It's interesting to see...

[Wolfspider]

You don't stabilize on your own at all. Based on what I recall reading in Keep on the Shadowfell at my FLGS:

1-9: Your condition worsens. The third time you fail, you die.
10-20: Nothing happens. Roll again next round.

If someone with an actual copy of the book can correct me, then please do.

Really?

Wow. That's deadly.

 

[drjones]

You stabilize or your state doesn't change with a 10-19? The rules we got available said that with a 10-19, nothing happened. What does KotS ruleset say?

That would change the likelihood of death pretty significantly. That might be ok, especially with pregens no one cares a lot about but I think the final rule will probably be stabilization.

I was having players track 'death tics' by encounter rather than clearing them each time the character got healed, this might have added some danger as well but it seemed more dramatic to me.

 

[Dragonblade]

Really?

Wow. That's deadly.

That's what I thought too.

If that is the actual final rule, I might house rule that a natural 20 is at least an auto-stabilize. Just like I'll probably house rule that a natural 20 on a saving throw ends all ongoing effects the same way it does in the minis game. But I'll probably play the rules as written for a few months first.

 

[Wormwood]

I must admit to being a bit disappointed that Action Points in D&D 4e don't seem to do anything other than give an additional action. They have so much potential....

Oh sweet jeebus so I agree.

Even the paragon path action-point powers we've seen have been dull.

Sorry, but I've been spoiled by other games which handle this sort of thing far, far better.

 

[Logan_Bonner]

I thought when you rolled 20, you got to use a healing surge?

You do get to use a healing surge when you get a 20 or higher on a death saving throw.

You mean the way of the Mauve Dodo Hulaskirt Carburetor? Hopefully.

"This move is called Orange Groundsloth Pirouette Fruitbasket."
"What does it do?"
"You stab somebody with your pointy weapon."
"How about we just call it 'thrust'?"

"We can't, because this class already has eighteen other powers with 'thrust' in the name."

"We can't do that. Research shows the term carries some sexual connotation."
"Oh. How about we compromise then?"
"Penetrating Strike?"
"Perfect."

For a while we did have a power called preparation blow...

 

[Boarstorm]

For a while we did have a power called preparation blow...

*cackle* You should see the list of double entendres I came up with and discarded as being too much for this thread.

 

[Scribble]

For a while we did have a power called preparation blow...

so many jokes... brain... overloading...

 

[Rechan]

You do get to use a healing surge when you get a 20 or higher on a death saving throw.

Excellenta! Thanks Logan.

 

[Dragonblade]

Ah, good to know. Thanks for correcting me, Logan!

 

[Lacyon]

I thought 3e was a vast improvement over 2e, and I still do.

Most definitely this.

I'm sure I'll tire of 4e eventually. Here's hoping for some kick-ass gaming in the meantime.

I've got one player in particular who's not happy with the idea of leaving all his 3E stuff unused, so I'm currently running a high-character-turnover dungeon crawl (Rappan Athuk) and allowing a bunch of craziness that I might not normally allow (but with some extra restrictions to keep it interesting). I'm also a player in an Eberron game that's unlikely to move up to 4E also.

Between the two, it's unlikely I'll actually be playing or running a full 4E campaign for at least a year after the books come out. And even then, I'll be happy to play in 3E games that others are running, and I'll be happy to DM from modules.

DMing homebrew stuff looks to be a lot easier in 4E, though, and hopefully once we get around to it my group will like my newer homebrew stuff enough to want more.