Less deadly Coup de Grace

[Grayhawk]

IME as a DM I've found myself holding off on using Coup de Grace vs the PC's as I don't really want to kill them off.

Therefore I'm working on a less deadly CdG that I can actually use against my players, giving them a fair chance of survival.

So far, this is what I have:

CdG save DC is 10+damage before adding extra crit damage or any sneak attack damage.

This way, when you CdG, you just deal normal damage; figure out the save DC; and if the target saves you calculate your total damage (crit+sneak).

What do you think?

Another way of doing this would be CdG DC = damage (as per PH but without the +10).

I rejected this last one due to several reasons:

First, a commoner with a dagger would be too easily disregarded.

Second, I was looking for a way to handle this that would be an equalizer when comparing weapon's damage die and crit multiplier. Using any system that bases the CdG save DC on the total crit damage plays these differences up, which I didn't want.

All input appreciated

 

[Kemrain]

As much as I'd like to help, I think that the Coup de Grace rules shouldn't be changed. I understand that you want to keep your PC's alive, and that's good, but, it's hard to shrug off a slit throat. If your PC's get into situations where thay can be CdG'd then, in a way, they deserve it.

But since you want help, your first suggestion is decent. It becomes survivable with a decent fort save if you'd only have to make a save against, for example, 10 + 1d8 + 2 from strength. And if that doesn't kill them, then the crit damage may anyways.

But, if they're in a situation where they're CdG-able anyways, what's to keep the attacker from just doing it again and again until they DO die? If they're helpless, they really have no chance of fighting back. Only if they had been alseep would I expect much of a struggle at all. Coup de Grace is deadly, because you can just sit and saw your opponent's face off if you need to. That's not ment to be survivable.

The real trick is to avoid getting them into those situations, and for the most part, that's up to the players. Unless every time they sleep there are assassins coming after them, they can resist most attempts to render them helpless. It's the helpless they need to avoid, not the CdG.

- Kemrain the Realist

 

[Chacal]

If it's the save or die that bothers you, you could change the CDG effect to
" victim is reduced to 0 and dies next round " to let other PCs interfere.


Chacal