New Article: Death and Dying

[Nymrohd]

Ah finally the players will not have to spend a few rounds killing their helpless foes.

And it certainly makes an interesting death system to create feats for.

 

[borc killer]

Man! I want 4e right now!

 

[Professor Phobos]

Also, here's another pretty absurd corner case:

A fighter has 200 hit points at maximum, and is down to 5 HP. An orc stabs him for 6 points of damage, taking him down to -1. The next round, the fighter rolls a 20, and pops back up with 50 HP. So the orc just healed the fighter for 45 points by stabbing him in the gut.

I know that hit points are abstract, but that's pretty ridiculous.

Jack McFighter's allies had all fallen. The castle was overrun. Beset on all sides by his foes, one finally brought him down- a sword through the chest. Jack stared down at it as he fell to the ground, life leaking away, watching as the enemy found the civilians taking refuge in the cellars and began their conquest. NO! Thought Jack. It cannot end this way! With great strength of will Jack rises to his feet...

 

[UngeheuerLich]

A solid system.

I would have liked an expanded staggered range, but overall that rule is quite nice.

Monsters dying at 0 hp. Thats ok... they always did when reduced to negative, and did one last bite and died afterwards if they were exactly at 0.

NPCs they die if I want them to die. I never tracked their HP. With the new rules, even if you assume they fail every single save, an enemy healer can cure them for the next two rounds. And how low their HP total actually is doesn´t play any role.

 

[A'koss]

Hmmm, seems to be a bit of misinterpretation here on what 10-19 means.

Note that 10-19 doesn't say stabilize -- it says "no change." That means you're still in the same condition as last time and you keep rolling. You roll until one of two things happen: 3 results of "get worse" OR a Nat 20, "HAH! It was just a flesh wound after all!" There is no middle ground "stabilize."

My guess is that it's just poorly worded and that you do stabilize if you roll between 10-19.

 

[Sitara]

Also, here's another pretty absurd corner case:

A fighter has 200 hit points at maximum, and is down to 5 HP. An orc stabs him for 6 points of damage, taking him down to -1. The next round, the fighter rolls a 20, and pops back up with 50 HP. So the orc just healed the fighter for 45 points by stabbing him in the gut.

I know that hit points are abstract, but that's pretty ridiculous.

Hmm. Now that is silly. I hope that wont be possible due to some mechanic (bloodied??) we don't know about.

lol...I can just see the ways that could be abused...

 

[Dragonblade]

Also, here's another pretty absurd corner case:

A fighter has 200 hit points at maximum, and is down to 5 HP. An orc stabs him for 6 points of damage, taking him down to -1. The next round, the fighter rolls a 20, and pops back up with 50 HP. So the orc just healed the fighter for 45 points by stabbing him in the gut.

I know that hit points are abstract, but that's pretty ridiculous.

Cinematically, thats the fighter wiping the blood off his lips, giving a Bruce Lee scream and then kicking everyone's butt!

Remember also the fighter needs a natural 20 for this to happen.

 

[JDJblatherings]

Also, here's another pretty absurd corner case:

A fighter has 200 hit points at maximum, and is down to 5 HP. An orc stabs him for 6 points of damage, taking him down to -1. The next round, the fighter rolls a 20, and pops back up with 50 HP. So the orc just healed the fighter for 45 points by stabbing him in the gut.

I know that hit points are abstract, but that's pretty ridiculous.

It does allow for cinematic action in the game.

There Lord dark is dead and all his henchmen too. Oh no watchout lord Dark is moving again...

 

[Roman]

I like this mechanic. It is a nice tweak of the negative buffer system that has been used hitherto.

 

[FabioMilitoPagliara]

Also, here's another pretty absurd corner case:

A fighter has 200 hit points at maximum, and is down to 5 HP. An orc stabs him for 6 points of damage, taking him down to -1. The next round, the fighter rolls a 20, and pops back up with 50 HP. So the orc just healed the fighter for 45 points by stabbing him in the gut.

I know that hit points are abstract, but that's pretty ridiculous.

well, first of all the orc have one free action before the fighter can roll

and we don't know if you can roll normally while being beaten up