I pray you to bear me witness that I meet my fate like a brave man.-Dying in D&D

[green slime]

Maybe its many players prefer to see their characters persevering in the face of adversity, rather than succumbing to it.

Another reason probably is that character deaths are all too often unplanned and pathetic; during a side-adventure from the main path, facing a minor foe, a character has a string of bad luck, fails an almost unfailable save, and karks it. And the player is at that moment going to make some memorable rambling?

The famous words, spoken by King George V come to mind "Bugger Bognor."

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And that brings up another point. Perhaps a little "priming of the pump is in order. Why don't you show them some more famous last words, like:

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..." ~ General John Sedgwick, killed by a Confederate sharp-shooter at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.

"Either these curtains go or I do." ~ Oscar Wilde, poet & writer

"I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace." ~ Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury

"I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis." ~ Humphrey Bogart, actor

"Damn it . . . Don't you dare ask God to help me." ~ Joan Crawford, actress,

"Et tu, Brute?" ~ Gaius Julius Caesar, Roman Emperor

and so forth.

 

[NewJeffCT]

And that brings up another point. Perhaps a little "priming of the pump is in order. Why don't you show them some more famous last words, like:

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..." ~ General John Sedgwick, killed by a Confederate sharp-shooter at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.

"Either these curtains go or I do." ~ Oscar Wilde, poet & writer

"I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace." ~ Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury

"I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis." ~ Humphrey Bogart, actor

"Damn it . . . Don't you dare ask God to help me." ~ Joan Crawford, actress,

"Et tu, Brute?" ~ Gaius Julius Caesar, Roman Emperor

and so forth.

good ones - but, if they plan something like the first one and die in a completely different way.... "No way we're in range of touch or ranged touch spells from here... " and then, they get whacked by a crit from a scythe to the head.

But, a few more:
"Am I dying or is this my birthday?" ~ Lady Nancy Astor, d. 1964, for somebody that wakes briefly before dying, as when she woke briefly during her last illness, she found all her family around her bedside.

"I know you have come to kill me. Shoot coward, you are only going to kill a man." ~ Che Guevara, for a PC going to face certain death.

"God will pardon me, that's his line of work. " ~ Heinrich Heine, poet, d. February 15, 1856, for a cleric PC, just substitute their deity for God.

for the quick death " I see black light." ~ Victor Hugo, writer, d. May 22, 1885

And, one of my favorites: "Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something. " ~ Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary, d. 1923

"Friends applaud, the comedy is finished." ~ Ludwig van Beethoven, composer, d. March 26, 1827

more at:
dying words of famous people - famous last words

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And once they've seen the real thing, they can try their hands at coming up with fictional ones for real people, in kind of a "first learn walk, then learn run" kind of thing.

"Give up, Burr– you know you're a horrid shot!" Alexander Hamilton

"A little off the top, please." Louis XVI

And so forth.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

House rule: you're not unconscious, you're helpless and dying. You may only take free actions which do not include spell casting.

My own house rule only actually applies once the character is dead. An unconscious and dying character is still unable to act in any way.

 

[kitsune9]

I'm not really satisfied with the way death and dying is handled in D&D, there's very little room for cinematic death or last words, or final heroic acts.

I'd like to change things around to be a little bit more like this:

-1 to -9 :Each round you have the same chance as stabilizing or taking damage as stated in the RAW, however you're not guaranteed to fall unconscious. Something like 5% per hit point under zero, checked after each time you take additional damage.

You may speak, but anything more than a soft whisper will deal you an additional point of damage at the end of the round.

You may make a move action, but it deals you 3 points of damage at the end of your turn.

You may make a standard action, but it deals you 6 points of damage simultaneously with the action. So potions won't react with your body fast enough to save you, but you could make a dying attack, or if your conscious and only at -1 you could blow a potion and hope to roll high enough to get you back on your feet, and at the very least stop you from dying.

Of course if the potion isn't in your hand, you'll have to draw it for another 3 points of damage.

I'd like some feedback and suggestions before I implement this, I run a really lethal game, and I'd like some way for the players to get a little closure with their characters instead of just sighing in defeat and grabbing the stat rollers.

I just rp this out with the NPC's and my players don't do this themselves in terms of giving their character some kind of death dialog before passing.