Laptopdude
First Post
As a DM I am willing to fudge dice rolls in certain circumstances. Specifically, as mattcolville of reddit said in a list of DM advice, “Fudge the die rolls to correct your mistakes, not theirs.” So when the players make bad choice after bad choice and then roll a natural one, then yes, they are going to die. After all, if there's no threat of real death, the game loses all tension and much of its meaning. If you let the players live no matter what, then there aren't any real consequences to their actions and they won't improve or change strategies. Even so, I have recently been playing with very new and inexperienced players, so I decided to add a house rule to give them another chance.
When you die, you roll 1d20 and check the Near-Death Table. You can then choose to die and roll a new character or suffer the listed penalty. If you choose the drawback then your character lives, you get a cumulative -1 penalty on future Near-Death Table rolls, and your character is unconscious and stable at -1 hit points for the duration of the combat (despite any healing or effects). The two "reroll" outcomes can only occur once and do not stack; if you get them twice in a row just roll again. If your total roll including penalties from past deaths is 0 or lower, your character dies anyway. Anything that you receive from the death table can only be removed with Greater Restoration or DM permission (side quest anyone?). Finally, I'm not sure if there are actual rules for limb loss, so I made up my own.
This still punishes character death in a very real and, most importantly, almost permanent, way. The entire party could still end up dead or unconscious via Near-Death Table and then get killed by the enemy. Each death adds ever-worsening drawbacks until the character becomes essentially unable to contribute to the party. The cumulative penalty also ensures you can only roll 20 on your first death. And, except for the first death when your penalty is zero, you might get lower than a one and die anyway. But this gives the player one final chance to keep playing their Scottish dervish dancer kobold who hates ten-foot poles because they're taller than him (TM).
TL;DR - Instead of dying you can choose to get a random penalty from the table below.
The Near-Death Table
--------------------------------------
0 or lower - Death
1 - Roll again and double the penalty
2 - Roll again twice and get both
3 - Level down your character once (not a negative level)
4 - 2d4 penalty to a random ability score
5 - Dyslexia (50% spell failure for verbal)
6 - Lose an arm (-2 Str, -2 Dex, no 2 handed)
7 - 1d4 penalty to a random ability score
8 - Lose a leg (halved movespeed, -2 Dex)
9 - Major concussion (-4 Initiative)
10 - Lose a hand (-2 Dex, no 2 handed)
11 - Acquire a phobia related to death (as Fear spell)
12 - Amnesia (lasting 1d6 days)
13 - Lose an eye (-4 sight perception, -1 BAB)
14 - Lose a finger (-1 Dex)
15 - Major scar (-1 Con)
16 - Concussion (-1 Int)
17 - Synesthesia (-1 Wis)
18 - Moderate scar (-1 Cha)
19 - Speech impediment
20 - Minor scar (nothing happens)
Let me know your thoughts, and of course please feel free to use and modify this for your campaign. Also see the reddit post, which will include variations from commenters.
When you die, you roll 1d20 and check the Near-Death Table. You can then choose to die and roll a new character or suffer the listed penalty. If you choose the drawback then your character lives, you get a cumulative -1 penalty on future Near-Death Table rolls, and your character is unconscious and stable at -1 hit points for the duration of the combat (despite any healing or effects). The two "reroll" outcomes can only occur once and do not stack; if you get them twice in a row just roll again. If your total roll including penalties from past deaths is 0 or lower, your character dies anyway. Anything that you receive from the death table can only be removed with Greater Restoration or DM permission (side quest anyone?). Finally, I'm not sure if there are actual rules for limb loss, so I made up my own.
This still punishes character death in a very real and, most importantly, almost permanent, way. The entire party could still end up dead or unconscious via Near-Death Table and then get killed by the enemy. Each death adds ever-worsening drawbacks until the character becomes essentially unable to contribute to the party. The cumulative penalty also ensures you can only roll 20 on your first death. And, except for the first death when your penalty is zero, you might get lower than a one and die anyway. But this gives the player one final chance to keep playing their Scottish dervish dancer kobold who hates ten-foot poles because they're taller than him (TM).
TL;DR - Instead of dying you can choose to get a random penalty from the table below.
The Near-Death Table
--------------------------------------
0 or lower - Death
1 - Roll again and double the penalty
2 - Roll again twice and get both
3 - Level down your character once (not a negative level)
4 - 2d4 penalty to a random ability score
5 - Dyslexia (50% spell failure for verbal)
6 - Lose an arm (-2 Str, -2 Dex, no 2 handed)
7 - 1d4 penalty to a random ability score
8 - Lose a leg (halved movespeed, -2 Dex)
9 - Major concussion (-4 Initiative)
10 - Lose a hand (-2 Dex, no 2 handed)
11 - Acquire a phobia related to death (as Fear spell)
12 - Amnesia (lasting 1d6 days)
13 - Lose an eye (-4 sight perception, -1 BAB)
14 - Lose a finger (-1 Dex)
15 - Major scar (-1 Con)
16 - Concussion (-1 Int)
17 - Synesthesia (-1 Wis)
18 - Moderate scar (-1 Cha)
19 - Speech impediment
20 - Minor scar (nothing happens)
Let me know your thoughts, and of course please feel free to use and modify this for your campaign. Also see the reddit post, which will include variations from commenters.
Last edited:
