D&D 5E Weird Situation with Death Saves and Stabilizing

[Joe Liker]

As a house rule you could rule that every failed death save caused a level of exhaustion, those don't get removed so easily and when you get up to six of them you die.

I don't think he's looking for a way to kill the dwarf faster. He's just sharing an anecdote of an unexpected thing that happened.

(And, it turns out, may have been played slightly incorrectly if they were adding Con mod to death saves.)

 

[the Jester]

Huh. Why did I think death saves were Con saves? I have no idea. I also play 4e, which has death saves in it, too, and there is no attached ability... huh.

I'll have to inform the group that we've been doing it wrong. Prolly prevented the dwarf from dying. Huh.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

If you played during the playtest, it was a Con save at some point.

 

[Psikerlord#]

If you'd read a little back in the PHB entry, it says that "Unlike other saving throws, [a death saving throw] isn't ties to any ability score"... So the dwarf's Con shouldn't matter unless you're house ruling it that death saves use Con. Although the saving throw CAN be modified by Bardic inspiration, it's still nowhere near a guaranteed save.

Add in that every attack would be a critical hit (because the dwarf was afflicted by the unconscious condition for dropping to 0 hit points) and so would gain 2 failures per round, and that dwarf should, very quickly, become a dead dwarf.

hah i didnt realise this, bloody hell, that makes it quite easy to die if something like a mindless cube is attacking you every round (or you're swallowed, or whatever). Even just not con bonus on saves makes death saves scarier. excellent!

 

[the Jester]

If you played during the playtest, it was a Con save at some point.

That's probably it; I'm conflating the playtest stuff with the finished product. Note to self: For now, look stuff up more.

 

[Tormyr]

I finally had a chance to check this, and the Engulf action is a Save action. There is no attack roll, so there is no critical hit and there is only 1 death saving throw failure per cube's turn.

 

[TarionzCousin]

This is why every PC needs to have a new stat: Deliciousness.

Everybody* knows dwarves taste terrible; that's why they get a bonus vs. being engulfed, swallowed, flirted with, etc.







*I.e., Dark Sun halflings.

 

[Quartz]

This is why every PC needs to have a new stat: Deliciousness.

IIRC there was a 3E magic ring called the Ring of Tasting Bad or similar which caused monsters that bit you or swallowed you to find you a not very nice meal.

 

[thalmin]

IIRC there was a 3E magic ring called the Ring of Tasting Bad or similar which caused monsters that bit you or swallowed you to find you a not very nice meal.

Wasn't it called "Ring of Orc Blood"?

 

[MarkB]

IIRC there was a 3E magic ring called the Ring of Tasting Bad or similar which caused monsters that bit you or swallowed you to find you a not very nice meal.

Not to be confused with the Ring of Bad Taste, which causes you to acquire gnomish fashion sense.