if they only get 2 hits, the PC just needs 1 failure to die.

Death spirals are a thing in 5e. Many low CR creatures are deadly when the PCs are hovering at 1-5hp.

(side note: The game is also much deadlier when enemies just walk past the heavily armoured PC and attack the ones wearing robes)

 

[toucanbuzz]

Revivify is largely a non-factor as we don't always have someone playing a cleric. More often we see the Healing Word "punchbag dummy" effect where a character keeps getting up with a few hit points and knocked back down. Goofy.

Since we switched to the optional Initiative Rules (weapon speed where you have to declare an action at start of turn), it's fixed the goofiness because you can't declare you're doing any Action when you're unconscious. If you do get healed up that round, you can still move but not act (more of a dazed effect). Whether by intent or side-effect, this option cures this pop up and down. It could easily be implemented as a House Rule: if healed from 0 hit points, you can take no Actions that round, though you can still use Movement.

Finally, I play my bad guys according to Intelligence. If a beast knocks you down and others are still waiving swords and screaming, it's going after them. If it's just you and the beast, it's probably going to maul you. An intelligent foe, unless intending to take captives, likely will finish the fight by putting a sword in your gut. It'd be foolish to leave anything alive as they might be feigning the severity of their injury to later stab you in the back or escape. And, as noted earlier, things like ghouls might pause in battle to devour you whole. Had this happen in a Strahd battle that resulted in a character death. The ghoul sat down to enjoy its meal. Took the players a bit by surprise because they had become accustomed in many battles to enemies knocking them down and moving on, giving them a chance to heal up or leeway to bandage them.