DeathAndDying


D&D players lie in a weird place. We like realism, but when it comes down to it, reality really sucks sometimes. It's then that you have to just spit in reality's face and get down with the real life of the party, heroic realism. You know, the sort of thing that goes in stories, the telling of which is half the reason we play. In this specific case, we're talking about death. Heroic realism dictates that no one ever dies unless they accomplish something important with it. This is supported over and over again in literature. Characters are beaten unconscious, left for dead, and tortured, but if a character dies it's only because his death allowed the captives to escape the portal before it closed while he held off the last of the lizardmen. These rules model that in D&D rules, plus a bit more.

 

Life

This is meant to model the fact that characters in stories may get beaten nearly senseless in combat, but are back in fighting shape after bit of a breather.

This sort of models the same thing, but on a smaller scale. I find both the infinite Reserve Pool and the CT wonderful by themselves, and synergitastic when combined.

 

Death

Explained above. Heroic realism here.

Unconsciousness serves the same mechanical purposes as death - it makes the battle harder - without making the player roll a new character. It can still be crippling due to the Condition Track, but you can struggle through with that. Fun for the whole family!

Death should be important and memorable. Getting downed by a Slay Living cast by a cleric guarding the lizardman gates isn't fun. Saving your friends and tossing the Porcine Crystal after them just before the stone door slams shut, locking you in the tomb with the horrible monster, can be. Note, of course, that this can be abused. As this is fundamentally a roleplaying device and not a mechanical one, the appropriate response to suspected abuse is a slap to the back of the head.

 

And The Other Side

The player should have this freedom. The first two aren't much of a change at all - the enemy is usually killed, and knocking them unconscious only requires you to make your last strike be nonlethal, which really isn't worth the trouble of tracking that you have a -4 to hit. The last one is just plain cool, and *well* supported in literature. Just remember, you spared his life, but that doesn't (necessarily) mean he'll do you the same favor.