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just need a clarification on this. Our group is using the death from massive damage option.
This week we had a character fail the Fort save and die from massive damage. However, after the death he still wasn't in negative hit points. Would Breath of Life still work on this character? Does your character need to be dead due to negative hit points in order for Breath of Life to work?
Thanks in advance.
The RAW just says that after applying breath of life, if the target is at a negative hp total less than its Con, it returns to life. While those slain by death effects cannot be brought back with the spell, massive damage is not listed as a death effect. So I'd argue RAW says the spell would work.
For my own games, I'd rule that if the breath of life healed enough damage that the blow would no longer have exceeded the target's massive damage, then the target is restored to life. If it didn't reduce the damage by that much, the target is still dead. But that's my opinion, not my reading of the rule as written.
If you want to be pedantic of course, one could claim the RAW says nothing about people restored to positive hp bybreath of life. Under that interpretation, the spell restored neither those killed by massive damage or those with Con scores so low the spell heals them from dead into positive hp. This is a terrible interpretation that clearly violates intent, but one supported by RAW.
I'd invoke an old rule from 3.5 (maybe it's still in the Core rules too):
If a character dies from a death effect or death from massive damage, treat them as -10 hp if it matters (or - Con score nowadays).
Using this, your character dead from massive damage can easily be revived by breath of life if it's applied in the 1 round window.
Also, let's be fair: it's not the most logically consistent idea for someone to be dead in our game and have positive hp.
Breath of life would bring the character back. Massive damage rule isn't a death effect. Your hp doesn't change when you die to massive damage -- in fact, it's an alternative way to die not involving hp:
When your character's current hit points drop to a negative amount equal to his Constitution score or lower, or if he succumbs to massive damage, he's dead.
