Composer99
Hero
Now I come to think of it, I mentioned more about being at 0 hit points in the berserker post, and then forgot to bring it up! So here it is.
In classic 4e, when you hit 0 hit points, you are out of the action, unconscious, making saving throws until you either die, roll a natural 20 on a save, or receive healing and/or stabilisation.
The downside of this approach is that you're... well, just lying there, doing nothing! It might be verisimilitudinous, but it sure ain't heroic.
An idea I'm considering adapting from Darkest Dungeon (which I am sure is not original to that game) is being "at death's door" at 0 hit points. The long and short of it is that when you reach 0 hit points, you can still take your turns as normal. But, while you're at 0 hit points, each and every time you take damage, you roll a saving throw. On a failed save? You die.
When you reach 0 hit points, most characters die - player characters are the ones who end up at death's door. I'm debating whether this will cost a healing-surge equivalent so I don't have to actually have different rules for dying for different kinds of creatures. (I'm expecting NPCs and monsters won't have healing-surge-equivalents unless they're elite somehow.) You don't roll a saving throw upon hitting 0 hit points - either you spend the surge and go on at death's door, or you're kaput.
Unless things go terribly wrong, player characters will be able to use their own turns to get themselves back up from 0 hit points.
In classic 4e, when you hit 0 hit points, you are out of the action, unconscious, making saving throws until you either die, roll a natural 20 on a save, or receive healing and/or stabilisation.
The downside of this approach is that you're... well, just lying there, doing nothing! It might be verisimilitudinous, but it sure ain't heroic.
An idea I'm considering adapting from Darkest Dungeon (which I am sure is not original to that game) is being "at death's door" at 0 hit points. The long and short of it is that when you reach 0 hit points, you can still take your turns as normal. But, while you're at 0 hit points, each and every time you take damage, you roll a saving throw. On a failed save? You die.
When you reach 0 hit points, most characters die - player characters are the ones who end up at death's door. I'm debating whether this will cost a healing-surge equivalent so I don't have to actually have different rules for dying for different kinds of creatures. (I'm expecting NPCs and monsters won't have healing-surge-equivalents unless they're elite somehow.) You don't roll a saving throw upon hitting 0 hit points - either you spend the surge and go on at death's door, or you're kaput.
Unless things go terribly wrong, player characters will be able to use their own turns to get themselves back up from 0 hit points.