hawkeyefan
Legend
I was thinking about how to possibly make 5E a bit more dangerous as it relates to PC death. I think I came up with a decent option. I’ve not yet tried it in play, but I wanted to run it by folks here for feedback, suggested changes, and unnecessarily harsh criticism!
We start by removing death saves. PCs will now die at 0 HP like in early editions. However, they’ll also get starting HP equal to their CON score. That’s their “Base HP”. In addition, they’ll accumulate HP by class and CON bonus per level as normal.
So the PCs will have more HP to start. The Base HP are the last they willlose. Anytime the PC takes damage that leaves them within their Base HP amount, they are considered “at death’s door”. This means the player has the option to have the PC fall unconscious or to press on.
This gives players a little more control on if they want to press their luck, or be cautious and go down. It also serves as a clear daner zone....when they’re near their Base HP, they know they’re going to be at risk.
I like that it puts the decision to go down or not in the players’ hands. I like that it removes the safety net of HP loss stopping once a PC is at 0 HP. I think this idea or something similar would help inject some lethality into the game and do so in a way that was very clear to players.
I hope that‘s clear. What do you guys think? Are there implications from other rules that I’ve missed? Does this sound horrible to you as a player? As a DM?
We start by removing death saves. PCs will now die at 0 HP like in early editions. However, they’ll also get starting HP equal to their CON score. That’s their “Base HP”. In addition, they’ll accumulate HP by class and CON bonus per level as normal.
So the PCs will have more HP to start. The Base HP are the last they willlose. Anytime the PC takes damage that leaves them within their Base HP amount, they are considered “at death’s door”. This means the player has the option to have the PC fall unconscious or to press on.
This gives players a little more control on if they want to press their luck, or be cautious and go down. It also serves as a clear daner zone....when they’re near their Base HP, they know they’re going to be at risk.
I like that it puts the decision to go down or not in the players’ hands. I like that it removes the safety net of HP loss stopping once a PC is at 0 HP. I think this idea or something similar would help inject some lethality into the game and do so in a way that was very clear to players.
I hope that‘s clear. What do you guys think? Are there implications from other rules that I’ve missed? Does this sound horrible to you as a player? As a DM?