Heart Attack

[Tetsubo]

What would be the best way to model a heart attack in 3.5? I have a NPC that will be having one in the near future. What spells might counter-act it?

 

[Caliban]

What would be the best way to model a heart attack in 3.5? I have a NPC that will be having one in the near future. What spells might counter-act it?

Fort Save. Fail it, and you lose permanent Con. Fail it by a lot (5 or more, 10 or more, etc) and you just die.

Restoration and/or Regeneration migh be required to fully heal the damage.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

Fort Save. Fail it, and you lose permanent Con. Fail it by a lot (5 or more, 10 or more, etc) and you just die.

Restoration and/or Regeneration migh be required to fully heal the damage.

Very elegant.

AR

 

[Piratecat]

A BoVD spell causes a heart attack. I forget the details, though.

 

[daTim]

That would be Stop Heart. You make a fortitude save or drop immediatly to -9 hit points.

 

[argo]

Fort save (DC 20??) or take 1d6 points of temporary Con damage plus 1d6 points of permanent Con damage. This represents the phase where you experience chest pains and shortness of breath etc. One minute later make a second Fort save or immediatly drop to -1 hp and begin Death's Door as normal. Stabilization rules as normal. This represents the phase where you collapse and CPR is required.

If you want to make it more deadly make the initial damage 2d6 temp Con plus 1d6 permanent.

 

[FrankTrollman]

How realistic do you want this?

A Heart Attack kills because the heart is no longer pumping oxygen to the brain. As such, until the heart is brought back to working order, the character is simply not breathing for all intents and purposes. Thus, it should be handled exactly like suffocation.

Unfortunately, the suffocation rules aren't very good - but in a perfect world the mechanics would be linked.

-Frank

 

[Xarls Taunzund]

Fort save (DC 20??) or take 1d6 points of temporary Con damage plus 1d6 points of permanent Con damage. This represents the phase where you experience chest pains and shortness of breath etc. One minute later make a second Fort save or immediatly drop to -1 hp and begin Death's Door as normal. Stabilization rules as normal. This represents the phase where you collapse and CPR is required.

If you want to make it more deadly make the initial damage 2d6 temp Con plus 1d6 permanent.

I like this method, though the initial damage seems a bit much to me. This part isn't what actually kills, and Con damage has the potential to kill. Maybe like 2d6 nonlethal damage and a Fort save, failure means that you are -6 on the secondary save. One minute later the secondary save, failure drops you to -1 hp, the usual with a chance for self-stabilization or a Heal check DC 15 will do it, if you make this second save you take 2d6 permanent Con damage and 5d6 nonlethal damage.

 

[Li Shenron]

I am not sure to agree that with a save you get no damage at all.

Maybe I'd go with Caliban's version but if you pass the save then instead of permanent drain it is normal Constitution damage.

 

[Cyraneth]

For a "soft" version of a heart attack I'd go with the stop heart spell. Just assume it was cast from a magic item (e.i. minimum save DC), and it only reduces the victim to -8, making it possible for fellow characters to save the poor sod.

If you want a more "hardcore" version, let the player roll a Fortitude (DC insane), and have it deal 1d6 Con damage if the save succeeds, 1d6 Con drain if it fails, and cause instant death if the save fails by 5 or more.

I'm not that fond of the gritty, "hardcore" approach to fantasy adventuring, though.

- Cyraneth