Save or die

[Thia Halmades]

IMC raising dead is illegal; the spell is available, it's literally against the law. Long story. Anyway. Funny you should ask, because one of my PCs was nailed by an SoD transformation effect. He was flying, invisible, there was a lucky roll and that was that. He (a Wiz) blew a save (Fort) and dropped like a stone. Oops.

Not a spell, per se, but the effect was the same. My group seems obsessed with straight damage dealing (Destiny is my Sword is a personal favorite for the Sorceror) so the group, in general, isn't using them. I'm running a really specific setting, so for me it'll only matter if a Klurichir shows up and every word it utters is considered Blasphemous.

While I'm not all "RAR! DIE!" I don't pull punches.

 

[Innocent Bystander]

I'm personally not a fan of save or die so I won't be using them in my new campaign. Raise dead is available, but only used in certain circumstances. One can't walk in off the street and raise their buddy who just got roasted by a dragon.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Depends on the levels involved.

Levels 1-5 most likely won't see any kind of instant death effect. Instant death most assuradly (like, oh, greataxe criticals), but probably nothing that's save or die.
Levels 6-9 it probably won't happen more than two or three times. This isn't counting things like flesh to stone, since they don't actually kill you.
Then it gets progressively more the higher level you go. Once the PCs start getting things like finger of death and disintegrate (yeah yeah not a death effect sure), they start seeing it used against them more. By level 15+ its a staple of the game, and by 17+ its probably a staple of combat.

Of course, don't forget about death ward. Amulets of death ward are fairly popular for PCs with Craft Wonderous Item. Immunity to death effects: Yes please!

 

[Innocent Bystander]

But in my game, there is no Raise Dead, etc. (except in certain weird circumstances). So I use a negative 1d8 and dying, plus you don't actually die until you reach -Con. But once you're dead, that's it.

Would you mind detailing this a bit for me? It sounds like something I might like to use.

 

[werk]

i voted we use them RAW but sparingly, due to the lvl we play ot right now (lvl 11) in times when the characters reach the higher lvls save or die comes more often. mainly due to the 50 dmg is a fort dc15, just about anything will become a safe or die.

Oh yeah, I did house rule that to 50 points and over 50% of HP. At high level it gets ridiculous.

 

[Ranes]

By the book. My players don't complain when their PCs successfully use save-or-die on their enemies. All right, maybe they do.

And the bad guys use Raise Dead, too.

 

[JimAde]

Would you mind detailing this a bit for me? It sounds like something I might like to use.

For any effect that would normally be save or die, a failed save instead reduces you to negative 1d8 HP and Dying status (basically the house rule Xor referred to in the original post, but slightly less nasty). Your friends have to reach you quickly in order for you to live.

I have death occur at negative HP equal to your Con ability. I also have "disabled" apply from 0 to negative your con modifier for more dramatic effect. So somebody with a 14 Con is disabled at 0 to -2 HP, unconscious and dying at -3 to -14 and dead at -15 or more. It's not a huge difference, but it helps, especially at lower levels.

 

[Innocent Bystander]

I like it! Consider it stolen, violating any and all copyright laws

 

[the Jester]

DIE!!! DIE DIE DIE!!!!!!!

RAW, baby.

 

[diaglo]

we use them as written in the OD&D booklets.