Delay or character death?

[Bloodgruve]

Hey Playgrounders,

Not sure if I died..

3.5 game, I get attacked and hit -9 HP. My turn comes up and I fail my % to stabilize and go to -10 x.x The cleric rushes up and heals me not knowing I'm totally dead.

Could I have used a Delay Initiative (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialInitiativeActions.htm) action at that point to allow for the cleric to reach me before I had to make my % roll?

Much appreciated.

Blood~

[Ydaer Ca Noit]

A dying character can take no actions and is unconscious. At the end of each round (starting with the round in which the character dropped below 0 hit points), the character rolls d% to see whether she becomes stable.

So yes, you are not dead

[Bloodgruve]

Thank you,

I'm taking this from the SRD

"On the next turn after a character is reduced to between -1 and -9 hit points and on all subsequent turns, roll d% to see whether the dying character becomes stable. He has a 10% chance of becoming stable. If he doesn’t, he loses 1 hit point. (A character who’s unconscious or dying can’t use any special action that changes the initiative count on which his action occurs.)

If the character’s hit points drop to -10 or lower, he’s dead. "

Has this been changed?

[Ydaer Ca Noit]

Here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/injuryandDeath.htm) it says you start on the next round, and here (www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm)it says that it starts in the same round. What happened :smallconfused:

either way the check would be at the end of the round, i think

[Kelb_Panthera]

Sorry fella. You're dead. Anything that goes round by round is triggered just before the next turn of the person that produced the effect or the person it's affecting. Stabilization uses the latter.

However, I'd probably let it slide as a DM since he got there right as you bled out. Maybe a percentile roll against a table to see if you come back wrong because of the close call and being revived by the wrong magic, depending on the tone of the campaign.

[Bloodgruve]

Thanks for the responses. I was only level 2 with 15xp to go for level 3. We really wanted that last bit of xp so we got a wandering monster. I was at the back of the group and failed to heal after the previous encounter. Got focused and was dead before the healer got to me..

But.. it was a surprise round.. and the DM moved and attacked.. maybe I'm not dead...

[Duke of Urrel]

Sorry fella. You're dead. Anything that goes round by round is triggered just before the next turn of the person that produced the effect or the person it's affecting. Stabilization uses the latter.

Does stabilization really occur or fail to occur on the turn of the dying creature? I don't believe that's true, so I'm going to look very closely at those rule texts.


"On the next turn after a character is reduced to between -1 and -9 hit points and on all subsequent turns, roll d% to see whether the dying character becomes stable. He has a 10% chance of becoming stable. If he doesn’t, he loses 1 hit point. (A character who’s unconscious or dying can’t use any special action that changes the initiative count on which his action occurs.)

If the character’s hit points drop to -10 or lower, he’s dead."

Here's the other text, from the SRD's Condition Summary, helpfully quoted by Ydaer Ca Noit:

"At the end of each round (starting with the round in which the character dropped below 0 hit points), the character rolls d% to see whether she becomes stable."

Both texts mention the end of the round in which the character's hit-point level drops below zero. But surely you usually lose hit-points when you are attacked, that is, on the attacker's turn, not on your own turn. So the end of this round, the time at which you make your percentile-dice check to determine whether you stabilize, should be just before the attacker's next turn. In the meantime, of course, you have your own turn, but nothing at all happens, because you're unconscious and dying.


Thanks for the responses. I was only level 2 with 15xp to go for level 3. We really wanted that last bit of xp so we got a wandering monster. I was at the back of the group and failed to heal after the previous encounter. Got focused and was dead before the healer got to me..

But.. it was a surprise round.. and the DM moved and attacked.. maybe I'm not dead...

Both moving and attacking shouldn't be possible in a surprise round, unless: (1) the move is nothing more than a five-foot step, which you can add to an attack action for free, or: (2) the move is part of a shortened charge action, which allows traveling the length of a standard move before attacking, but also must follow an unimpeded straight line, according to the rules of running and charging.

If an attacker surprises you, attacks you while you're flat-footed, and reduces you to a dying and unconscious condition, your own initiative count doesn't matter, because you can no longer act. However, the initiative count of your friend the healer does matter. Indeed, I believe it is of critical importance for you. If the healer's initiative check is higher than your attacker's initiative check, the healer can act and possibly heal you before you have to lose that last hit-point. But if the healer's initiative count is lower than your attacker's, your only hope is to stabilize, and if you fail to stabilize, you die.

That's my understanding of the matter.

[sideswipe]

The SRD has been wrong on many occasions.

If I were you I would look within a copy of the players handbook and the rules compendium. if they both state that that you make the stabilisation roll before the cleric got to you then you died. if they both state you make the roll at the end of the round which was after the cleric got to you then you are alive.

Also go to wizards of the coast website and get the errata's to double check they have not had an errata to the rule.

I never trust anything from the SRD until I have double checked the primary source.
The SRD is like wikipedia. its a nice Source to get general information. but the finer points can be wrong. and in situations like this it is the specifics that matter.

[Duke of Urrel]

Your advice was sound, Sideswipe! I looked up the following passage on page 73 of the Rules Compendium. The decisive phrase is in bold text.

"A dying creature has –1 to –9 current hit points. It’s unconscious and can take no actions. On that creature’s initiative count each round, starting with the round in which the creature dropped below 0 hit points, it rolls d% to see whether it becomes stable. It has a 10% chance to become stable. If not, it loses 1 hit point. If a dying creature reaches –10 hit points, it’s dead."

So I was wrong in the advice I gave. The RC is always right. In this case, the SRD wasn't wrong, just incomplete and therefore possibly misleading.

[Bloodgruve]

Thanks again guys.

Since the DM took an extra action he's ruling that my character lives. But this is good information to have.

Appreciated

Blood~