When your DM asks you how many hit points you have left...

[BiggusGeekus]

Two facts that influence my practices: my party has gotten very adept at getting to and stablizing fallen characters (and that 10-hit-point buffer of "Dying" seems to catch most of them okay), and Swashbuckling cards. Players tend to hang on to those until they see me rolling the big dice. I let them play cards (and even share cards) in moments like that, and a number of PCs have been saved at the last minute (or actually, after the last minute) by creative application of Swash cards:

You are required to publish these cards. Now.

 

[barsoomcore]

http://barsoom.hyboria.net/Swash.html

Fast enough for ya?

 

[Darkness]

I don't ask my players how many hp their characters have left.

'cause I already know if I really want - I always keep count on the computer, so it takes me just a look.

 

[Umbran]

When the GM's I work with ask that (or the analogous question for other games) the automatic assumption is not that they're considering fudging. The usual reason to ask is for descriptive purposes, because hit points are abstract, and the description of a given hit is relative.

There are other reasons to ask such questions, as well. In general, if the GM wants a piece of information, you give it to them, truthfully. Trust the GM. Don't second guess them. If, afterwards, you find your trust was misplaced, you have a conversation. But at runtime, you don't know what the GM needs to know or why.

 

[Jdvn1]

You are required to publish these cards. Now.

Seconded.

I'll usually tell the GM how many hit points I have -- I'm not above accepting an act of kindness. If I think I can take the hit, I won't tell him, though. "Pfft, is that all you can do? Oh, now acid damage? Shoot."

Edit: that's more than fast enough.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Barsoomcore, I'm designing and running (shortly) an Eberron one-off. I'm using a method of character generation that I've seen used in LARPs before (each player gets a 'Character Packet' with all the important info).

Thanks to you, each player will have at least one Swashbuckling Card in that packet.

 

[howandwhy99]

I'd prefer to let the dice fall where they may... There are other character concepts out there I have yet to try.

I totally agree. Not that I don't fall in love with my characters sometimes. If only there were other players out there willing to resurrect the old "0 = dead" rule.

 

[barsoomcore]

It's funny, because the Swashbuckling Cards are a PRODUCT of ENWorld -- there's somewhere in the archives a HUGE thread that generated all those ideas. I just put 'em on cards.

Every so often, I mention them in some thread and people are like, "Hey, wow! These are great!"

To which I always want to reply, "I know. They're YOURS, after all."

ENWorld is a great place.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Oh, I use them too. Here, I reformatted them so they can print out on business card paper.

 

[kigmatzomat]

The status spell is used a lot in my game so "how many hit points do you have?" may be for the edification of the cleric. It can also point out to the fighter that "hey, the mage is freakin' dyin' over there!" My game also has a few cohorts and while they focus on "their" hero, they generally won't let someone die if there's something they can do without exhorbitant risk.