D&D 4E 4e Save or Die?

[DracoSuave]

I take the opposite tack. I let them know that the bottomless pit/lava is dooom and death and parties should avoid it. That makes it that much more of a reason to avoid it. Then the game becomes a battle of forced movement, with the party hoping to push -the monster- in without being in danger of it themselves.

It's not -save or die- but it's -position yourself or save or die- where the location the party occupies takes up is as important as the healing.

 

[CapnZapp]

So, if they have knowledge nature, and if they try to do the knowledge check, and if they get lucky enough to make the DC30....

Some players read the Monster Manual - it seems silly to keep a party from rescuing their friends based on a Knowledge roll.

Instead, I'd say it is the DC 20 Heal check that is the barrier to success.

Only it isn't much of a challenge - there seems to be no limit to retries, so very quickly this boils down to the DM saying "roll a series of d20's, adding your Heal score, tell me when you hit DC 20..."

Only if the survivors all have negative Heal will the Medusa victim stay petrified. And that's pretty unlikely for someone who just beat a Medusa!

Of course, this is all kinds of lame. Please tell me I'm wrong...



If you only got a single chance per petrified victim... or if the DC for the Heal check were 30 (at least allowing for some characters to not make it)... I'd like it much better.

 

[Hjorimir]

There is one that I can think of: Gravity.

If you are on a really high place, from which a fall would be fatal, and you take forced movement that would push/pull/slide you off the edge, you get to save. If you fail, you die.

Actually, there is no requirement for the fall to be fatal. See page 284 of the PHB (Catching Yourself). Simply, you get a save whenever you are forced over a precipice or into a pit.

 

[Rel]

Actually, there is no requirement for the fall to be fatal. See page 284 of the PHB (Catching Yourself). Simply, you get a save whenever you are forced over a precipice or into a pit.

Yeah I see now that my post above was fairly misleading. But yes, you are absolutely correct. I was mainly speaking to the issue that it was a potential event where all that might separate you from death was a save.