D&D 5E Is Dying really hard?

[smbakeresq]

That's true too. The problem that I have encountered many times in my group is this: PC goes down, monster is nearby and has the option to hit the downed PC again and force a death save or two. Players VEHEMENTLY argue that an intelligent enemy would not attack an unconscious foe, and would instead attack the other still standing PCs. Which is kind of true in a way, OTOH, if the monster doesn't make sure the character is dead, there's a very good chance she will be healed the next round or same round, pop back up like nothing happened and keep on fighting.

I'm not sure what a good solution to this is. Deliberately killing a PC through metagaming technique tends to not settle well and disrupts the fun.

An intelligent enemy maybe, his zombie minions would just feast though, as would many other things. If you get caught in an area of effect you might not be able to make saves either, and some attacks will auto-crit you.


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[smbakeresq]

I posted a wrong idea, I thought death saves were per day, but they do reset.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I posted a wrong idea, I thought death saves were per day, but they do reset.

Yeah, that was 4e. :shrug:

4e had heal-from-0 and a tight action economy, so it made a lot of sense, as a Leader, to try to assure that you went right after the enemy or right before the ally you felt most likely to get dropped, and wait for them to drop before giving him The Word.

But it had less the whack-a-mole feel because a) healing came in much bigger chunks, b) allies could also self-heal some, and if they were hard pressed might do so as soon as you stood them up, and ... q) yes, you did have to worry about letting death saves accumulate.

 

[Zippee]

That's true too. The problem that I have encountered many times in my group is this: PC goes down, monster is nearby and has the option to hit the downed PC again and force a death save or two. Players VEHEMENTLY argue that an intelligent enemy would not attack an unconscious foe, and would instead attack the other still standing PCs. Which is kind of true in a way, OTOH, if the monster doesn't make sure the character is dead, there's a very good chance she will be healed the next round or same round, pop back up like nothing happened and keep on fighting.

I'm not sure what a good solution to this is. Deliberately killing a PC through metagaming technique tends to not settle well and disrupts the fun.

Except it isn't meta-gaming - it's the way the D&D universe works.

I guarantee you that if monsters had death saves those same players would routinely gank downed enemies because "it's obviously the practical thing to do".

 

[Uller]

I use death saves for monsters. I don't roll them or track them. Just assume a failure unless it is really relevant. If a monster has healing word or the like and one of its allies goes down it can bring it back up within a few rounds just like the PCs.

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[Iron Templar]

an enemy attacking a foe they downed over one that is still up is stupid is pretty much all circumstances. no matter how evil or vindictive they are is incredibly stupid, the reality is almost everything that is intelligent wants to live and by attacking a downed PC instead of a Live one they have worsened their situation. sure they might kill that PC but the others haven't been harmed and now want him dead.


now their is an exception. if their is a cleric that they see getting the Downed PCs up than trying to confirm the kill makes sense. in my games I even have a Rule for 'coup de gras' which is essentially when an enemy takes their action to hold an unconcise PC and yells if the other PCs dont surrender that they will kill that PC the players than get their turns but the one being held by the NPC counts as restrained so reviving him doesn't remove this possibility of the 'Coup de Gras' and basically if the PC dont surrender the NPC kills that PC (of course it still has to make the attack roll but it has advatage and the player cant benefit from DEX). this has stopped the majority of the Wack a mole problem the other thing I find useful is simply bring back negative Hit points because is all honest if the player know what they are doing it is impossible to die at any level in base D&D unless the dice just hate you.

 

[Warpiglet]

A really intelligent foe that is cruel and vindictive, or prideful, would make sure that the unconscious foe was dead! Intelligent foes know that spells and potions can revive unconscious victims. They also know that sometimes (when a 20 is rolled for a death save) the victim can get up all on its own.

I think the sword swings both ways on this issue.

Hell yeah. And what is down? If I just ran an enemy through and he is gurgling and losing his footing do I stop and say
Its all good he is at 0? Or do I keep stabbing?

Pretty sure on a real battlefield people tried to make sure the enemy was dead. Now if someone is right in their face, this could create and exception...

 

[jasper]

an enemy attacking a foe they downed over one that is still up is stupid is pretty much all circumstances. no matter how evil or vindictive they are is incredibly stupid, the reality is almost everything that is intelligent wants to live and by attacking a downed PC instead of a Live one they have worsened their situation. sure they might kill that PC but the others haven't been harmed and now want him dead.


now their is an exception. ...

Hmm zombieland double tap forget the rule.
Trench warfare from WW1. Shoot the dead bodies, they maybe playing dead. At worst you just wasted a round.

 

[Hussar]

Given the plethora of healing available in 5e, I don’t think it would be unreasonable to think that combat evolves a bit and hacking downed targets becomes a lot more viable of a tactic.

 

[Caliban]

Given the plethora of healing available in 5e, I don’t think it would be unreasonable to think that combat evolves a bit and hacking downed targets becomes a lot more viable of a tactic.

How many people and creatures in the campaign world have access to the same healing abilities as the PC's?

In most settings the PC's are very much the exception, most creatures don't have such ready access to potions, healing spells, and other in-combat healing abilities (or really most of the abilities that PC's display).

YMMV, depending on how the campaign is set up.