Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bayushi Isao 04-23-06, 10:10 PM	In my game, I've decided to get rid of ressurection, as I've decided that it is too anti-climactic. However, in doing this I've eliminated an important safety measure for my characters. I need to put a buffer concerning death so as to protect my players' characters so as to keep them from dying needless and being permanently eliminated. Are there any ways I can go around to prevent death but give some kind of repercussion for dying? I was thinking there could be some kind of (temporary) setback, or something that, in the long-term, is symbolic as opposed to game-shaking. Thank you for your time.
Gilgiga of the Hunt 04-23-06, 10:53 PM	You could always just make dieing harder. Being put at -hp doesn't mean you die, but that you can die, and if you take a critical hit at -10 you die or something like that. That or you never drop dead, only to 0, and need someone to actually kill you once you're negative, or have sat there for 10 rounds before you die.
ArcTan 04-24-06, 01:07 AM	Yeah. Require very negative hit points for actual death, and make the "dying" condition in negative hit points something it takes a long time to recover from. Maybe impose stat penalties for remaining comatose or on the brink of death or severely injured for a long time (i.e. if you stay at negative hit points for over a day while the party looks for healing). That sort of thing.
rhammill 04-28-06, 10:23 PM	There are a variety of issues here. I've used a lot of variations on the rules in my campaign to all but elimate resurrection. I use a hit point/wound point system where hit points represent your ability to avoid being hit, and wound points represent your actual ability to survive a successful hit. It's similar to the UA vitality/wound system: Wound points are equal to Con bonus, and you only take 1 wound per attack, with some attacks possibly causing more. You cannot be reduced to below 0 wound points, but you start dying at 0 wound points. You can be injured (50% chance if you take more than 1 wound point in a single attack, higher chance in falls, called shots). Wound points cannot be healed as easily as hit points with magic. Injuries are harder to heal than wounds, and take days or even weeks to recover. Injured characters are disabled (they can still function, but not well). I make judiciuos use of conditions (like fatigue, disabled, etc.) as these are great ways to make them 'feel the pain' without bringing the game to a standstill, and without killing them. I have no instant kill scenarios (spells, etc.). I use the 10% chance to stabalize (+ Con bonus x2) instead of the Fortitude save in 3.5. Most creatures will not stabalize without help, and thus will die if reduced to 0 wound points. Since the average creature will have a +1 or lower Con bonus (and 1 wound point), they can only suffer one solid attack. I have modified other things as well. For example, I don't like the idea of energy drain and negative levels. Instead, it drains from all 6 abilities, and each day you continue to lose more until you successfully save. Then you start to recover 1 per day. It can take a while to regain them all, but it's not a permanent loss. If a character is reduced to 0 Con they start dying, rather than being immediately killed. Randy
FlameLover 04-29-06, 03:22 AM	One solution I came up with in another thread like this was the following: Hit -10 and your at Death's Door. Roll 1d6, remove one from the ability score rolled (1 is Strength and 6 is Charisma, etc.) You have 1 (could make it more, more heroic is 3) rounds before you finally croack it. Get healing in time, your saved (but with the -1 loss to an ability score). Don't get healing in time? Dead. Simple and easy way to make death avoidable, but still possible.