Death Saves & Last Stands

Under this variant rule, all characters start with a limited number of Death Saves ranging from 0 to 6, depending on the desired difficulty of the campaign. These saves are represented using the "Successes" and "Failures" boxes in the Death Saves section on the character sheet. If starting with fewer than 6 Death Saves, cross out the number of boxes needed for you to have the correct amount left.

Negative Health A character's health can be taken into the negatives, down to a minimum equal to the negative of their maximum health. If a character's health reaches this minimum, they die. (except when they would be entering a Last Stand)

Going Down Any time a character's health is reduced to 0 or less, they are Downed and must make a Constitution check, without adding proficiency, against a DC of 12. If the damage that brings this character below positive health would also kill them, they automatically fail the check. On a failure, they become Unconscious and lose one Death Save, crossing it out from their character sheet permanently. On a success, they suffer the mechanical effects of being Unconscious but retain the ability to speak and interact with objects within their space. They do not lose a Death Save.

Getting Back Up A Downed and Unconscious character takes 1d4 damage at the beginning of their turn until they are stabilized by another character with a successful DC 10 Medicine (Wisdom) check. 1d6 hours after being stabilized, this character is returned to 1 health and regains consciousness. A Downed but conscious character is restored to 1 health if they take a short rest, in addition to their spent hit dice. If a Downed character receives any healing, it will restore any negative health they have lost. If their health is restored above 0, they are no longer Downed but remain Prone. A conscious character can then take their next turn as normal. An Unconscious character spends their next turn regaining consciousness, but can begin acting the turn after that.

Resurrection Dead characters can be resurrected with a spell or other effect, so long as their death did not involve a Last Stand. If it did, this character can no longer be resurrected, as their soul became disconnected from the material plane. If the character being resurrected has any Death Saves remaining, they lose one Death Save in the process. Artwork by Marek Okon v.1.3