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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 8287188" data-attributes="member: 177">It is an interesting thought on tactics, but rationalizations you give the players do not change what's happening.&nbsp; I think a more honest, &quot;Guys, I'm having a hard time challenging you in fights, so I'm making this change...&quot; is a better bet.&nbsp; Especially because the &quot;issues&quot; you cite are not universally considered problems.You might want to consider using one of the death saves variants going around of the form, &quot;After reaching 0 HP, the PC cannot take actions or cast spells, makes a death save every round, but can move 10'/round.&quot;&nbsp; I mean, the character is still moving, so yeah, it is clear they aren't dead!&nbsp; But the PC also gets the chance to get out of the way - and force the enemy to use movement to chase them down if they really want to do that.If the central issue is whack-a-mole, there's probably a better solution:&quot;If your character has not stabilized, healing stabilizes, but adds no hit points.&quot;&nbsp; It then requires at least two actions to apply healing - and actually gives a reason to have medicine skill, come to think of it!&nbsp; Medicine to stabilize, then apply healing, but you've now used two rounds of actions.&nbsp; Well, &quot;optimal&quot; is context-dependent.&nbsp; Having folks not die seems pretty optimal.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 8287188, member: 177"] It is an interesting thought on tactics, but rationalizations you give the players do not change what's happening. I think a more honest, "Guys, I'm having a hard time challenging you in fights, so I'm making this change..." is a better bet. Especially because the "issues" you cite are not universally considered problems. You might want to consider using one of the death saves variants going around of the form, "After reaching 0 HP, the PC cannot take actions or cast spells, makes a death save every round, but can move 10'/round." I mean, the character is still moving, so yeah, it is clear they aren't dead! But the PC also gets the chance to get out of the way - and force the enemy to use movement to chase them down if they really want to do that. If the central issue is whack-a-mole, there's probably a better solution: "If your character has not stabilized, healing stabilizes, but adds no hit points." It then requires at least two actions to apply healing - and actually gives a [I]reason[/I] to have medicine skill, come to think of it! Medicine to stabilize, then apply healing, but you've now used two rounds of actions. Well, "optimal" is context-dependent. Having folks not die seems pretty optimal. [/QUOTE]

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