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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 5106074" data-attributes="member: 58197">I also have been considering something along these lines. Not only is it more realistic, it also addresses the tendency of 4E PCs to be extremely cavalier about being reduced to zero hit points - if the warlord's turn comes before yours does, all it costs you is a move action to stand up, and thanks to the "count up from zero" rule, you actually get more bang for your healing buck by going unconscious first. My PCs are like jack-in-the-boxes, always falling down and popping back up again.I'd prefer the zero hit point mark to have some bite to it. Make players work to keep their PCs on their feet.The house rules I'm contemplating are something like this:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Once you have been reduced to zero hit points, no healing effect can bring you up to more than 1 hit point for the rest of the encounter. (So you can still act - you're not a complete spectator - but you're effectively a minion and should get out of the line of fire ASAP, unless the situation is truly desperate.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you failed any death saves, the effect is worse. The failed death saves stay with you; after each extended rest, you can make a saving throw to get rid of one. As long as you have any failed death saves, you do not recover healing surges, though you still regain hit points after an extended rest.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">An ally can make a Heal check to help you get rid of failed death saves. Divide the result of the Heal check by 5 and round down; apply that as a bonus on your saving throw to recover. If you're the one making the Heal check, divide by 10 instead.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">As compensation for the above nastiness, when you would be reduced to zero hit points, you can spend your second wind as an immediate interrupt. If you do so, you are stunned until the end of your next turn and don't get the usual defense bonus.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The victim of a coup de grace must immediately roll three death saves, with all the usual effects attendant upon failure.</li> </ul>Still polishing - the above is more complicated than I like my house rules to be, I might start with just the one-hit-point rule and the immediate-action second wind - but you get the idea. I thought about imposing penalties to attack rolls and skill checks, but decided that was a) too much number-crunching and b) less fun than simply making the PC more fragile.Not sure if I'd want rules for permanent injuries. If so, they'd be a special case, probably triggering on your third failed death save as an alternative to dying outright... and I think I would allow the player to choose from a list of effects. I don't normally hold with systems that separate player decisions from PC decisions during play, but when it comes to things that will permanently alter a PC's character concept, I believe it's important to let the player choose.</blockquote>

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