Save or die

[Xor]

Love 'em or hate 'em save-or-die situations are part of the core rules. How do you as a DM handle them and as a player feel about them.

They seem way too harsh and random to me. To spend nine months taking a character to hell and back, pouring your heart and soul into role-playing it. Only to face death on a single surprise attack die roll whilst sleeping....that suxx0r big stylee. Realistic? Maybe....fun? No.

If you house rule them then whats your ruling? Best that i've seen is "instantly reduced to -1d10 hp and 'dying' status".

 

[Legildur]

We just suckit up in our game. No house rules.

Although I did manage to convince one of my DMs to implement the optional rule of rolling the die again for natural 1s and 20s and then subtracting/adding the new die result to the previous (adjusted) result. I just always had problems where the 12th level raging Barbarian with a +20 Fort save can still fail a DC 15 Fort save on a natural 1 - 1 in 20 automatic deaths, and there is squat you can do about it.

Same deal with auto hits and misses with attack rolls. I don't like auto.

 

[Infiniti2000]

With the easy methods of raising dead in D&D and the come-from-behind XP rules, dying is no big thang.

 

[werk]

RAW baby! If you got people that want you dead, you better buy some security...and maybe have a friendly high level cleric on retainer.

Famous people have to have security, there's all kinds of freaks out there.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'd like to house rule them, but so far I've only avoided using them against the PCs.

 

[irdeggman]

I messed up and voted frequently when I meant RAW and sparingly.

I hate things with no saves, especially when they involve death of a PC.

 

[NimrodvanHall]

i voted we use them RAW but sparingly, due to the lvl we play ot right now (lvl 11) in times when the characters reach the higher lvls save or die comes more often. mainly due to the 50 dmg is a fort dc15, just about anything will become a safe or die.

 

[Li Shenron]

I messed up and voted frequently when I meant RAW and sparingly.

Heps! You just failed you save-or-die roll to vote the poll!

 

[JimAde]

With the easy methods of raising dead in D&D and the come-from-behind XP rules, dying is no big thang.

But in my game, there is no Raise Dead, etc. (except in certain weird circumstances). So I use a negative 1d8 and dying, plus you don't actually die until you reach -Con. But once you're dead, that's it.

 

[melkorspawn]

I messed up and voted frequently when I meant RAW and sparingly.

I hate things with no saves, especially when they involve death of a PC.

Especially since you failed your reflex save when you entered the wrong vote.