Things that can kill you

[Jowgen]

I just thought it would be interesting to collect a list of all the things in D&D that can kill you.

From the top of my head:

- HP damage
- Con damage
- Negative Levels aka. Energy Drain
- Coup de Grace
- Massive Damage
- Death Spells aka. Spells with the [Death] Descriptor
- Death Effects (definition is arguable)
- Disintegrate
- Suffocation
- Starvation
- Dehydration
- Poison with the death effect (arguably a death effect...)
- Touching a Sphere of Annihilation
- Strongly Positive dominant planar effects

This is what I got so far, what I miss?

[P.F.]

-fear (intrinsically deadly illusions like phantasmal killer)

[Jowgen]

-fear (intrinsically deadly illusions like phantasmal killer)

Hmmm. I know there are fear spells that can kill you, but I don't think any of them lack the [death] descriptor. Might be wrong?

[BowStreetRunner]

Drowning. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm#drowning) (It's important to note that this is different from suffocation.)

(On a side-note, this thread reminds me of a Magic:TG deck created by Adrian Sullivan (http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Adrian_Sullivan) to prove a point about the number of ways you could defeat your opponent in that game. The deck was designed to create a lock preventing any of the victory conditions in the game from ever taking place - neither player would run out of life, cards, take poision counters, etc. once the lock was in place. Then he just sat back turn after turn and waited...until his opponent quit, effectively forfeiting the game. After that, we always included 'convince your opponent to forfeit' among the list of victory conditions.)

[P.F.]

Hmmm. I know there are fear spells that can kill you, but I don't think any of them lack the [death] descriptor. Might be wrong?

Phantasmal Killer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/phantasmalKiller.htm) is an Illusion (phantasm) subschool spell with the [fear] and [mind-affecting] descriptors. It is not, however, a [death] effect.

[legomaster00156]

Bolt of Divine Retribution. Rocks Fall, Every Dies.

[P.F.]

- Botched Astral Projection.

[P.F.]

- Decapitation (typically via a vorpal sword)

[Flickerdart]

Profession (executioner) check.

[P.F.]

- Bag of Devouring (doesn't use any of the other listed methods, but "destroys" the body)

[Saintheart]

- Bleeding (as in that inflicted by a Wounding weapon.) albeit via HP damage.

[Strigon]

DM fiat can do the job.

[sovin_ndore]

Death from old age is also a thing.

[fishyfishyfishy]

There are also miscellaneous ability draining effects from creatures like the Chaos Beast (http://www.d20srd.com/srd/monsters/chaosBeast.htm) which can effectively kill you, but are not classified as energy drain.

[Jormengand]

Loss of your true name through an unname spell.

Arrows of Death (Arcane Archer), Death Attack (Assassin) and Quivering Palm (Monk) aren't stated to be death effects. But maybe they are, I dunno.

Any creature who has ever died, even if they have been raised, is susceptible to the Bereft's Word of Unmaking, which deletes it from reality, killing it.

[TheCrowing1432]

Falling Damage

[Jormengand]

Falling Damage

...is HP damage, and thus the first thing in the list?

[Selion]

"Deadly Joke (Sp): Once per day, as a standard action, a great wyrm copper dragon can tell a joke that kills. This affects one target, and functions as power word kill. This is a language-dependent sonic effect." :D:D

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/dragons/dragon/metallic-copper

[The Viscount]

Would Flesh to stone + breaking/rock to mud+purify water count? You never really die, but something like death happens.

[ZamielVanWeber]

A pyroclastic dragon's breath weapon has no descriptors but kills on a failed save.

[Inevitability]

Uttering the Words of Creation when you are evil.

[Afgncaap5]

The Mind Flayer's Extraction ability probably qualifies for the list. It's not any of the other effects, and isn't a "death effect" as far as I can tell.

[DrMartin]

willingly speak in the Dark Speech without appropriate training

Hyperconscious has a 7th level power that pushes the target into the realm of dreams. If he ever tries to come back to the real world, he disappears into nothingness. 3rd party but cool nonetheless.

[Afgncaap5]

Would you count "Casting the Phoenix Fire spell" or "Activating the Jade Phoenix Mage's Emerald Immolation Ability"? It's pretty clear that you die at that moment... even if it's just temporary... and even if the Jade Phoenix Mage's one doesn't even have any negative drawbacks.

I'm not sure what I'd call this one. "Death by Holy Phoenix Radiance" or something weird like that.

[Xervous]

I feel that things like vorpal swords and flesh to stone->(break statue) can all be grouped together in general as dismemberment.

[Harrow]

Taking the 10th level of the Walker in the Waste prestige class from Sandstorm turns you into an undead, presumably killing you in the process

[P.F.]

Taking the 10th level of the Walker in the Waste prestige class from Sandstorm turns you into an undead, presumably killing you in the process

Opening up a can of worms here...

Arguably the procedure which creates a phylactery and makes you a lich also kills you

[Saintheart]

Ritual of Crucimigration making you into a Necropolitan also kills you, making you undead.

[Ravens_cry]

Opening up a can of worms here...

Arguably the procedure which creates a phylactery and makes you a lich also kills you
Necropolitan definitely counts, as the Ritual of Crucumigration explicitly says it kills the petitioner.

[LordAlabast]

{scrubbed}

[Ravens_cry]

{scrubbed}
W-wa-ha-ha-as haben Sie getan?!*
*falls over dead*
*Google translation: Wha-ha-ha-at have you done?!

[mastermisha1]

Casting Exalted Fury (Book of Exalted Deeds) does kill you instantly, does that count?

[Necroticplague]

Taking the 10th level of the Walker in the Waste prestige class from Sandstorm turns you into an undead, presumably killing you in the process


Opening up a can of worms here...

Arguably the procedure which creates a phylactery and makes you a lich also kills you

Depends on how you define "dead". If you define it under the dnd description of dead, it doesn't kill you, since your soul doesn't leave your body, and thus you aren't dead during any part of it (though admittingly, you cease to be alive, which is not the same thing as dead in dnd). Under a somewhat more normal definition of "dead" (i.e, "no longer alive"), then it does kill you, since you're no longer a living creature.

[DrMartin]

hu, there's also the dead template, let's not forget!

portable hole full of beer, if i remember correctly.

[Cruiser1]

Destroying the material plane will kill you if you're on it. :smallwink: Specifically, putting a Sphere of Annihilation into a Well of Many Worlds, will (according to the boss fight with the Worm that Walks in Elder Evils) make the sphere become a Black Hole, "annihilating everything in existence".

Time manipulation can effectively kill you, if somebody goes back in time and kills your parents before you're born, making it so you never exist. :smallyuk:

[Ruethgar]

The Corpse flaw.

[Saintheart]

- The 2nd ed. Tomb of Horrors :smallbiggrin:

[MyrPsychologist]

Can we count the 10th level of the Risen Martyr prestige class?

You stop being mortal and are immediately forced to leave the mortal plane as you pass on to another plane. Sounds a lot like dying to me.

[Afgncaap5]

Can we count the 10th level of the Risen Martyr prestige class?

You stop being mortal and are immediately forced to leave the mortal plane as you pass on to another plane. Sounds a lot like dying to me.

That's a good question... aren't you already Deathless all the way through that class? Theoretically your actual death happened before level 1, and you're just "sticking around even though you're still dead."

Then again, I don't have the class in front of me to check.

[The Viscount]

You are Deathless, the capstone removes you from play, essentially killing you.

If that counts, then the capstone of Mountebank from Dragon Compendium does similar (sending you to the lower planes instead), though it sort of suggests you can return.

[Jowgen]

Loving all the obscure contributions, shall put them all together in the OP. :smallsmile:

[mabriss lethe]

Pyrokineticists have their Heat Death ability (which technically is neither a fire nor a death effect)

[elonin]

Is drowning a way to die in the game? Thought that RAW you enter an undefined state?

How about death by level loss or do those count as death attacks? Aren't there effects that pull your soul from your body?

[P.F.]

Can't believe I forgot this one,

- botched Magic Jar (necromancy spell without the [death] descriptor)

[Meepo_]

Death from old age is also a thing.

In original editions, haste auto-ages anyone it hits by a year. Often, a wizard too trigger-happy with mass haste could accidentally send his whole party to their deathbeds a bit too early...

[Inevitability]

Pyrokineticists have their Heat Death ability (which technically is neither a fire nor a death effect)

Ah, I remember that. Gotta love exploding fire elementals by making their nonexistent blood boil.

[DrMartin]

Transcend Mortality (wu jen 9) kills you when its duration ends

also, the DM can always kill you :D

[A_S]

Implosion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/implosion.htm) is another spell without the [Death] descriptor that can kill you. Probably such things should just be listed as a "spells that say they kill you as part of their effect" category, rather than individually?

Having your Strength reduced to 0 by the touch of a Shadow (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shadow.htm) will kill you.

Disintegrate probably doesn't deserve its spot on your list; it can only kill via HP damage (same as any other damaging spell). If it gets a listing, so should Fireball, Magic Missile, etc. It does something special to your body after it kills you, if the HP damage it deals is enough to be lethal, but that's a separate issue.

*edit* Oh, I forgot that the cutoff for getting disintegrated by Disintegrate is 0 HP, rather than -10 HP for normal death by damage. I guess that makes it kinda its own death mechanic...

[Irk]

Depending on your race, old age is a viable candidate, which can occur naturally or through a planar sphere based in a demiplane with a fast time trait.

[Eldan]

Demilichs can trap and devour souls. The initial trap the soul supernatural effect has a fortitude save, but the devouring does not.Still special because it's a conjuration (summoning) effect, not a death effect.

[mabriss lethe]

Illithid brain extraction?

[Pex]

Don't make you stronger.

[Harrow]

The spell Revenance brings someone back to life, explicitly killing them again at the end of the duration