Death and Dying

The Change

Death and Dying

Death Threshold:

Every living character has a death threshold, equal to thier level multiplied by thier consitution score (Minimum thier level), plus 10.

Disabled (0 Hit Points)

When your current hit point total drops to exactly 0, you gain the disabled condition (see below)

Healing that raises your hit points above 0 makes you fully functional again, just as if you'd never been reduced to 0 or fewer hit points.

Dying (Negative Hit Points)

If your hit point total is negative, but not lower than your death threshold,you gain the dying condition.

A dying character loses thier consitution score in hit points every round. This continues until the character dies or becomes stable.

Dead

When your character's current hit points drop to a negative amount equal to thier Death Threshold or lower, or if they succumbs to massive damage, they are dead.

Certain types of powerful magic, such as raise dead and resurrection, can restore life to a dead character.

Nonlethal attacks

A non-lethal attack cannot drop a target below 0 HP, if a non lethal attack would drop a character to 0HP, they become uncounsious instead of disabled.

Massive Damage

If you ever sustain a single attack that deals an amount of damage equal to half your total hit points (minimum 50 points of damage) or more and it doesn't kill you outright, you must make a DC 15 Fortitude save. If this saving throw fails, you die regardless of your current hit points. If you take half your total hit points or more in damage from multiple attacks, no one of which dealt more than half your total hit points (minimum 50), the massive damage rule does not apply.

Death-related conditions:

Disabled

A character who is at 0 HP, oor negative HP and still consious, is disabled. WHile disabled a character has only one action, which cannot be increased by the quickened condition, but can be reduced by things such as slowed or stunned.

Using any action with the concentrate or attack trait is strenous, causing you to lose your con socre in HP (Min 1 hp), possibly leaving you in negative hitpoints and dying.

Doomed

The doomed condition how reduces the -HP threshold at which you die, each level of doomed reduces your dying threshold as if your consitution was one lower, A doomed value equal to your consitution score means you die at any HP value below 0, you remain meerly uncounsious at 0.

Creatures such as Undead and Constructs are typically destroyed at 0 HP.

The Reason:

I really dont like 5e's death rule "innovation", nor the (harsher) version that 2e adopted.