Difference between revisions of "Hovering at Death's Door"

Latest revision as of 18:07, 8 October 2007

Damage that reduces you to 0 or below:

Characters do not die until they reach -11 hit points. Characters reduced to from 0 to -10 hit points suffer from the following restrictions:

• Spellcasters lose all spells memorized.
• You continue to lose 1 hp/round from blood loss until you are bandaged. (Exception: people at 0 do not bleed.)
• A check must be made to stay concious on the round when the damage was received. This is a Con check modified by the character's current hp.
• If you are concious, then you may do the following at no penalty:
  • Move at movement rate 3.
  • Bandage yourself or others.
  • Use certain magic items such as potions.
  • Hide in Shadows.
  • And so on.
• If you are concious, you may attempt more strenuous action. However, there is a risk. If you perform any of the actions below, you must make another Con check modified by your current hp. If you fail this check, you take permanent damage equal to one die lower than your class hp die, this is known as "Heart Explodey". For example, a fighter takes d8, a thief d4, and a mage d3. If you live, this damage forces a new conciousness check with the new damage included in the modifier.
• Strenuous actions:
  • Fighting
  • Moving at normal movement rate
  • Reading a scroll
• If you are unconscious, a second Con check, to wake up, may be attempted if:
  • Someone is trying to "slap you awake."
  • You experience a shock such as being immersed in water.
  • After 6 rounds regardless (this was always supposed to be a rule, but is often neglectfully forgotten by me).

Healing up from a negative:

Magical healing used on a character at or below 0 will automatically bring that character up to 1, without any roll. However, 8 hours of rest are needed after reaching 1 hp by magical means. During these eight hours actions are restricted as if you were at or below 0. If you attempt strenuous action during this recovery period you must make a check as detailed above to avoid further damage.

If you heal from 0 to 1 hp naturally, without magic, then these restrictions do not apply. Natural healing occurs at the rate of 1 hp/8 hours rest.

Permanent scarring occurs at -7 hp.

Note that some monsters (esp. large or intelligent ones) can also hover at death's door; however, you don't have to sit there and hack at an unconscious squirrel (e.g.) for 10 hp to kill it, it just dies. Certain peasants etc. may only go down to -3 or so before dying, poor guys. Bears and boars have special rules for negatives, as per the Monster Manual.