It doesn't make much sense to say "Players kill characters.". When a PC gets ambushed by a bodak and gets a 1 on the death save simply from looking at it, how is that their fault?
When I ran Eberron, I bought in a use for action points where once per session, the player could spend an action point, and the character would be left on 0 HP when they suffered damage that would have killed them. I also toned down death effects, by having them knock the target down to -1 HP and deteriorating.
I find this allows for a situation where the fight's going poorly, and you need to decide if you're going to scram, or stay around to get one more attack in. It cuts down on instant kills from blowing a save-or-die, or suffering a crit, which I don't like happening either as a player or GM.
When I ran Eberron, I bought in a use for action points where once per session, the player could spend an action point, and the character would be left on 0 HP when they suffered damage that would have killed them. I also toned down death effects, by having them knock the target down to -1 HP and deteriorating.
I find this allows for a situation where the fight's going poorly, and you need to decide if you're going to scram, or stay around to get one more attack in. It cuts down on instant kills from blowing a save-or-die, or suffering a crit, which I don't like happening either as a player or GM.
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