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Deaths Door
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HOVERING ON DEATH'S DOOR RULES "Less deaths, more permanent damage" DEATH
A character has a death point that is equal to the negative of his
Constitution. Thus a character with a 11 Constitution would have a death point
of -11. If for any reason a character's hit points goes below his death point,
the character dies.
When a character reaches 0 hit points, he becomes unconscious. This
unconscious state is accompanied by shallow breathing, faint heart beat, etc..
When a character has negative hit points (i.e. below 0), then he must
make a system shock each round until he dies or his hit points are restored to 0
or above. If the system shock is successful, then the character still has a
chance for survival. If the system shock is failed, then the character's
Constitution is permanently lowered by 1. Because his Constitution is lowered by
one, the character's death point is raised by 1. Thus the character with 11
Constitution who failed his system shock now has a 10 Constitution and a death
point of -10.
Note that if a character's hit points goes below his death point because
of the loss of Constitution then he is dead. Also, if a character's Constitution
becomes 0 then the character dies as well. Such loss and death are caused from
bleeding, shock, convulsions, non-respiration, and similar causes.
The only way to prevent loss and death is to raise the character's hit
points to 0 or higher though aid. Aid consists of binding the wounds (healing
proficiency), administering a draught (spirits, healing potion, etc.), magical
spells (cure light wounds, etc.), or otherwise doing whatever is necessary to
restore life. This initial healing will restore any hit points and can very well
restore hit points above 0. COMING
BACK FROM THE DEATH EXPERIENCE
When a character recovers from having under 0 hit points, certain
abilities are temporarily lowered for a number of days equal to the lowest
number of hit points he had. Thus a character that had hit points of -6 before
being healed would now suffer the lower ability scores for 6 days.
Strength is temporarily lowered for a number of days equal to the lowest
number of hit points he had. Thus a character that had hit points of -6 before
being healed would now suffer a -6 to his Strength.
Dexterity is temporarily lowered for a number of days equal to the lowest
number of hit points he had divided by 2. Thus a character that had hit points
of -6 before being healed would now suffer a -3 to his Strength.
Note that no ability can be lowered less than 1. Also, all memorized
spells are lost. Finally, all saving throws are made at -1.
Other than these effects that weaken the character, the character can
continue on as usual. OPTIONAL
PERMANENT DAMAGE
If a character's Constitution is lowered by a fourth of the original
Constitution, then scarring could result (Table 1). If a creature's Constitution
is lowered by half of the original Constitution, then the loss of a body part
could result (Table 2).
TABLE 1: SCARRING
ROLL AREA
OF EFFECT
01-39 Torso
40-49 Head
50-59 Arm, left
60-69 Arm, right
70-79 Leg, left 80-89
Leg, right
90-00 No scar
TABLE 2: LOSS OF BODY PART
ROLL AREA OF EFFECT
01-04 Arm, left
05-09 Arm, right
10-14 Leg, left
15-19 Leg, right
20-29 Foot, left
30-39 Foot, right
40-49 Hand, left
50-59 Hand, right
60-64 Eye, left
65-69 Eye, right
70-74 Ear, left
75-79 Ear, right
80-89 Roll on Table 1
90-00 No loss of body part NATURAL
HEALING
characters heal naturally at a rate of 1 hit point per day of rest. Rest
is defined as low activity-nothing more strenuous than riding a horse or
traveling from one place to another. Fighting, running in fear, lifting a heavy
boulder, or any other physical activity, prevents resting, since it strains old
wounds and may reopen them.
If a character has complete bed-rest (doing nothing an entire day), he
can regain 3 hit points for the day. For each complete week of bed rest, the
character can add any Constitution hit point bonus he might have to the base of
21 points (3 points per day) he regained during the week.
In both cases above, the character is assumed to be getting adequate
food, water, and sleep. If these are lacking, the character does not regain any
hit points that day. ROLE-PLAYING
IN THE HERE-AFTER
What happens to your favorite PC when he dies? You roll a new one! I hear
you cry, but why must death be the end of role-playing?
Almost all RPGs have a plethora of religions, from Central American to
Norse mythologies, each of which stresses an after-life in one form or another.
In the case of the Norse religion the valorous dead where raised from the
field of battle by Valkyries and carried to Valhalla, where they were allowed to
fight and drink until the end of the world (Ragnorok) after which man would be
born anew as a god-like being. Many religions stress that after death the soul
must undertake a perilous journey or quest to reach its final resting place or
paradise. The soul usually undertakes this journey either with or without
possessions. Possessions are normally those grave goods buried with the
deceased, e.g. weapons, food, wine, money, etc. Those buried without grave goods
or those who were not given a proper burial rite would have to undertake this
journey naked and unarmed, but would be able to improvise such items as needed
upon the way. The journey could be a way of testing the soul for virtue,
bravery, kindness, honesty, etc. Many
grave goods, especially those of the nobility, included effigies or statues to
serve the dead on their journey.
Other religions preached that upon death each soul was placed on trial
and had to prove itself innocent of crimes such as greed, cowardice, dishonesty,
etc.. If the soul proved itself innocent it was allowed either access to
paradise or reincarnation, depending on the religion. Guilty souls were either
condemned to everlasting hell or were completely destroyed.
Some religions believed that the souls of the evil did not depart the
world of the living until they had righted their wrongs. ROLE-PLAYING
IDEAS
The idea of the quest to find paradise is a good role playing theme that
only needs the imagination of the DM to flesh it out.
Another idea for role playing is the discharge of a soul debt. A soul
debt applies to those beings, usually evil, who have pledged their souls to
demons or evil deities for power during their lives, or those who have been
tricked into selling their souls into the service of evil. The latter provides
the best possibilities for role playing, fight of the soul to escape from the
nether planes back to their own place of eternal rest.
Many evil beings steal the souls of those they kill e.g. Nighthags who
sell the souls to evil beings from the lower planes. The theme of this could be
the escape of the soul from the clutches of these beings before they are sold.
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