D&D 4E Death and Dying in 4E: Propose Your Own Homebrewed Rule!

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If the character takes damage, he dies (oh, wait, that's the lava rules ...).

Perhaps: When you hit zero hit points or below, your character falls unconscious. Roll an attack against your Fort Defense (D20 vs Fort). If it fails, you remain unconscious. If it succeeds, you die. If you roll a natural "1", you wake up with 25% HP. You make this roll only once, unless you take additional damage after falling onconscious, in which case you must make this roll each time you fall unconscious. Result: Easy to remember, death is still possible, uses the "Defense"-style saves, and gives tougher characters (high Con, etc) a benefit. As Fort Defense increases, the character might only have a 1-in-20 chance of dying (on a natural 20).

Another alternate: Unconscious but stable at 0 hp, dying at negative hp, death at - 1/2 hp. You lose d(HD) hit points each round (e.g, d8 for cleric) until you are stabilized by a teammate. Result: dying is much scarier, and quicker, and puts the onus on stabilizing a character ... on average you have your level in rounds before death. To soften this, you could have [d(HD)-(CON bonus)] lost each round ... so that if you have a good CON bonus, on some rounds you would actually gain hit points (and a godlike character with a high enough Con would regenerate each round in the negatives instead of dying).

If you use action/hero points ... spend an action point at any time to stabilize.

 

[Lackhand]

I'm miffed at negative hit points, because I don't count my hit points _down_, I count my damage _up_.

That means that I need to write down not one number (bloodied) but two numbers (bloodied, dying (= max hp), and dead (= 1.5 * max hp)).

Grr.

 

[Plane Sailing]

First rule that I've seen that is, to my mind, inferior to the house-rule that we currently use

Specifically - disabled isn't just 0, it runs from 0 to "-level" and then you've got an additional buffer equal to your Con before you die.

Thus a 3rd level warrior with Con 14 would be disabled at 0 to -3, dying at -4 to -17 and dead at -18. A 15th level monk with Con 18 would be disabled at 0 to -15, dying at -16 to -33 and dead at -34.

I think the expanded disabled condition is vital for providing that cinematic feel "do I take a move action safely or risk doing something strenuous and lose a hp."

Simple. Easy. Not particularly deterministic because even though PCs lose 1hp per round when dying nobody knows exactly what -ve they were on when they went down or how far they can go before they die (and there is still that 10% stabilisation chance each round anyhow).

Cheers

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'm miffed at negative hit points, because I don't count my hit points _down_, I count my damage _up_.

That means that I need to write down not one number (bloodied) but two numbers (bloodied, dying (= max hp), and dead (= 1.5 * max hp)).

Grr.

Simple solution for you - just maintain two totals.

Count hit points up until you get to you max hp

Then count hit points up until you get to your dead total (equal to half max hp).

 

[Lackhand]

Simple solution for you - just maintain two totals.

Count hit points up until you get to you max hp

Then count hit points up until you get to your dead total (equal to half max hp).

Either I was really unclear (VERY possible!) or you need more coffee -- this rule you have proposed, it is exactly what I said I'd have to do in my post!

Anyway -- you have a pretty nifty houserule, but I think it's a little complex to my taste. I'm okay with revolving-door-unconsciousness.

What I'd like is some way to model long-term injury, and hope there's a system for it we haven't seen yet; if not, it's not hard -- keep track of the number of "bleeding out" results a character has (ever) gotten; after an adventure or whenever they decide to retreat to recuperate, they spend that many days (or twice that many days, maybe?) of bed rest, with a healer, to get back to tip-top-shape.

No rules beyond that necessary (for me).

 

[Rechan]

I also can't think of a good "Mortally Wounded but Still a Threat" rule. Aside from something like the Die Hard feat: "you can make partial actions when in negative HP".

 

[kinem]

Disabled was cool and should probably be possible down to -level hp.

Also, D&D desperately needs a "last words" mechanic. Disabled isn't it since you can still act. It has to be a worse condition, in which you are dying and the only action you can take is to speak. Perhaps if you make a saving throw, you can speak while dying.

Monsters should follow the same rules as PCs. My half-orc druid often tries to stabilize fallen foes for questioning or if they are animals that could be pets.

 

[Andre]

Well, my rule would be nearly identical to the 4e one, except to do away with negative hp entirely. It is impossible to kill a PC who has even 1 hp left, even if they take 200 damage in one hit. The only way for a PC who's down to die is to fail three saves before stabilizing or if he's coup de graced by the enemy.

Yes, I'm that forgiving. I hate killing PCs. If I kill them, I don't get to torture them anymore.

My current rule is that any hit that takes a character to negative hit points takes the character to -1 and dying. No more getting killed because the ogre critted you when you were wounded. Of course, if he hits you after you've been knocked down to -1...

I'm also considering a rule that says if a character is healed back to positive hit points, he's considered staggered until he rests for eight hours. I don't want to kill off characters, but I want some cost to being reduced below zero, especially since we use rules that in practice mean characters are always at full hit points at the start of every encounter.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

We use this for my Iron Heroes game:


At 0 or fewer hit points, you are Disabled. If you are at 0 or fewer hit points and not Stable, you are Dying.
Every round, you lose 1d4 hit points and then must make a Fort save DC is equal to 10 + your negative hit points.
If the Fortitude save succeeds by 10 or more, you automatically become stable without assistance. A character who becomes stable is no longer dying.
If the Fortitude save succeeds by 9 or less, you are still dying. You continues to lose hit points, but survive for a short while longer.
If the Fortitude save fails by 9 or less, you fall unconscious and can take no actions. You continue to lose hit points, but survive for a short while longer.
If the Fortitude save fails by 10 or more, you die.
if you take more damage, such as getting hit again (not the 1d4 from failing to stabilize), immediately make a new save.
You make the first Fortitude save instantly when you go to or below 0 hit points
You can perform First Aid on yourself, but it counts as strenuous activity if you fail, causing 1d4 damage.

I like it when they're stumbling around, nearly dead.
And the random damage ticking away means you want to save them quickly.

 

[Dragonblade]

From my post in the other thread:

Simply ignore negative damage altogether. At 0 hitpoints you are considered dying and follow the rules as written in the article. Make your save every round. Therefore, if you get healed you start at 0 hp per the article.

Just once you are dying you basically cease taking damage and thus don't even bother tracking negative hp. Essentially you would only die as a result of a coup de grace, or by failing your three saves without being stabilized.

I guess the drawback is if your body is at fireball ground zero, some people may not find it "realistic" that your body isn't further damaged. Hence the desire to actually track negative hp. But for a little less bookkeeping you get essentially the same system.