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<blockquote data-quote="Joe Liker" data-source="post: 6457874" data-attributes="member: 6777505">Since charming a prisoner uses up player resources, I have no problem with that. What really bugs me is when people mercilessly slay all but one, knock the last one out, question him with torture or the threat of torture, and then agonize over whether it's morally correct to kill him at that point. Never ceases to amaze me.Hit points are not strictly an indicator of health. Just remember it's an abstraction, and everything will be OK.People have been known to fall out of airplanes (without a functioning parachute) and survive. Probably not 5 percent of them, but it's possible.In this case, the bad guy would have taken two automatic failed death saves when he hit bottom. The odds were not in his favor. He just happened to get lucky (and in D&amp;D, &quot;lucky&quot; = 5 percent). But let's be clear -- 4d6 damage (average 14) is not all that much. This situation is no stranger than the player character who gets knocked out, takes a boot to the chest while he's down, then rises the next turn (having rolled a 20) to wreak bloody vengeance.In practical terms, death saves are not in the game for the sake of realism. They are there to give people one last chance, because dying is not fun. If the lack of realism really bothers you, it wouldn't break the game if you took out the &quot;roll 20&quot; part of the rule. Your group will miss out on some heroic (and, apparently, villainous) comebacks, but such are the decisions a DM must face.(In fantasy fiction, by the way, I wouldn't be surprised if slightly more than 5 percent of villains who fall off cliffs managed to survive.)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Joe Liker, post: 6457874, member: 6777505"] Since charming a prisoner uses up player resources, I have no problem with that. What really bugs me is when people mercilessly slay all but one, knock the last one out, question him with torture or the threat of torture, and then agonize over whether it's morally correct to kill him at that point. Never ceases to amaze me. Hit points are not strictly an indicator of health. Just remember it's an abstraction, and everything will be OK. People have been known to fall out of airplanes (without a functioning parachute) and survive. Probably not 5 percent of them, but it's possible. In this case, the bad guy would have taken two automatic failed death saves when he hit bottom. The odds were not in his favor. He just happened to get lucky (and in D&D, "lucky" = 5 percent). But let's be clear -- 4d6 damage (average 14) is not all that much. This situation is no stranger than the player character who gets knocked out, takes a boot to the chest while he's down, then rises the next turn (having rolled a 20) to wreak bloody vengeance. In practical terms, death saves are not in the game for the sake of realism. They are there to give people one last chance, because dying is not fun. If the lack of realism really bothers you, it wouldn't break the game if you took out the "roll 20" part of the rule. Your group will miss out on some heroic (and, apparently, villainous) comebacks, but such are the decisions a DM must face. (In fantasy fiction, by the way, I wouldn't be surprised if slightly more than 5 percent of villains who fall off cliffs managed to survive.) [/QUOTE]

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