D&D 5E Negative Hit Points & Dying. I think I may have been playing it wrong. Please help.

[Derren]

Thats not how that works. From PHB pg. 197.

Damage at O Hit Points.
lf you take any damage while you have O hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. lf the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death.

You take the failed death save(s) and if the damage is enough to send you to negative total HP you still die instantly.

Yes, I missed that.
Still, any damage under your HP maximum does not matter to you when you are at 0HP. so you could each turn take damage equal to your maximum -1 and survive. A titan using a gigantic 2 handed hammer won't kill you any faster than a biting rat. And to make sure that you are dead said titan has to smash your unmoving body multiple times.

 

[Paraxis]

Yes, I missed that.
Still, any damage under your HP maximum does not matter to you when you are at 0HP. so you could each turn take damage equal to your maximum -1 and survive. A titan using a gigantic 2 handed hammer won't kill you any faster than a biting rat. And to make sure that you are dead said titan has to smash your unmoving body multiple times.

Both the titan and rat would have advantage to attack your unmoving body and any hit would cause 2 failed death saves. I would say that one of those is all most enemies would do and let you fail that last death save on your own.

But lets say the rat and the titan wanted to guarantee you were dead dead dead.
The rat would have 1 attack and a much lower bonus to hit, so he might miss even with advantage so could take a few rounds.
The titan would have multiple attacks in one action and a much better chance to hit, with advantage almost a given so he could dispatch you in a single round.

I don't see an issue with this at all, guess you do. I would rather have the drama death saves add than the old keep track of negative h.p from older editions.