The "dead at -CON" rule works GREAT for low-level characters. Let's say that CR 1,2,3 monsters can do a max of 10 HP damage per attack. So a 1st-3rd level PC *can't die* on a single attack : even if they're down to 1 HP, the next attack can only take them to -9 HP, and even if their CON is only 10, they're still alive (that's the basic most-of-the-time idea, I know it's easy to come up with exceptions).
Problem is, even by 7th level an "average" monster is doing maybe 25 HP per attack (and some can do up to 35!), so a PC with even 10 HP left stands a very good chance of skipping "dying" and going right to "dead" on the next attack. The player might have thought with 10 HP left and a CON buffer of (say) -14 HP until he's dead, he was safe, so he kept on fighting - and then suddenly he's dead. If that doesn't bother you, then this new system is not for you.
The main point of this system is : you cannot skip the Dying condition. This allows the DM to do as much ordinary damage as he likes without worry, and allows PC's to stay in battle down to close to 0 HP without fear of suddenly being dead – instead, the closer they get to 0 HP, the better the odds the next attack can take them into Dying. Once in DeathCon, the player knows exactly how close he is to dying, and his comrades have some time to do something about it, but still hopefully leaves enough of a chance of death to make it exciting. And as far as I know, this will work for D&D 3.5 as well.
However, it is still relatively easy to kill someone once they get into DeathCon (3 failed Death Saving Throws and/or successful hits, in any combination), and a Dying PC will most likely (75%) end up dead if left on their own.
The DM still has many options as to how deadly he wants to be – once a PC drops into DeathCon2 (unconscious), the opponent could move on to someone else, or go for a Coup de Grace. And it’s still also possible to kill a PC in just one round from iterative attacks or from being surrounded by opponents.
It is closely based on D&D 4e's way of handling death&dying, but with a couple of small-but-important differences.
It closely mimics the way Pathfinder handles death&dying, but not exactly. Options to make it even more like Pathfinder are discussed afterwards.
Items in italics are options for the DM to decide how he wants to run things.
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When a character first drops to 0 or negative HP for the day, he is at DeathCon1*, and Dying. Negative HP is not tracked; Dying characters stay at 0 HP (any additional damage taken has no effect on HP, you stay at 0 HP).
DeathCon1 : you are Dying but conscious
......This allows the PC to make a choice – continue fighting, or seek healing
......Add any limitations you think appropriate (if any), like “all rolls and AC are at –2”, or “you can only take a Move or Standard action”, etc. These only apply while your HP=0.
DeathCon2 : you are Dying and unconscious
DeathCon3 : you are Dying and unconscious
DeathCon4 : you are dead, Jim
You continue to make any allowed saving throws to end various effects thru DeathCon3.
Dying and Stabilizing
When you are Dying, you make an unmodified d20 Death Saving Throw at the end of your round.
......1-9 : your DeathCon increases by 1.
......10-19 : your DeathCon does not change.
......20 : your DeathCon does not change, and you automatically Stabilize.
When Stable, you no longer make Death Saving Throws, and stay at your current DeathCon and 0 HP.
......A teammate can also Stabilize you as normal with a DC=15 Heal skill check.
I personally would leave the Death Saving Throw roll unmodified, so that the chances of PC death are even across the board for the players' sake (as opposed to adding modifiers for “realism”). But if you want to add any modifiers, or even feats that add modifiers, feel free.
Healing and Damage
While your HP=0, further damage increases your DeathCon by 1*, and makes you Dying if you were Stable.
Any amount of healing restores you to that many HP (because you've been staying at 0 HP), and automatically Stabilizes you.
However, your DeathCon value does not change until you get 8 hours rest, at which point it either (goes back to 0) or (decreases by 1).
Optional : while HP > 0, apply any penalties for running around while in DeathCon, like : all rolls are at –2*DeathCon, and casters have a spell failure of 10%*DeathCon (adjust values as you see fit).
......Note that this does NOT emulate how PF does death&dying, as there are no penalties for coming back from Dying in PF.
If you take damage down to <= 0 HP again, your current DeathCon increases by 1*, and you are Dying.
If you allow Massive Damage, it adds +2 to your DeathCon and takes you to Dying if the save is failed.
* : A critical increases your current DeathCon by (the multiplier of the critical) or (+2).
Miscellaneous
Fast Healing or Regeneration : restores the indicated HP each round, but does not change DeathCon.
Diehard : you always auto-Stabilize, and at DeathCon2 or 3 you remain conscious but Staggered; you can take CON/5 (rounded down) Standard or “strenuous” actions before your DeathCon increases by 1.
Orc Ferocity : once/day, you do not have to roll a Death Saving Throw on your first round in DeathCon.
Coup de Grace : treat as normal, except that if you succeed on the saving throw you still increase DeathCon by +2 for the auto-critical.
When a raging Barbarian leaves DeathCon1, they go to DeathCon3. The Raging Vitality feat negates this.
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If a PC in DeathCon1 is left alone, they have a 75% chance of dying in typically 3-9 rounds (average of 6), and a 25% chance of Stabilizing on their own in an average of 4 rounds (evenly distributed across DeathCon 1,2,3). A PC in DeathCon1 can act 2 rounds on average before losing consciousness.
Once most creatures hit DeathCon2, you can walk away from them for a while if you need to, they're not getting up again on their own (unless their side has a Cleric). But you can't walk away from creatures with Diehard, Fast Healing, or Regeneration – you have to keep hitting them until they’re dead.
It’s important that there be no magic that reduces DeathCon levels, otherwise every party will have a caster/potion/wand/whatever that can, and it ceases to be important. Same for Feats – nothing can reduce it.
To emulate PF completely, reset DeathCon to 0 upon getting any healing (because PF has no "memory" of how many times you enter the Dying condition each day), and go unconscious at DeathCon1 which happens when HP go negative. Then treat 0 HP as per PF's rules.
If you want to think of DeathCon levels as “injuries”, then apply penalties for running around in DeathCon (HP > 0), and maybe only heal one DeathCon level per full night's sleep.
Example : on the first battle of the day, Franco the fighter eventually takes a hit that would put him at -25 HP, so he enters DeathCon1 and 0 HP. When his next turn comes, Franco decides to continue fighting and rolls his attacks. But the DM has decided that any PC in DeathCon1 (and with HP=0) is at -2 to all rolls and AC, so he includes those penalties. At the end of his turn, Franco rolls a d20 for his Death Saving Throw and gets a 12, so he stays in DeathCon1. A friend of Franco’s takes his turn to run over to Franco and makes a Heal check to Stabilize him, which succeeds. Now if Franco takes no more hits, he would stay at DeathCon1 indefinitely without making any more Death Saving Throws. But during the next round, he takes 2 more hits, ignoring the actual damage done and instead progressing to DeathCon2 (and collapses, unconscious) and then DeathCon3. Just BTW, if one of those two hits had been a critical, he’d be dead at this point. But now the party’s Cleric casts a powerful Channel Energy for 30 HP, restoring Franco to 30 HP and bringing him back to consciousness. He and his party manage to kill the rest of the monsters before he would go negative again, so he remains at DeathCon3 for the rest of the day, until he can sleep 8 hours.
Problem is, even by 7th level an "average" monster is doing maybe 25 HP per attack (and some can do up to 35!), so a PC with even 10 HP left stands a very good chance of skipping "dying" and going right to "dead" on the next attack. The player might have thought with 10 HP left and a CON buffer of (say) -14 HP until he's dead, he was safe, so he kept on fighting - and then suddenly he's dead. If that doesn't bother you, then this new system is not for you.
The main point of this system is : you cannot skip the Dying condition. This allows the DM to do as much ordinary damage as he likes without worry, and allows PC's to stay in battle down to close to 0 HP without fear of suddenly being dead – instead, the closer they get to 0 HP, the better the odds the next attack can take them into Dying. Once in DeathCon, the player knows exactly how close he is to dying, and his comrades have some time to do something about it, but still hopefully leaves enough of a chance of death to make it exciting. And as far as I know, this will work for D&D 3.5 as well.
However, it is still relatively easy to kill someone once they get into DeathCon (3 failed Death Saving Throws and/or successful hits, in any combination), and a Dying PC will most likely (75%) end up dead if left on their own.
The DM still has many options as to how deadly he wants to be – once a PC drops into DeathCon2 (unconscious), the opponent could move on to someone else, or go for a Coup de Grace. And it’s still also possible to kill a PC in just one round from iterative attacks or from being surrounded by opponents.
It is closely based on D&D 4e's way of handling death&dying, but with a couple of small-but-important differences.
It closely mimics the way Pathfinder handles death&dying, but not exactly. Options to make it even more like Pathfinder are discussed afterwards.
Items in italics are options for the DM to decide how he wants to run things.
====================================================================
When a character first drops to 0 or negative HP for the day, he is at DeathCon1*, and Dying. Negative HP is not tracked; Dying characters stay at 0 HP (any additional damage taken has no effect on HP, you stay at 0 HP).
DeathCon1 : you are Dying but conscious
......This allows the PC to make a choice – continue fighting, or seek healing
......Add any limitations you think appropriate (if any), like “all rolls and AC are at –2”, or “you can only take a Move or Standard action”, etc. These only apply while your HP=0.
DeathCon2 : you are Dying and unconscious
DeathCon3 : you are Dying and unconscious
DeathCon4 : you are dead, Jim
You continue to make any allowed saving throws to end various effects thru DeathCon3.
Dying and Stabilizing
When you are Dying, you make an unmodified d20 Death Saving Throw at the end of your round.
......1-9 : your DeathCon increases by 1.
......10-19 : your DeathCon does not change.
......20 : your DeathCon does not change, and you automatically Stabilize.
When Stable, you no longer make Death Saving Throws, and stay at your current DeathCon and 0 HP.
......A teammate can also Stabilize you as normal with a DC=15 Heal skill check.
I personally would leave the Death Saving Throw roll unmodified, so that the chances of PC death are even across the board for the players' sake (as opposed to adding modifiers for “realism”). But if you want to add any modifiers, or even feats that add modifiers, feel free.
Healing and Damage
While your HP=0, further damage increases your DeathCon by 1*, and makes you Dying if you were Stable.
Any amount of healing restores you to that many HP (because you've been staying at 0 HP), and automatically Stabilizes you.
However, your DeathCon value does not change until you get 8 hours rest, at which point it either (goes back to 0) or (decreases by 1).
Optional : while HP > 0, apply any penalties for running around while in DeathCon, like : all rolls are at –2*DeathCon, and casters have a spell failure of 10%*DeathCon (adjust values as you see fit).
......Note that this does NOT emulate how PF does death&dying, as there are no penalties for coming back from Dying in PF.
If you take damage down to <= 0 HP again, your current DeathCon increases by 1*, and you are Dying.
If you allow Massive Damage, it adds +2 to your DeathCon and takes you to Dying if the save is failed.
* : A critical increases your current DeathCon by (the multiplier of the critical) or (+2).
Miscellaneous
Fast Healing or Regeneration : restores the indicated HP each round, but does not change DeathCon.
Diehard : you always auto-Stabilize, and at DeathCon2 or 3 you remain conscious but Staggered; you can take CON/5 (rounded down) Standard or “strenuous” actions before your DeathCon increases by 1.
Orc Ferocity : once/day, you do not have to roll a Death Saving Throw on your first round in DeathCon.
Coup de Grace : treat as normal, except that if you succeed on the saving throw you still increase DeathCon by +2 for the auto-critical.
When a raging Barbarian leaves DeathCon1, they go to DeathCon3. The Raging Vitality feat negates this.
====================================================================
If a PC in DeathCon1 is left alone, they have a 75% chance of dying in typically 3-9 rounds (average of 6), and a 25% chance of Stabilizing on their own in an average of 4 rounds (evenly distributed across DeathCon 1,2,3). A PC in DeathCon1 can act 2 rounds on average before losing consciousness.
Once most creatures hit DeathCon2, you can walk away from them for a while if you need to, they're not getting up again on their own (unless their side has a Cleric). But you can't walk away from creatures with Diehard, Fast Healing, or Regeneration – you have to keep hitting them until they’re dead.
It’s important that there be no magic that reduces DeathCon levels, otherwise every party will have a caster/potion/wand/whatever that can, and it ceases to be important. Same for Feats – nothing can reduce it.
To emulate PF completely, reset DeathCon to 0 upon getting any healing (because PF has no "memory" of how many times you enter the Dying condition each day), and go unconscious at DeathCon1 which happens when HP go negative. Then treat 0 HP as per PF's rules.
If you want to think of DeathCon levels as “injuries”, then apply penalties for running around in DeathCon (HP > 0), and maybe only heal one DeathCon level per full night's sleep.
Example : on the first battle of the day, Franco the fighter eventually takes a hit that would put him at -25 HP, so he enters DeathCon1 and 0 HP. When his next turn comes, Franco decides to continue fighting and rolls his attacks. But the DM has decided that any PC in DeathCon1 (and with HP=0) is at -2 to all rolls and AC, so he includes those penalties. At the end of his turn, Franco rolls a d20 for his Death Saving Throw and gets a 12, so he stays in DeathCon1. A friend of Franco’s takes his turn to run over to Franco and makes a Heal check to Stabilize him, which succeeds. Now if Franco takes no more hits, he would stay at DeathCon1 indefinitely without making any more Death Saving Throws. But during the next round, he takes 2 more hits, ignoring the actual damage done and instead progressing to DeathCon2 (and collapses, unconscious) and then DeathCon3. Just BTW, if one of those two hits had been a critical, he’d be dead at this point. But now the party’s Cleric casts a powerful Channel Energy for 30 HP, restoring Franco to 30 HP and bringing him back to consciousness. He and his party manage to kill the rest of the monsters before he would go negative again, so he remains at DeathCon3 for the rest of the day, until he can sleep 8 hours.
