I've been letting my players have 1 full round after falling past negative Con in which to still use a Cure spell to get them at least above the point of death. In any case, because they died, all their buffs are gone after being revived in this fashion.
I'm considering, instead, to allow them to make a Caster Level check with a DC that increases for each round past death. Also, maybe allowing a Heal check with a similarly increasing DC to return them to 1 hp better than negative Con, and stable. This allows more time to revive a fallen ally, but the DC would soon become so high it would take an Epic caster or heal check to revive them.
It seems cinematically appropriate as there are often situations where a hero dies, but his or her friends just keep trying to bring him back.
I guess my questions are:
1) What do you think? Balanced? Too nice? Obsoletes important game rules?
2) How should I set the DC? Equal to current (negative) hitpoints? Maybe a flat starting DC, independent of their hitpoints? Something else?
Thanks for reading.
I like the idea, and I'm thinking of doing something similar.
Make Breath of Life more powerful if your going to use the above, but maybe make raise dead and ressurection more costly in some way. I used negative levels that last a certain amount of time.
EDIT: In the original idea I had I allowed people to be cured within Con Mod rounds of death, but they got that negative level.
How about this:
You die at -Con score hp. You can still be cured to back above your death hp for a number of round equal to your Con Mod (minimum 1). Breath of Life is empowered if you are below 0 hp. When brought back to life this way you gain a number of negative levels equal to the number of multiples of your death hp you passed, e.g. you have Con 12, and were sent to -25 hp; the cleric runs over casts cure serious wounds and heals you for 19 hp bringing you to -6. However you gain negative two levels as you were below 2xCon Score.
These negative levels cannot be healed unless a wish or miracle is cast first.
You can only be raised from the dead 1/4 levels, and beyond that only if a wish or miracle is cast first.
Hows that? Should reduce lethality, but not without a cost and removes limitless returns from death. Many adventurers will retire after being raised and use thier savings to buy a farm or business and settle down, and their may be inns for old adventurers, many of of whom have died and returned, called the 'Last Chance Inn'.
It is way to nice.
There is a level 5 spell who can save people form death (a negative con score of HP)
Breath of Life: (page 251 of PRG core book).
You can still do this but that makes this spell a bit useless.
Second: It is less hard to die then in 3.5. You was dead at -10 hp no mather how good your con was.
Third: When i play it is good to know that there is a chance to die. If i know that death is nearly impossible my risks are gonna be greater. Afther you con is reached in negative hp then ressurection spells are required.
|
It is way to nice.
There is a level 5 spell who can save people form death (a negative con score of HP)
Breath of Life: (page 251 of PRG core book).
You can still do this but that makes this spell a bit useless.Second: It is less hard to die then in 3.5. You was dead at -10 hp no mather how good your con was.
Third: When i play it is good to know that there is a chance to die. If i know that death is nearly impossible my risks are gonna be greater. Afther you con is reached in negative hp then ressurection spells are required.
This is correct. I tried this rule. Result, the Fighter/Rogue charged into the middle oa 6 Red Mantises, went down like a sack of Sneak Attacked potatoes and should have been dead. Becasuse of the one round time delay, the Cleric was able to run up and save him with a Cure Serious Wounds while everyone else distracted/butchered, the Mantises.
In my current campaing, I've dropped this houserule with no complaints from the players.
I think it depends on how experience the players are in the game itself. If they are newbies and have never progressed to that high of a level, I think it warrants consideration. If they're uber munchkins, there's no way I'd use it myself.
That said, like the flavor of it, especially the version Vagrant-Poet is purposing. Overall I would let the players know up front it's a house-rule for flavor and the first time it's getting abused, it'll may be revoked at GM's discretion. Hopefully the'll appreciate your thoughtfulness.
The idea of my version is that you still get penalized for going down, but you don't neccesarily die, but people can only actually die a very few times, so people can get assassinated, murderedetc. Go after the prince, he's less than lvl 4, so he stays dead and you've caused chaos, and thrown succession into question, etc. In the normal rules, death means nothing to the wealthy, which is fine in most games, because its the PCs who die mostly, but if you want death to be meaningful to NPCs this gives you that option.
How about this:
You die at -Con score hp. You can still be cured to back above your death hp for a number of round equal to your Con Mod (minimum 1). Breath of Life is empowered if you are below 0 hp. When brought back to life this way you gain a number of negative levels equal to the number of multiples of your death hp you passed, e.g. you have Con 12, and were sent to -25 hp; the cleric runs over casts cure serious wounds and heals you for 19 hp bringing you to -6. However you gain negative two levels as you were below 2xCon Score.
These negative levels cannot be healed unless a wish or miracle is cast first.You can only be raised from the dead 1/4 levels, and beyond that only if a wish or miracle is cast first.
Hows that? Should reduce lethality, but not without a cost and removes limitless returns from death. Many adventurers will retire after being raised and use thier savings to buy a farm or business and settle down, and their may be inns for old adventurers, many of of whom have died and returned, called the 'Last Chance Inn'.
Actually, with say a Lv 5 fighter fighting a Troll, he's at 10 hp. The Trolls hits with all of it's attacks, and rend for 37 damage. He's dropped to -27hp. A cleric can heal 3d8+5~18 hp with a cure serious wounds. Bringing him back up to -9 and safe. He gain's 1 negative level for a week.
At Lv 10 the fighter takes 51 damage at 20 hp, dropped to -31, cleric can cast breath of life for 48 hp, bringing him back up to 17. He gains two negative levels for a week.
But if hit with a disintegrate for 77 hp, he's dead.
So it unless there's a way to make those affects less lethal, and just get rid of raise dead, it's hard to die. Hmm.
Any thoughts?
vagrant-poet:
I like your system quite a bit. Especially the idea of using negative levels as a sort of temporary after-death penalty to represent your recovery. It is complex, I think I'd have to write it all down for whenever it happens and do some figuring. I think my players' eyes would glaze over if I tried to explain it to them. I think I might adapt portions of it though, if I can simplify it a little.
Count Duck:
You make some good points. The system I've been using has ALMOST eliminated death. I've had two PC deaths in the last couple of years. However, the system I'm considering, there would still be a decent chance for death if I set the DC high enough. Especially if they only got one try, then it either worked or it didn't.
Paul Watson:
Which rule did you try and then abandon? The one where you can still heal for one round or the one where healing after death requires a Caster Level check?
|
|
vagrant-poet:
I like your system quite a bit. Especially the idea of using negative levels as a sort of temporary after-death penalty to represent your recovery. It is complex, I think I'd have to write it all down for whenever it happens and do some figuring. I think my players' eyes would glaze over if I tried to explain it to them. I think I might adapt portions of it though, if I can simplify it a little.Count Duck:
You make some good points. The system I've been using has ALMOST eliminated death. I've had two PC deaths in the last couple of years. However, the system I'm considering, there would still be a decent chance for death if I set the DC high enough. Especially if they only got one try, then it either worked or it didn't.Paul Watson:
Which rule did you try and then abandon? The one where you can still heal for one round or the one where healing after death requires a Caster Level check?
The 1 round after death healing. It didn't save the Sorceress at early levels, thoguh. The healer rolled a 1 for her. But it made things too easy, in my group's opinion.
It might not be unreasonable to allow a house-ruled feat that lets breath of life work one round later than usual. Some cost to the caster, and won't need to appear in every campaign.
How about:
Your death threshold is equal to your constitution score + (1/2 Con score per 3 levels).
If you exceed this total you die. You can be healed above this limit for one round after you die. And breath of life is maximised if your hp is below 0. If you come back from this you take negative levels equal to 1/4 your level, these last for a week and can only be healed by wish or a miracle.
There is no raise dead or reincarnation, and you must have at least 9 HD to be raised by a ressurection spell.