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Let's say you have a twenty con and you just lost eighteen points of it and you are ninth level. You lose nine times your level losing eighty one points of hit points, but you only have seventy six. Are you out for the count, or do you have one hit point per level till your constitution reaches 0.
In 3.5, I could go to such and such a page and show you you have one hit point per level under these conditions. I can't find it in the Core Rule Book. Can somebody point it out to me, what page and what paragraph in any book?
You apply your character's Constitution modifier to:
Each roll of a Hit Die (though a penalty can never drop a result below 1—that is, a character always gains at least 1 hit point each time he advances in level).
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Read a little further.
Damage to your Constitution score causes you to take penalties on your Fortitude saving throws. In addition, multiply your total Hit Dice by this penalty and subtract that amount from your current and total hit points. Lost hit points are restored when the damage to your Constitution is healed.
This line does not say 'this subtraction cannot reduce your HP to less than 1 per HD'. It says take your HD times the penalty, and subtract it from both your current and total hit points. If this number is more than your current hit points, you fall unconscious. If it falls below your death threshold, you're dead. This does not, however, decrease you Con, so you calculate your death threshold as normal.
ToZ got here before me. :(
The description of Constitution says:
The description of Constitution damage says:
So your minimum hp gain for a level is 1 hp, and Con damage (or drain) makes you lose HD * penalty. There's nothing that says "if this penalty would reduce your hit points per level to below 1, there is no additional effect." So Con damage and drain can drop you below your minimum hit points per level.
As an example, Unlucky Bob is a 5th-level commoner with Con 6 (a –2 Con modifier). Due to bad luck on his hp rolls (3, 3, 2, 2, 1) he only got 1 hit point for each of his commoner levels (he has 5 hp at full). A wraith attacks him and deals 4 points of Con damage; that's a –2 penalty. A –2 penalty x his 5 HD is 10 hit points of damage, which puts him at –5 hp.
Yep, that sucks... but a low ability score or ability modifier should be able to "protect" you from certain types of damage.
Con damage is very dangerous. I have had more than one character who has died due to Con damage that they weren't expecting.
It is always funny how players new to my games want to dump con. I warn them not to do it, but they never listen.