Li Shenron
Legend
After elaborating the responses in my other thread about popular death & dying house rules, I am now brainstorming some house rule options for yet another one-shot game where I'll have several beginner players at the table.
They'll be 1st level and won't have time to level up, so I don't care how the house rule keeps up at higher levels.
I am a bit tired of CR1 and lesser monsters so I'll be using some CR2 and possibly a CR3 as the final boss, perhaps a wyrmling or a spectator to give them a truly D&D iconic creature to face, even if it will be their lowest-CR version. This of course means a high risk of taking down a 1st level PC with a lucky roll, due to low HP.
I might still consider having them start at level 2, though not ideal, or levelling up in the middle. Not higher than that to keep characters simple enough to play. They'll be using pre-gens so I have control over the complexity.
So assuming 1st level for now, I am thinking of a house rule that would both lower the chances of dying and keep the PC fighting for longer. Normally in my games I use the dying rules as-is, but if someone really dies I offer them the chance to trade death for a temporary (but not too short-term) penalty. This time I will try something different...
Exhaustion levels seem to be a popular idea to tie-in with dying rules. So my starting point for a house rules is this:
This creates quite a buffer before dying, no less than suffering 3 additional attacks. Ignoring massive damage + gaining exhaustion not being tied to the damage amount means to lower the main risk of CR monsters (they still have a big chance of dropping to zero, but not to die).
I don't expect any PC to drop to zero in the first half of the session, and if they do there'll be a long rest to reset a level of exhaustion (or even handwave more if necessary). Probably the house rule will only really kick in during the final boss fight. Yes, there will be a death spiral at that point, but it should still be better than PC dropping unconscious for defeating the final boss, and the remaining exhaustion levels will be irrelevant.
They'll be 1st level and won't have time to level up, so I don't care how the house rule keeps up at higher levels.
I am a bit tired of CR1 and lesser monsters so I'll be using some CR2 and possibly a CR3 as the final boss, perhaps a wyrmling or a spectator to give them a truly D&D iconic creature to face, even if it will be their lowest-CR version. This of course means a high risk of taking down a 1st level PC with a lucky roll, due to low HP.
I might still consider having them start at level 2, though not ideal, or levelling up in the middle. Not higher than that to keep characters simple enough to play. They'll be using pre-gens so I have control over the complexity.
So assuming 1st level for now, I am thinking of a house rule that would both lower the chances of dying and keep the PC fighting for longer. Normally in my games I use the dying rules as-is, but if someone really dies I offer them the chance to trade death for a temporary (but not too short-term) penalty. This time I will try something different...
Exhaustion levels seem to be a popular idea to tie-in with dying rules. So my starting point for a house rules is this:
- death from massive damage is ignored
- at zero HP, the PC gains an exhaustion level
- every time the PC suffers damage, they gain an additional exhaustion level (2 for critical hits)
- if they reach the last exhaustion level, instead of dying they fall unconscious and start making death saves normally
This creates quite a buffer before dying, no less than suffering 3 additional attacks. Ignoring massive damage + gaining exhaustion not being tied to the damage amount means to lower the main risk of CR monsters (they still have a big chance of dropping to zero, but not to die).
I don't expect any PC to drop to zero in the first half of the session, and if they do there'll be a long rest to reset a level of exhaustion (or even handwave more if necessary). Probably the house rule will only really kick in during the final boss fight. Yes, there will be a death spiral at that point, but it should still be better than PC dropping unconscious for defeating the final boss, and the remaining exhaustion levels will be irrelevant.
