i've got this weird DEATH SAVE rule I've been using, it's pretty simple:
everybody has a DEATH SAVE. you roll 1d6 and write down the result, and write DEATH SAVE or draw a big skull or something. the death save should stare out at you from the page, humbling you. "I want to jump over this chasm - but if I fall, there's a 3-in-6 chance I will die," you will say.
so whenever you are hit by an attack that takes you down to 0HP, make a DEATH SAVE.
or when a thing happens that should kill you, or when the book says 'save or die', make a DEATH SAVE.
to make a DEATH SAVE:
roll a d6, get on or under your DEATH SAVE score.
if you fail, you are dead.
if you succeed, you are not dead, and (optional variant: you heal a little) and (optional variant: you lose a thing), and your death save goes down by one, so that with each successful save you are slowly ticking down to the day when you will die. if your death save reaches 0, you can still do adventures if you want to, but you can't succeed a DEATH SAVE anymore.
the DEATH SAVE increases by one each time you level up.
Seems like something similar was posted elsewhere recently, though I can't remember where.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea. I'm thinking of using something along the same lines, but simply having a "vs. death" negative modifier which increases with each successful use and is applied to any save where one's life hangs in the balance.