House Rules: Combat - Injury and Death

Disabled (0 to Negative Constitution Score Hit Points)

You gain the disabled condition when your current hit point reached 0 or lower down, but still greater than the negative equivalent of your Constitution score.

While you have the disabled condition, you have one less act available on your turn. You can still use reactions, and are still considered to be threatening for situations such as flanking. However, each act and reaction (or any other action the GM deems strenuous, including some free actions such as casting a Quicken Spell spell) used while disabled inflicts 1 point of damage to you. You also move at half speed.

When your hit point total reaches your negative Constitution score, you fall unconscious and are dying.

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.

You can also become disabled when recovering from dying. In this case, it's a step toward recovery, and you can have fewer than 0 hit points (see Stable Characters and Recovery).

Dying (Negative Constitution Score to Double Negative Constitution Score)

If your hit point total is negative and equal or lower to your Constitution score, but not equal to or greater than twice your Constitution score, you are dying.

A dying character immediately falls unconscious and can take no actions.

A dying character loses 1 hit point 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 twice his Constitution score or lower, or if he succumbs to massive damage, he's dead. A character can also die from taking ability damage or suffering an ability drain that reduces his Constitution score to 0 (see Special Abilities).

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

Stable Characters and Recovery

On the character's next turn, after reaching dying status (but not dead), and on all subsequent turns, the character must make a DC 0 Fortitude save to become stable. The character must be unconscious or spend a full-round action to do nothing in order to make this saving throw. The character takes a penalty on this roll equal to half of his negative hit point total. A character that is already stable does not need to make this check. A natural 20 on this check is an automatic success. If the character fails this check, he loses 1 hit point. An unconscious or dying character cannot use any special action that changes the initiative count on which his action occurs.

Characters taking continuous damage, such as from an acid arrow or a bleed effect, automatically fail all Fortitude saves made to stabilize. Such characters lose 1 hit point per round in addition to the continuous damage. If a stable dying character takes damage, they are no longer stable and must again make Fortitude saves on their turn to stabilize.

You can keep a dying character from losing any more hit points and make him stable with a DC 10 Heal check with a penalty equal to the dying character's current negative hit points.

If any sort of healing cures the dying character of even 1 point of damage, he becomes stable and stops losing hit points.

Healing that raises the dying character's hit points from above his negative Constitution score to 0 makes him conscious and disabled. Healing that raises his hit points to 1 or more makes him fully functional again, just as if he'd never been reduced to 0 or lower. A spellcaster retains the spellcasting capability she had before dropping below 0 hit points.

A stable character who has been tended by a healer or who has been magically healed eventually regains consciousness and recovers hit points naturally. If the character has no one to tend him, however, his life is still in danger, and he may yet slip away.

Crippling Injuries

If you sustain an amount of damage that would reduce your hit points to 0 or lower, you may choose to instead receive a crippling injury to negate some or all of the damage. You can only take one crippling injury per attack. You may choose which injury you receive; if the damage received exceeds the amount negated by the injury, the excess damage applies to your hit points as normal. Table: Crippling Injuries describes each crippling injury and the amount of damage negated. You can receive a number of injuries up to your Constitution score. After that, you can no longer take injuries instead of damage.

Crippling injuries are permanent and cumulative, and cannot be healed by magical effects that cure hit point damage. The restoration spell can heal one crippling injury, removing both positive and negative effects, unless the body part has been severed. A severed body part requires the regenerate spell to be healed. A creature with the regeneration ability has all crippling injuries removed when healed back to full hit points.

Creatures immune to critical hits cannot choose to take a crippling injury.

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 Fortitude save with a DC of 15 + half of the damage amount that exceeds 50. 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. If you survive taking massive damage, you gain a crippling injury. Crippling injuries are determined randomly by rolling a 1d20 on Table: Crippling Injuries. For every 5 points of damage received, add 1 to the roll.

Creatures immune to critical hits are not subject to massive damage.

Table: Crippling Injuries

d20 Damage Negated Effect
1—4 5 Scar: -1 penalty on all Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, and Perform checks; +1 bonus to Intimidate checks.
5—8 10 Major Scar: disadvantage penalty on all Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, and Perform checks; +1 bonus to Intimidate checks.
9—10 15 Finger Injury: -1 penalty to all Climb, Craft, Disable Device, Perform (keyboard, percussion, string, wind), Ride, and Sleight of Hand checks. If you lose the use of all fingers on one hand, you lose the use of that hand as if you had received a hand injury; the effects of finger injuries for that hand are removed. If you lose use of all fingers, another finger injury results in a finger being completely severed. Reroll if all fingers have been severed.
11—12 20 Eye Injury: disadvantage on all sight-based Perception checks; -1 on ranged attack rolls (disadvantage instead for every eye destroyed); blind if all eyes are gone. If you lose the use of all of your eyes, another eye injury results in one eye being destroyed. Reroll if all of your eyes have been destroyed.
13—14 25 Hand Injury: disadvantage penalty on all Climb, Craft, Disable Device, Perform (keyboard, percussion, string, wind), Ride, Sleight of Hand, and Swim checks; cannot hold items in that hand; cannot use two-handed items if only one intact hand remaining. If you lose the use of all of your hands, you cannot cast spells with somatic components (unless you use the Still Spell feat). In addition, another hand injury results in that hand being severed, and you gain 1 bleed damage. Reroll if all of your hands have been severed.
15—16 30 Head Injury: disadvantage to all Intelligence-, Wisdom-, and Charisma-based checks and skill checks, and to Will saving throws. If you have at least 2 head injuries, you become permanently sickened. If you have at least 3 head injuries, you become permanently confused. If you have at least 4 head injuries, you become permanently staggered. If you have at least 5 head injuries, you have a 50% chance of being dazed at the beginning of your turn for 1 round. Reroll if you already have five head injuries.
17—18 35 Foot/Leg Injury: disadvantage on all Acrobatics, Climb, Perform (dance), Ride, and Stealth checks, and to Reflex saving throws; speed reduced to half if you lose the use of half of your legs/feet; cannot charge or run. If you lose the use of all your feet/legs, you fall prone and can only move with the Crawl action. In addition, another foot/leg injury results in that limb being severed, and you gain 2 bleed damage. Reroll if all of your feet or legs have been severed.
19—20 40 Arm Injury: disadvantage on all Acrobatics, Climb, Craft, Disable Device, Perform (keyboard, percussion, string, wind), Ride, Sleight of Hand, and Swim checks; cannot use any items with that arm; cannot use two-handed items if only one intact arm and intact hand remaining; melee attacks against you gain advantage. If you lose the use of all of your arms, another arm injury results in an arm being severed, and you gain 2 bleed damage. Reroll if all of your arms have been severed.
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