Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
Because the rules say that the crossbow can kill even a 20th level PC. The skill, luck, etc. hit points keep the crossbow bolt from actually striking your body, because if it did, the 20th level PC would be very hurt and could die. This is represented by death saves.Not really. If the rules say the crossbow cannot kill me, why should I act like it could? And there is an easy solution, make it so that the crossbow can easily kill the characters. It is another matter whether that results the sort of gameplay we actually want, but to some it might.
Which brings me to one of my house rules. If you opt not to engage the skill, luck, etc. hit points to avoid the danger, you will only have your physical hit points to rely on and those cap out at your con score. If a PC falls off a 200 foot cliff, they might get lucky and fall through a bush slowing the fall, and grab a few roots slowing it further taking resulting in the 10d6 damage coming off of the PC's full hit points. However, if you just step off of the cliff, you've told me that you aren't using those other hit points and the 10d6 is almost surely going to kill your PC. The same would apply if someone told me that they were standing still and not avoiding the crossbow bolt.