New (?) Feat

[Amadan]

Possibly a new feat, although the idea is basic and I'm surprised I've not seen something like it before (although I don't have the splatbooks, so perhaps it's in there).

Delay Death (stupid name, but oh well)
Your time from dying to death is longer.
Prerequisite: Con 13+, Toughness
Benefit: When dying (reduced to negative hit points), add your constitution bonus to 10 to get the number of negative hit points reached before death.
Example: A character with an 18 Con would be dying from -1 to -13 hit points and dead at -14.
Normal: A character is dying from -1 to -9 hit points, and deat at -10.

 

[Tabarnak Smokeblower]

Is it really worth it? Especially since you have to take toughness as a prerequisite?

There are some other feats (not sure where they are from), dwarf's toughness, giant's toughness, Dragon's toughness, etc. that reduce the negative limit at which you die. Each feat also gives you extra HP's...

TS

 

[the Jester]

I recently added this to my list of custom feats:

CLING TO LIFE (General)

You can cling to life better than others when you’re dying.

Benefit: You die when your hit points reach a negative total equal to your level plus your constitution.

Normal: You die when your hit points reach -10.

This has the advantage of staying useful as you go up in levels. When comparing it to Toughness, Cling to Life has the edge at high levels and with a high con; but Toughness is far better for low-con characters. Furthermore, Toughness' 3 hp are better than dying at -13 because you're conscious and can act for those 3 hp (but not at -10 to -13).

 

[Phaedrus]

Sean Reynold's has a variant rule on his site that applies to everyone (not a feat):

http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/variantdyingrule.html

 

[Grayhawk]

I believe all creatures should be able to reach their negative con score before dying. This also fits well with the fact that constructs and undead (that have no con score) are destroyed when they reach 0 hp's.

Besides that, I'm thinking of making a feat that lets you stay conscious into part of those negative hp's. Propably from -1 to -con score above 10.

This way a character with a con of 15 will die when he reaches -15 hp's, and if he takes the feat he can stay awake from -1 to -5 hp's, acting as when disabled and losing 1 hp per round (unless he stabilizes) until he reaches -6 hp's and falls unconscious.

 

[the Jester]

I believe all creatures should be able to reach their negative con score before dying. This also fits well with the fact that constructs and undead (that have no con score) are destroyed when they reach 0 hp's.

Besides that, I'm thinking of making a feat that lets you stay conscious into part of those negative hp's. Propably from -1 to -con score above 10.

This way a character with a con of 15 will die when he reaches -15 hp's, and if he takes the feat he can stay awake from -1 to -5 hp's, acting as when disabled and losing 1 hp per round (unless he stabilizes) until he reaches -6 hp's and falls unconscious.

Diehard is pretty close to this, right?

 

[reapersaurus]

Death at negative CON is one of the first House Rules we had when it first came out - it's a pretty common one, as well.

To require someone to take this as a feat is overwhelmingly expensive - feats are not a good way to 'fix' things like this.