In our recent campaign, someone got wiped out by an ogre hook crit. I have an unwritten rule that you should not die from something that wasn't your fault and that you have no defense or save against. If you limp into the dragon's lair with no spells left, fine, you die. If you fail consecutive saves from poison or forgot to heal yourself, step into lava, dance with a bear, this is all fair enough. But you should not die out of the blue.
Ideas:
Toughness feat also extends your negative hp range by 1/level
at - con score you die, but can be revived with an uninterrupted full round heal check within 10 rounds. At - 2 * con score, the damage has been too great and the soul leaves the body etc. as per normal rules
you die at - 1/3 of your HP instead of - con score (scales)
you die at - 10 + 3* CON modifier
comments?
