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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 5779687" data-attributes="member: 1645">So many different issues come together here.When we ask, what has to be save-or-die, I think most of us are thinking of what kind of threats either work or not.  The petrifying gaze of Medusa fits that description.  It doesn't fit the concept for someone to get kind of petrified.When we look at how the mechanics actually work though, save-or-die is an excellent fit for realistically modeling most mundane attacks.  Real people don't have hit points; one hit can kill them, or a dozen hits might not kill them.If we look closely, hit points really serve as plot-protection points, but strangely deficient ones that only protect against "hits" from threats that do "damage" -- whatever that means -- and not against certain spells, poisons, etc.If we implement all threats as a sequence of saves (or rolls against defenses), then anyone can (realistically) survive or die from just about anything, but no one has any plot protection.  If we reimagine hit points as a pool to boost missed saves, then save-or-die effects are still serious threats, but they never take out important characters through one bad roll.</blockquote>