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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 3846881" data-attributes="member: 29398">The whole point of save-or-die, or save-or-disable, or save-or-wake-up-on-a-desert-island, is that it *ignores* lots of hit points.  If everything ends up reduced to simple hit point damage then Con. becomes by far the most important stat regardless of race, class, or anything else...and I don't see this as a Good Thing.The "I want to be playing all the time" crew* will argue this is just as bad as full save-or-die, as a failed save still represents downtime.  Me, I have no problem with it.* - except for the *very* few who are wise enough to play 2 or more PCs at a time so when one's down the other still gives something to do...Agreed, though research is neither foolproof nor always possible.  But yes, a prepared party should obviously have a better chance than an unprepared one...if they know their foe has a killing gaze attack, for example, they can avert their eyes or put on blindfolds...if they have enough advance warning, they can even take Blind Fight as a feat!  But though the amount of preparation should certainly affect the save chance somehow, it should never change the actual attack form or its results.Other alternatives to outright save-or-die:One I've used now and then in the past is save-or-teleport...sometimes to a very long way away, other times to an inaccessible and-or dangerous point within the same adventure complex.  If the party has no long-range communication e.g. telepathy, be warned this *can* be a major headache for all involved.And there's the old standby save-or-turn dominate-type effects.  The advantage here is the victim still gets to play...except you're now playing against your party rather than with them. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Lanefan</blockquote>

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