Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Yunru Sep 28, 2015 12:08:59	Short and sweet: Failed Death Saving Throws only reset after a long or short rest.
#2 DM_Craig Sep 28, 2015 13:08:05	Perfect.
#3 iserith Sep 28, 2015 13:43:30	Super-Scary Mode: There are no death saving throws. When you reach 0 hit points, you die.
#4 Tempest_Stormwind Sep 28, 2015 14:17:43	I have to admit, I quite loudly went "oooh!" when I read this.   Less so the super-scary mode, though.   Note that you can use this to make Spare the Dying more useful than healer's kit: it might also remove one failed death saving throw, assuming you've failed one. (During playtest, I heard it also restored a hit point, which made it too good, since a character with 1HP fights as well as one with full HP. But making death slightly less sticky than it is normally... I like that.)
#5 Gwaithador Sep 28, 2015 17:02:02	Okay, so, I ran a group through ye old "Slavers" campaign. Things went real sour after the escape from the Dungeon of the Slave Lords and all the players ended up needing death saving throws. Three out four failed, and oh, they did it with flair, with two out of three rolling a 1 on the second roll. We used this cool metal d20 one our players bought at a convention which hit the table with an ominous thud each time and came up with a "1." It has been dubbed the "death die", a cursed thing, a bane to players.   I used to thing that death in 5e was easily avoided. Now? Not so much.
(Reply to #5) CCS	Gwaithador wrote:
#7 Ralif_Redhammer Sep 29, 2015 7:14:08	Agreed, in 4e it seemed like the DM had to really work to threaten characters.   The rule of not resetting death saves would make for a very dangerous game.   I have to say, I like the death saves mechanic – it really makes PCs sweat. Which in turn makes teamwork and healing magic all the more valuable.     And rolling a nat 1 is pretty much doom.   CCS wrote:
#8 DeathMutantLives Sep 29, 2015 9:39:14	I also recommend letting the DM roll death saving throws secretly. In most games, players feel no sense of urgency to stabilize a fallen ally if they have failed only 0 or 1 death saves because they know he can last another round or two longer. Once they fail exactly 2 death saves, however, suddenly it becomes important to save them. If the players do not know how many death saves have been failed they tend to react more realistically and rush to their fallen ally instead of casually ignoring them until the last minute.   In my home games, I use your suggestion of death saves only resetting after a rest but in Adventurers League games I do not have the power to change the rules. I can still use the DM rolls death saves secretly, however, because that does not change any rules; just like DM secretly rolling Perception, Investigation and Insight checks instead of the players.