Frontiers of Eberron has some interesting death rules you may want to review or incorporate
Life and Death
What sort of story do you want to tell? The Western Frontier can be a harsh and unforgiving place. Is this a tale where a hero can die in the blink of an eye, or is it a story where the protagonists will be in it to the end, but they will carry scars to remind them of their failures? At the start of the campaign, the DM and players should decide which approach they want to take. The default is to use the rules exactly as they stand, including the potential for instant death from massive damage and the use of Death Saving Throws. However, if everyone involved in the campaign agrees, you could use one of the following options:
No Country for Old Minotaurs. Death is always on the table. A character reduced to 0 Hit Points always fails Death Saving Throws, meaning that allies have only three rounds to save a fallen friend before they die. In addition, a character instantly dies if they suffer 10 points of damage from a single attack while at 0 Hit Points (rather than damage equal to their Hit Point maximum). The Western Frontier is a dangerous place, and players should always have a second character in mind…
Safety in Numbers. Characters automatically stabilize if they have an ally within 60 feet, with no action required. The only way for a character to die is through massive damage or if all characters in a scene are reduced to 0 Hit Points; you live together or die together. However, failure has consequences! A character reduced to 0 Hit Points suffers a Scar, as described below. In this model, death is rare, but characters still suffer some form of loss due to their failure.
Nothing but Scars. A character automatically
stabilizes upon reaching 0 Hit Points. The only
way for a character to die is if they agree that their character should die—they’re making a heroic sacrifice, or it otherwise feels appropriate to the story. However, any character reduced to 0 Hit Points suffers a Scar.
Scars. There can be suspense and risk even if
death is taken off the table. Everyone has something to lose, and when a character is taken to 0 Hit Points, they will lose something. The severity and nature of the loss can vary based on the circumstances of the defeat. If a player is defeated in a barroom brawl, they aren’t going to lose a leg—but they could take a blow to their reputation. The simplest option is a literal scar: a permanent reminder of injury and defeat. It’s up to the player to decide how the character is marked, but the scar should be somewhere obvious; it’s an ongoing reminder of their defeat. A more severe injury could result in the loss of all or part of a limb; remember that Eberron: Rising from the Last War has Prosthetic Limbs! But scars don’t have to be physical. A character could have a traumatic reaction to the source of their defeat; going forward, they suffer Disadvantage on ability checks or attack rolls directly related to the person or creature that scarred them. The damage could be to their reputation, as word of the defeat spreads and wherever they go, people bring up the story. Finally, the defeat could trigger an unrelated loss; a business deal falls through, tragedy strikes an ally or relative, the adventurer’s farm catches fire while they are away. It’s not that the character nearly dying caused the fire on their farm—but tragedy comes in twos, and the adventurer’s defeat is echoed elsewhere in their life.
There’s nothing wrong with just using the standard rules for death and dying. But talking about it is a way for both the players and the DM to establish their expectations for a campaign, setting the tone for the story to come.
