Dying - Multiple Times before rest

[Alvoros]

In the rules it states....

Death Saving Throw: When you are dying, you need to make a saving throw at the end of your turn each round. The result of your saving throw determines how close you are to death.

Very simple....but then they throw in this....

Lower than 10: You slip one step closer to death. If you get this result three times before you take a rest, you die.

(Emphasis mine)

The part that confuses me a bit is the "three times before you take a rest" part.

Do you think they intened this to be EXACTLY as written, which implies that if you enter the dying state multiple times in one battle, that you only still get a COMBINED total of three saving throws before dying?

Or, do you think they meant that you get three saving throws PER dying state, assuming that you would likely be getting a rest afterwards?

We try to play by the intentions of the rules, not just blindly by the words as written but that is obviously cloudy some times. Not that it has come up yet either, so maybe as written was as intended...you can only be in the "dying" state so many rounds, regardless of healing in between?

Alvo

 

[Mort_Q]

I believe that the RAW are the RAI, at least from the comments I've seen.

So yes, if you fail three death saves, at any time, in any order, whether in a row, in the same encounter, or over several.... if you fail three before you rest, you die.

 

[VannATLC]

This has been answered in a variety of places.

You get 2 strikes before a rest, on the third, your out.

Its a reference to the basic paradigm that healing is, for the most part, dependant on a characters natural resources (Healing surges and general fortitude.) You can only suffer x amount of wounds before you really will eat dust.

I'm mostly disappointed that Healing Surges replenish completely overnight, but I understand why they did it. I'm just houseruling something a little more complex (Get dropped below 0, lose a healing surge from your total... They heal at 1/week, or via a ritual.)

 

[Jack99]

In the rules it states....


Very simple....but then they throw in this....

(Emphasis mine)

The part that confuses me a bit is the "three times before you take a rest" part.

Do you think they intened this to be EXACTLY as written, which implies that if you enter the dying state multiple times in one battle, that you only still get a COMBINED total of three saving throws before dying?

Or, do you think they meant that you get three saving throws PER dying state, assuming that you would likely be getting a rest afterwards?

We try to play by the intentions of the rules, not just blindly by the words as written but that is obviously cloudy some times. Not that it has come up yet either, so maybe as written was as intended...you can only be in the "dying" state so many rounds, regardless of healing in between?

Alvo

The intention of the rule is that once you fail the third death save during an encounter, you die. Rest (as in any rest) resets that "counter".

This is of course my personal understanding of the rules.

 

[Alvoros]

Good enough...thanks all. As it is written, so it shall be!

Alvo

 

[hong]

This has been answered in a variety of places.

You get 2 strikes before a rest, on the third, your out.

Its a reference to the basic paradigm that healing is, for the most part, dependant on a characters natural resources (Healing surges and general fortitude.) You can only suffer x amount of wounds before you really will eat dust.

I'm mostly disappointed that Healing Surges replenish completely overnight, but I understand why they did it. I'm just houseruling something a little more complex (Get dropped below 0, lose a healing surge from your total... They heal at 1/week, or via a ritual.)

Heh. Have you run KotS yet? My warlord dropped 4 times I think, and the paladin 3 times in one session. We're probably not even halfway through. That is one rough dungeon.

 

[webrunner]

Heh. Have you run KotS yet? My warlord dropped 4 times I think, and the paladin 3 times in one session. We're probably not even halfway through. That is one rough dungeon.

Of course, if the party isn't taking a short rest between each encounter, then they also aren't getting their encounter powers back.

 

[Jhaelen]

The intention of the rule is that once you fail the third death save during an encounter, you die. Rest (as in any rest) resets that "counter".

*blinks* Oh, wow, this is far more deadly than I thought, then!

Makes kind of sense though, there's a limit to how often you can bounce back from the dying condition in a fight.

 

[Wormwood]

Heh. Have you run KotS yet? My warlord dropped 4 times I think, and the paladin 3 times in one session. We're probably not even halfway through. That is one rough dungeon.

Interesting.

I'm doing KotS with two groups, and the only characters being dropped consistently are : warlords and paladins.

Defensive fighters and melee rogues get their share of hits, of course, but never as much as the aforementioned classes.

I'm leaning toward feature, not bug, however.

 

[Traycor]

Good enough...thanks all. As it is written, so it shall be!

Alvo

But "rest" includes a short rest... as in the same kind of rest your players need to get back their encounter powers for the next fight.

So basically, if you don't get your powers reset by the next fight, you don't get your death count reset either. It makes a series of running battles much more deadly, as well as harder on the resource managment.