You cannot die from starvation or thirst

[Particle_Man]

This rarely comes up. I mean rations are cheap, and clerics have spells to create water and food. But if the worst should happen, it seems that you keep taking nonlethal damage. That would knock you unconscious (and since this nonlethal damage cannot be healed, even by magic, but only goes away from getting more food and water, perhaps permanently unconscious until your character dies of old age) but you never take lethal damage, so technically do not die. And there is apparently no limit to how much nonlethal damage one can acrue...

I have this vision of a party coming across an old warrior, apparently locked in a slumber from which they cannot awaken him, even with powerful cure spells. They ask the gods for advice, and are told that they have to cram 5000 gallons of water and 5000 pounds of food down the warriors gullet.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

This rarely comes up. I mean rations are cheap, and clerics have spells to create water and food. But if the worst should happen, it seems that you keep taking nonlethal damage. That would knock you unconscious (and since this nonlethal damage cannot be healed, even by magic, but only goes away from getting more food and water, perhaps permanently unconscious until your character dies of old age) but you never take lethal damage, so technically do not die. And there is apparently no limit to how much nonlethal damage one can acrue...

I have this vision of a party coming across an old warrior, apparently locked in a slumber from which they cannot awaken him, even with powerful cure spells. They ask the gods for advice, and are told that they have to cram 5000 gallons of water and 5000 pounds of food down the warriors gullet.

I figure once you've taken nonlethal damage equal to your hit points, anything else rolls over to "real" damage. A 1st-level commoner without water wouldn't last long, as a result. A high level barbarian who forgot to put ranks into Survival might last a long time, but eventually they'll die, too.

As for clerics messing up survival adventures... no kidding. Skills shouldn't be rendered useless by spells. It's almost like a plot spell - how did the villain and his band of merry assassins survive the desert trek? Oh yeah, one was a cleric...

 

[Kalshane]

I've always had a house rule that once you take you HP+10 in non-lethal damage, any damage you take from that point on is automatically lethal. There is only so much your system can take.

 

[Henry]

Even without house-ruling, said warrior is going to die. There's environmental exposure, natural predators, etc. Water is one thing, but technically, someone can last for weeks or even one or two months without food -- long enough to not be an in-game concern.

 

[Sejs]

Huh, you know, I always assumed, similar to what (Psi) mentioned, non-lethal damage in excess of your max hp automatically began to roll over to lethal damage.

Sorta similar to the stun and physical condition monitors in Shadowrun, which, I guess is where I was getting the impression from.


Ah well - check! House rule it is, then.

 

[mvincent]

From the 3.0 FAQ (still applicable since the related text hasn't changed):
"Once a creature is rendered unconscious by an
environmental effect, that effect begins dealing normal damage
instead of subdual damage. The DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide
includes this rule for heat and cold (see page 86), but it also
applies to thirst, starvation, suffocation, and smoke inhalation."

 

[azhrei_fje]

This is OT, but is there a clarification for normal nonlethal damage? The quoted entry from the FAQ deals with environmental issues, but what about just whacking somebody with a sap over and over and over... Do the rules state what the limit is, or can I apply 6,000 hp of nonlethal damage to a creature and still not kill it?

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Drowbane]

I figure once you've taken nonlethal damage equal to your hit points, anything else rolls over to "real" damage. A 1st-level commoner without water wouldn't last long, as a result. A high level barbarian who forgot to put ranks into Survival might last a long time, but eventually they'll die, too.

Thats what I do too. Its not a "House Rule", its DM Fiat - based on COMMON SENSE.

 

[Jack Simth]

This is OT, but is there a clarification for normal nonlethal damage? The quoted entry from the FAQ deals with environmental issues, but what about just whacking somebody with a sap over and over and over... Do the rules state what the limit is, or can I apply 6,000 hp of nonlethal damage to a creature and still not kill it?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Yes, how much Bludgeoning damage does it take to kill a troll?

 

[Particle_Man]

From the 3.0 FAQ (still applicable since the related text hasn't changed):
"Once a creature is rendered unconscious by an
environmental effect, that effect begins dealing normal damage
instead of subdual damage. The DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide
includes this rule for heat and cold (see page 86), but it also
applies to thirst, starvation, suffocation, and smoke inhalation."

New Question: If someone has taken subdual damage from a sap to the head, and then after that takes subdual damage from thirst and is knocked unconscious as a result, would this rule still apply? Or would the subdual damage from being knocked unconscious due to thirst have to exceed the maximum hp (not current hp) of the victim before it "rolled over" into lethal damage?