D&D 5E (2014) Banshee Wail: 0 hp and stable or 0 hp and dying?

[cas206]

See title. Thanks.

 

[Rhenny]

Drop to 0. Start making death saves!

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

[MENTION=18333]Rhenny[/MENTION] has nailed the answer.

For relevant portion of rules text, page 197 of the Player's Handbook, specifically from "Dropping to 0 Hit Points" heading onward.

 

[Dausuul]

"Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a special saving throw, called a death saving throw, to determine whether you creep closer to death or hang onto life."

"You can use your action to administer first aid to an unconscious creature and attempt to stabilize it, which requires a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check. A stable creature doesn’t make death saving throws, even though it has 0 hit points, but it does remain unconscious. The creature stops being stable, and must start making death saving throws again, if it takes any damage. A stable creature that isn’t healed regains 1 hit point after 1d4 hours."

So, since you have not been stabilized, you must start rolling death saves as soon as you start your turn with 0 hit points.

 

[Krachek]

Banshee are really scary monsters. Make save.

 

[werecorpse]

Dying

 

[Maxperson]

Banshee are really scary monsters. Make save.

They used to be anyway. CR 4 where the wail only drops you to 0 isn't that scary.

 

[Fanaelialae]

They used to be anyway. CR 4 where the wail only drops you to 0 isn't that scary.

I have to disagree. I've used banshees at low levels and been on the receiving end as well, and they are definitely scary IME. The wail alone can TPK a party that rolls badly.

My friend once used multiple banshees against us in a high level fight (a powerful undead and his banshee minions). He was "nice" and only used one wail a round. We managed to pull though, but it was a nail biter. Several party members went down. If he'd spammed wail in the first round while we were all grouped up, it would have almost certainly been a TPK.

 

[Maxperson]

I have to disagree. I've used banshees at low levels and been on the receiving end as well, and they are definitely scary IME. The wail alone can TPK a party that rolls badly.

And that's why it's not scary to me. The party has to roll badly. In 1e-3e, it just took a single character rolling badly. THAT was scary.

My friend once used multiple banshees against us in a high level fight (a powerful undead and his banshee minions). He was "nice" and only used one wail a round. We managed to pull though, but it was a nail biter. Several party members went down. If he'd spammed wail in the first round while we were all grouped up, it would have almost certainly been a TPK.

A banshee to me should be the powerful undead. I get that it's still got some bite, but it's waaaay diminished from prior editions.

 

[Fanaelialae]

And that's why it's not scary to me. The party has to roll badly. In 1e-3e, it just took a single character rolling badly. THAT was scary.

A banshee to me should be the powerful undead. I get that it's still got some bite, but it's waaaay diminished from prior editions.

I never found save-or-make-a-new-character to be all that scary. More annoying than anything. In my experience, having multiple party members go down during a dangerous encounter is much more effective at ratcheting up tension, because then the party has to scramble to save the dying characters while simultaneously fending off the (likely uninjured) monsters. If the character is dead then, short of someone living having revivify on hand, they're no longer relevant to this scene (outside of possible reactions to that character's death).

To each his own.