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

[Daniel D. Fox]

Some seem a bit miffed that 4th edition utilizes negative HPs; others seem like there may be a better way to resolve unconsciousness and death.

With what little we do know about the backend system, propose a revised dying and death rule system for 4th edition. Although it likely won't result in a change to what the designers have intended, it can be a fun exercise to perhaps impliment some cool new houserules into your current or 4th edition game.

Here is my submission:

Characters, NPCs and monsters are unconscious at zero, no matter how many HP damage they've taken. Once unconscious, she must roll a saving throw in order not to die at a DC equal to 20 at Heroic, 25 at Paragon and 30 at Epic. This roll is d20+1/2 level+Constitution modifier.

If the player successfully rolls, she stablizes at 1HP and regains consciousness a number of rounds later equal to the total amount of damage sustained past 0 HP; e.g. Mialee, a 17th level ranger takes 47 damage. She had 15 HP left, therefore falling unconscious. She makes a successful save resulting in a 28 (DC 25; she rolls a 15 and adds 1/2 level [8] + 5 Con bonus) therefore regaining consciousness 37 rounds (or minutes) later.

 

[Peter LaCara]

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.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

The DC should probably scale more finely, else you'll hate hitting levels 11 and 21. So it'll have to be DC X + 1/2 level where X is your deadliness scale. Which again just means test your Con mod against X, but we won't simplify things too much . You probably want them stable at 0 HP, which is a better base to be healed from. Finally, that recovery time will scale painfully with level, why not make it equal to X from above (if you want long periods) or the reverse of the new death/dying system - when you succeed this check three times, you're back up?

So if you like:

* Make a Constitution check against DC X + 1/2 your level to stabilise at 0 HP.
* Unless you're subsequently injured, continue to check and when you've succeeded two further times, you're back up on 25% of your total HP.

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

We just added a random roll to the core rules when dying instead of a standard 1 hp/round. Takes away the metagamey aspect. So you lose 1d2 per round. No one's quite sure what the player of the dying character is rolling, so no one can be confident to sit back and wait X rounds before administering healing. Makes for some good, tough decisions: "Do I attack the demon or do I run over to Bob and heal him?"

Passes the tests:

Easy: Very, very similar to the core rules. Easy to remember.
Quick: No additional Fort saves or Con checks or other homebrewed modifiers.
Fair: Doesn't penalize low Fort characters or reward high Fort ones.
Fun: Introduces mystery regarding a dying' PC's actual condition.

The problem (as we see it) with the core rules is the standard 1 hp/round. Why should it be a set damage when little else is within our fine RPG? Randomize it a bit. Sure, it's tougher, but it's also more fun.

As an aside, I couldn't play in a game that cradled players and dodged PC death. I'm not knocking it - I know some like that sort of thing. But, for me, give me knock-down drag-out death-dealing campaigns ala 1E.

If you survive - you're The Man. And if you die, well, so is everyone else - just learn to do it with style.

W.P.

P.S. We tried UA's dying rules - they look great on paper but they don't play that way. No one dies. No one. A DC 15 Fort save is a joke after level 5, even for the wimps. Instead of increasing the stress factor of decisions as to whether a character should be healed or not while dying, it decreases it. Trust me.

 

[Greg K]

My preference is the Death and Dying rules from Unearthed Arcana here

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

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.

Super-simple house rule: PCs merely fall unconscious unless Coup de Graced, in which case they die. The end.

Super awesometastic cinematic variant!: A PC who is knocked to 0 HP may spend an action point (or a few, if you like) to take one standard action before falling unconscious.

 

[Rechan]

My one problem with the 4e version is actually the removal of the 0 HP rule.

I actually like the idea of the characters stumbling around, only able to make partial actions. It reminds me of a great fight where our scout was ahead of the party and got just BUSTED by an ogre, right at 0 HP, and he was trying to shuffle away, to get his healing potion, trying to out-move the ogre's reach. It was really tense and amusing.

So I suppose what I would do is impose a "1/4th HP = staggered" effect. Sort've like a "Bloodied" effect, but not.

 

[Corinth]

If any character's hit points drop to or below zero, that character instantly dies.

 

[HeinorNY]

I like SWSE condition track and damage treshold rules. i don't understand why they didn't use it in 4E.

 

[Generico]

Here is my submission:

Characters, NPCs and monsters are unconscious at zero, no matter how many HP damage they've taken. Once unconscious, she must roll a saving throw in order not to die at a DC equal to 20 at Heroic, 25 at Paragon and 30 at Epic. This roll is d20+1/2 level+Constitution modifier.

If the player successfully rolls, she stablizes at 1HP and regains consciousness a number of rounds later equal to the total amount of damage sustained past 0 HP; e.g. Mialee, a 17th level ranger takes 47 damage. She had 15 HP left, therefore falling unconscious. She makes a successful save resulting in a 28 (DC 25; she rolls a 15 and adds 1/2 level [8] + 5 Con bonus) therefore regaining consciousness 37 rounds (or minutes) later.

What if Wizard Bob has 1 HP remaining after a fight with a goblin, then, while staggering out of the cave, bob takes 1 damage when he stubs his toe on a rock. Bob falls unconscious. His saving throw is 1d20 + (0 from level, rounding down) + (-1 from con, 'cause Bob's a skinny ass wizard). Bob is dead, no chance of survival. An unfortunate end for such a promising young mind.


If I was going to make any houserule on the 4e system as we know it, I'd say that your -HP total is equal to your Fort defense (10 + half level + con), instead of half your HP total. Of course, this is without knowing what kind of relative average damage monsters are dealing. From the playtest reports, it seems as though a lot of monsters are capable of putting out some pretty big damage.