The best way to do Death Effects?

[ptolemy18]

I hope you don't mind, but since the Poll had only just started, I added a #6 onto the list

6. Slow death. If you fail your save it is certain death - but not instant death. There would be a short period of time to allow for famous last words or last-minute reprieves through the help of friends before death actually occurred.

I prefer the traditional method, but "Slow Death" or "Drop to -1d6 hit points" would be OK too. (Although they don't work for all scenarios... if some frickin' high-level demon wants to kill a bunch of low-level creatures with a death effect, they should INSTANTLY die, not run around for a few rounds going "oh noooo!")

Anything but boring hit point damage.

Jason

 

[ptolemy18]

Agreed. Damage is a poor substitute for a condition of any sort.

I totally agree with lukelightning and Celebrim. Making all conditions hit-point-dependent is basically just another slap in the face to character types with low hit points, and it makes hit points even more important than they already are. Let's not dump all over the wizards and sorcerers at literally *every* opportunity, OK y'all? :/

 

[WarlockLord]

I hate the damage option, as lukelightning, Celebrim, and ptolemy18 have pointed out, it beats down casters. I voted traditional, but if we can't have that I'll stick with the condition track.

A few posts ago 3d6 posted he thought that WoTC was changing the SoDs to only work on blooded opponents...since 'blooded' is caused by half HP, isn't this a little metagamey, power word style?

 

[Lanefan]

...since 'blooded' is caused by half HP, isn't this a little metagamey, power word style?

Is that one of these new really-high-level spells:

Power Word - Metagame (Wiz 30)
* Range: across the table
* Area of Effect: one room
* Duration: instantaneous, then permanent until forgotten
* Save: none
* Frequency: once per game session
* Components: VSM(focus)

Gives caster knowledge about the game or game state she would not otherwise have had, via one uninterrupted minute of free and full access to the DM's notes including but not limited to books, manuals, maps, tables, modules, etc. The spell is cast by reaching to grab the requested material named in a screamed "Give me that xxxxxx" where xxxxx is the material to be read. The material focus is, of course, whatever the caster wants to read.

Lane-"don't even think about it"-fan

 

[glass]

Or some other mechanic. Point is, don't put them all together just because they were all together before.

Ditto.


glass.

 

[FireLance]

The best way to deal with death effects is... All of them?

Really, saying that there is one best way to run a death effect is like saying that there is one best way to run an encounter.

Sometimes, you want the players to feel the tension of their PCs always being no more than one of their opponent's actions away from death.

Sometimes, you want the players to keep their hit points high or to maintain specific defenses in order to avoid being no more than one of their opponent's actions away from death.

Sometimes, you want the players to scramble to remove or mitigate an effect that is going to kill a PC in a matter of rounds if it is left unchecked.

Of course, all of the above is contingent on the DM and players being prepared to run the risk and deal with the consequences of a PC dying from a save or die effect in the first place (this is by no means a given, and should not be assumed to be so).

 

[Counterspin]

I'd replace them with a drop to -8 hp myself. This allows for more character continuity while turning a death spell into a tactical conundrum that needs to be dealt with. I'd still use them sparingly, since I dislike characters being reduced to inanimate options during table time, but I'd certainly use them more than death effects, which I've never used.

 

[WhatGravitas]

For most things, I'd say 'Slow Death' (and I voted that=), but in fact, I want to see all variants, possibly mixed with slow death (i.e. all of the stuff above, but escalating, meaning they will lead to death, if nothing is done, the exact choice should depend on the exact effect):

Boiling your blood? Dealing 10d6 damage per round.
Turning you to stone/freezing you? Take 2d4 Dex damage per round.
Disintegrating you? Take a heap of damage!
Finger of Death? Take 3d6 Con damage.
Wail of the Banshee? Everything bloodied gets a save-or-die (the banshee only takes those, who are already marked for death).

Cheers, LT.

 

[Jhaelen]

I totally agree with lukelightning and Celebrim. Making all conditions hit-point-dependent is basically just another slap in the face to character types with low hit points, and it makes hit points even more important than they already are. Let's not dump all over the wizards and sorcerers at literally *every* opportunity, OK y'all? :/

Your forgetting one important thing: In 4E all classes will have the same HD!

 

[Gargoyle]

In my last couple of campaigns, I've made a house rule that characters important to the plot of the campaign have strong souls. I've referred to them as "principals", but lately I've taken to calling them "exemplars". They include the player characters and major villains, but can also be NPC's important to the plot, or just characters that we enjoy having around.

- Exemplars cannot be killed with instant death effects, they are merely dazed instead of killed.

- Exemplars have action points, per the Unearthed Arcana rules.

- Non-exemplars cannot be raised from the dead.

- There is an orison that clerics can use to detect exemplar. The only other way to find out if someone is an exemplar is to try to raise them from the dead or use some instant death spell on them and see if it works.

So finger of death and all that may be useful for killing tough henchmen (or the Duke of Redshirt), but it's not going to kill the BBEG or my wife's beloved fighter. And you can't just raise the non-exemplar Duke from the dead...when the evil wizard insta-kills an important politician it will have some repercussions in the world. Murder of important non-exemplars can be a big campaign event because they cannot simply be brought back by high level characters in the world.

My in-game rationale is that exemplars simply have stronger souls. It's a DM fiat, but I think it's a fair and fun one.

With the possibility of mook rules in 4e, I wonder if something similar will be done about insta-death spells and raising the dead.