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Post by Crimhthan The Great on Mar 14, 2017 12:43:53 GMT -5
At what point do characters die in your campaign? Are you hardline with death at 0 HPs or do you do something else?
In 2007 I wrote, "I have always run it as death is at zero hit points, but I am currently considering running unconscious at zero hit points with 10 melee rounds = 1 turn = 1 minute for medical attention to be given or death occurs, with -1 HP or less being death."
Well, I can tell you now in 2017, that I considered it but did not do it, I still run death is at zero hit points. What do you do?
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Post by The Red Baron on Mar 14, 2017 19:05:01 GMT -5
In practice, 0=death plays best.
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Post by tetramorph on Mar 16, 2017 9:12:47 GMT -5
Playing characters are unconscious at zero and negative. They can go negative up to their HD. Save against adversity for revival.
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Post by Admin Pete on Mar 17, 2017 19:34:03 GMT -5
I have tried all those options and more, but I always return to the first one.
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Post by tetramorph on Mar 18, 2017 17:34:45 GMT -5
Oh, I forgot to say how I have fun with my approach. If they revive from incapacitation, I roll on the following table: 1 | Eye | 4 | Nose | 2 | Hand/arm | 5 | Ear | 3 | Leg/foot | 6 | Scar-face |
This allows for in-game epithet generation. Jack becomes "Stumpy Jack," Will becomes "One-eyed Willy," Argosy becomes "Scar-face Argosy," Michael becomes "Earless Mike," an army hero becomes "Captain Hook," a thief becomes "Old Flat Face," etc. Let the fun commence!
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Post by Admin Pete on Mar 18, 2017 21:55:12 GMT -5
You gotta love it!
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Mar 18, 2017 23:02:13 GMT -5
At what point do characters die in your campaign? On Tuesdays.
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Post by makofan on Mar 20, 2017 12:32:49 GMT -5
When they do something stupid!
As to the poll, death at -1, unconscious at 0
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Post by ripx187 on Mar 20, 2017 17:31:17 GMT -5
There has always been that debate about what hit points mean, and at my table this answer fluctuates, but the consensus that we agreed upon as a group was that more times than not it isn't a true hit unless it takes a large chunk of your hp at once. Typical hits that aren't hits are more related to stamina, and are extremely interpretative, so we say that at 0hp or below, you have definitely received a true hit, or at least no longer able to defend yourself. The attacker can keep hitting you, to make sure that you are dead, but if left alone, your allies must get to you and do something to stop the bleeding, or whatever. Death always happens at -10hp, you lose 1hp per round, and if revived, you have an injury depending on the situation. This applies to everybody, even monsters.
We used to play to 0, but characters took longer to roll up in AD&D. While playing death-fest dungeons, we still play death at 0 and just keep character creation to a minimum.
Saving a fellow player in the heat of battle is challenging, and I feel that it can add more depth to the game. Bringing characters back from the dead is very rare in my campaigns; off the top of my head, I want to say that in the last 20 years it was only done once.
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Post by LouGoncey on Mar 30, 2017 17:12:12 GMT -5
Minus level +1
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Post by Admin Pete on Mar 30, 2017 21:28:08 GMT -5
Over the last several years, I have had several battles where all of the characters except one were at zero hit points unconscious and one character down to his last hit point and the tension in the room when he and the monster both rolled the d20 to see who lived and who died was something fierce and everyone was on the edge of their seat. The one player had a special ring of regeneration for a few of these, twice he and his opponent both went to zero hit points and then everyone was waiting to see if he woke up in time to help them before something else came along. Being an tiny fraction away from death or being dead and being successfully revived us great fun. Sometimes a TPK happens, I have never had a problem with the players when that happens. It is always something they earned and they learn from it.
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Post by robkuntz on Mar 31, 2017 11:39:03 GMT -5
death at -1, unconscious at 0.
Clint Eastwood playing Dirty Harry: "A man's gotta know his limitations."
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Post by Mighty Darci on Mar 31, 2017 11:41:21 GMT -5
At what point do characters die in your campaign? On Tuesdays. Character death, not paying someone back for a hamburger!
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Post by robkuntz on Mar 31, 2017 12:09:13 GMT -5
Character death, not paying someone back for a hamburger! Yeah, Wimpy!
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Apr 1, 2017 0:01:55 GMT -5
Character death, not paying someone back for a hamburger! You say that as if there's a difference. (See my latest overwindy comment in the Class/ENFJ discussion.) (I agree. ALL my comments are overwindy.)
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Apr 1, 2017 0:02:39 GMT -5
Character death, not paying someone back for a hamburger! Yeah, Wimpy! You must be mistaken. My name is Jones. I'm one of the Jones boys.
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Apr 1, 2017 0:06:21 GMT -5
Character death, not paying someone back for a hamburger! You say that as if there's a difference. (See my latest overwindy comment in the Class/ENFJ discussion.) (I agree. ALL my comments are overwindy.) My error, Ms Mighty. Leaping from site to site (Tapatalk puts all New Comments from ALL boards to which one subscribes.) I see I referenced a thread from the Trollbridge discussion board, instead of anything at wherever I am now. What board is this? Who am I? Who are you? Mom?
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Post by robkuntz on Apr 1, 2017 4:20:22 GMT -5
Yeah, Wimpy! You must be mistaken. My name is Jones. I'm one of the Jones boys. Wimpy had many disguises in fetching burgers, but his M. O. was always the same...
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Post by captaincrumbcake on Apr 1, 2017 16:23:05 GMT -5
I've become old and cynical. Well, at least ever since disco.
The point being, at what point does it all really just boil down to nothing? In a game of abstraction, with flying dragons, wizards throwing spells around like a hooker passing out condoms, phony baloney priests turning vampires with a "baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack" while extending symbols few even recognize in their reality world, thiefy types doing their thiefy things in a dungeon when they should be elsewhere casing their next caper and calculating the least risk for their attempts, armor class, hit points, weapon damage--and never forget: level drain!... is the idea of character death so important that it must somehow "be real"...within a make-believe-world where, nothing, is?
Otherwise, I agree with--Tuesdays!
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Post by tetramorph on Apr 1, 2017 16:44:21 GMT -5
I've become old and cynical. Well, at least ever since disco. The point being, at what point does it all really just boil down to nothing? In a game of abstraction, with flying dragons, wizards throwing spells around like a hooker passing out condoms, phony baloney priests turning vampires with a " baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack" while extending symbols few even recognize in their reality world, thiefy types doing their thiefy things in a dungeon when they should be elsewhere casing their next caper and calculating the least risk for their attempts, armor class, hit points, weapon damage--and never forget: level drain!... is the idea of character death so important that it must somehow "be real"...within a make-believe-world where, nothing, is? Otherwise, I agree with--Tuesdays! So, how do you know when your characters are dead? Is it just arbitrary? If not, the answer to the question is what the OP asks for.
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Post by captaincrumbcake on Apr 1, 2017 19:00:29 GMT -5
I've become old and cynical. Well, at least ever since disco. The point being, at what point does it all really just boil down to nothing? In a game of abstraction, with flying dragons, wizards throwing spells around like a hooker passing out condoms, phony baloney priests turning vampires with a " baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack" while extending symbols few even recognize in their reality world, thiefy types doing their thiefy things in a dungeon when they should be elsewhere casing their next caper and calculating the least risk for their attempts, armor class, hit points, weapon damage--and never forget: level drain!... is the idea of character death so important that it must somehow "be real"...within a make-believe-world where, nothing, is? Otherwise, I agree with--Tuesdays! So, how do you know when your characters are dead? Is it just arbitrary? If not, the answer to the question is what the OP asks for. Why do they have to be? Why does it (death), have to be the make-or-break point of the game? Why does it have to yield to the logic of reality, when nothing else does? If a character dies, we simply drag out a new sheet and ( supposedly) start a new character from scratch. We scrape and fight our way back to where we were before, as if the new character is the reason; when, in reality, it is us--the player--responsible for regaining what we lost...not the pseudo persona. Why not have "death" negate all the XP the character would have gained for that adventure/ time period/ module/ or whatever measure the DM decides? Even harsher, why not have "death" lower the character's level per death occurred? I'm just saying, there are always other ways to look at and deal with things. It's up to the referee and group to decide... not a book.
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Post by tetramorph on Apr 1, 2017 19:59:31 GMT -5
I fully agree with those last two sentences. Call me old fashioned, people still die the old fashioned way in my games.
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Post by robkuntz on Apr 2, 2017 4:36:14 GMT -5
So, how do you know when your characters are dead? Is it just arbitrary? If not, the answer to the question is what the OP asks for. Why do they have to be? Why does it (death), have to be the make-or-break point of the game? Why does it have to yield to the logic of reality, when nothing else does? If a character dies, we simply drag out a new sheet and ( supposedly) start a new character from scratch. We scrape and fight our way back to where we were before, as if the new character is the reason; when, in reality, it is us--the player--responsible for regaining what we lost...not the pseudo persona. Why not have "death" negate all the XP the character would have gained for that adventure/ time period/ module/ or whatever measure the DM decides? Even harsher, why not have "death" lower the character's level per death occurred? I'm just saying, there are always other ways to look at and deal with things. It's up to the referee and group to decide... not a book. Possibly one of the more pointed and cogent questions that you've asked on these boards. The reason, IM-O (In My-Observations) is that D&D was organized as a simple abstraction of the corporate ladder climbing principle. It's linear scaling with resulting winners (those who survive) and losers (those who do not). In order to break this conceptual boundary which is part and parcel of inculcated, modern-day human existence you could fathom other and different abstractions just as you've suggested.
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Post by mormonyoyoman on Dec 14, 2017 9:39:14 GMT -5
Why does it sound as if Rob worked at Teletron or Novell also?
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Post by ffilz on Dec 14, 2017 18:51:22 GMT -5
The following rule from my house rules has been working pretty well. Below 0 isn't an automatic death sentence, but most folks have died.
Hit Points
A character reduced to 0 hit points is unconscious and will need a days rest to recover to 1 hit point. A week spent in town will recover all lost hit points.
A character reduced below 0 hit points must make a survival roll. The roll is:
d20 <= Con reduced by the number of hit points below 0.
If healing is applied (only from one source), the roll must still be made, but might be at a bonus if hit points are increased above 0. The roll becomes unnecessary if the healing restores the character to full hit points.
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Post by mao on Dec 21, 2017 13:05:00 GMT -5
Originally I used -3 or so, switched to +10 for a very long time. As I am still writing the rules I am currently using, I have not settled in on this yet, but the idea of - full HD turns me on
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Post by robkuntz on Dec 21, 2017 16:35:23 GMT -5
Ar what point? Usually just before the player exclaims, "Oh, S***..."
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Post by Hexenritter Verlag on Feb 7, 2018 1:44:28 GMT -5
I am flirting with the 0-HP = a save vs. Death, a fail is they die of shock, a save is they are alive but bleeding out 1 HP a round till they get to their Con stat. Every 3 rounds once they hit 0-HP but saved, they take a -1 to attack, saves & skill checks (the penalties are cumulative). If they get hit again & take damage, they make another save vs. death modified by depending on how I do saves. I might use a critical table or hit location & give them scars or a serious wound especially if they were hit with a natural 20. If they want to live the PC needs to get medical help or take a healing potion, get cure/heal spell cast on them before they reach negative Con stat.
Still deadly but gives wiggle room for a chance for survival. Monsters will be dangerous as it is (Dragons are horrible threats), so i toss the players a frayed life line.
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Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2018 22:09:37 GMT -5
Zero hit points? The rest of us will take a short break while you roll 3d6 x 6 times ...
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Post by Hexenritter Verlag on Feb 8, 2018 4:11:43 GMT -5
Zero hit points? The rest of us will take a short break while you roll 3d6 x 6 times ... No breaks, they just have to roll those 3d6s while everyone else is dodging arrows, breath weapons & giant boulders; then catch up asap...silly @piper.
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