Question: Mind Flayer's Mind Blast vs Unconscious PC

[Scubasteve0209]

The Question:
Does Mind Blast (psychic damage) affect a PC who is already unconscious & taking death saves?

The Situation:
The party (level 3) was caught off guard by a pair of Gnome Ceremorphs. The GM instructed us to make 2 intelligence saving throws as we were being targeted by both mind blasts. The Druid and Ranger were undamaged at that point, but failed both rolls.

The attacks did 28 damage & 30.

The first attack dropped both characters below 0 HP, and if the second does in fact affect them, it killed them.

Does the second attack land, or does it no longer affect an unconscious PC? Thanks for your thoughts.

[BigRedJedi]

The Question:
Does Mind Blast (psychic damage) affect a PC who is already unconscious & taking death saves?

The Situation:
The party (level 3) was caught off guard by a pair of Gnome Ceremorphs. The GM instructed us to make 2 intelligence saving throws as we were being targeted by both mind blasts. The Druid and Ranger were undamaged at that point, but failed both rolls.

The attacks did 28 damage & 30.

The first attack dropped both characters below 0 HP, and if the second does in fact affect them, it killed them.

Does the second attack land, or does it no longer affect an unconscious PC? Thanks for your thoughts.

From the PHB: "Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death."

As for Psychic Damage, there does not appear to be anything that would prevent an unconscious PC from taking that category of damage.

For completeness:

Unconscious -


An unconscious creature is incapacitated, can't move or speak, and is unaware of its surroundings.
The creature drops whatever it's holding and falls prone.
The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage.
Any attack that hits the creature is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of the creature.




-BRJ

[PattThe]

This would be one situation where a PC would suffer only one death fail from getting hit. They only suffer two death fails at once when getting attacked if the attacker is making a melee attack from up to 5 feet away.

Note, Mind Flayers are intelligence and highly skilled in every aspect of their mind blasts. If they have a reason to not include prone targets then they may adjust the area of effect by centering the cone at a modified angle. Also, levitate provides excellent opportunities for unique cone attack angles.

Gnome ceremorphs, right. Still, mind blasts and similar effects won't kill a player outright if their unconscious PC has not taken two death fails yet.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

The second one will only kill them if their max hp is 30 or lower.

[Lunali]

The second one will only kill them if their max hp is 15 or lower.

The rules on instant death only apply to the attack that drops you to 0 hp. You instantly die if there is enough damage left after dropping you to 0 to exceed your maximum hp. If you are already at 0, don't bother rolling damage, each attack does one death save worth of damage (two on a crit, with melee attacks within 5' auto critting).

[ff7hero]

Nah. If the damage can one shot you from full HP, it kills you outright.

[BigRedJedi]

The rules on instant death only apply to the attack that drops you to 0 hp. You instantly die if there is enough damage left after dropping you to 0 to exceed your maximum hp. If you are already at 0, don't bother rolling damage, each attack does one death save worth of damage (two on a crit, with melee attacks within 5' auto critting).


This is incorrect by RAW:

From the PHB: "Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death." emphasis mine

Thus, if the first attack drops them to 0 HP, the second attack will cause an automatic death save failure, two if a critical hit causes the damage (Note: this does not have to be a melee attack, the rule only specifies an attack from within 5 feet, effects that cause saves are not going to become criticals), or instantly kills the target if the damage exceeds their normal maximum HP.

The instant death from the attack that drops the target to 0 only occurs if the excess (beyond 0) damage exceeds their normal HP maximum. Once at 0 HP, the same applies.

-BRJ

[Witty Username]

In summation, Yes.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

This is incorrect by RAW:

From the PHB: "Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death." emphasis mine

Thus, if the first attack drops them to 0 HP, the second attack will cause an automatic death save failure, two if a critical hit causes the damage (Note: this does not have to be a melee attack, the rule only specifies an attack from within 5 feet, effects that cause saves are not going to become criticals), or instantly kills the target if the damage exceeds their normal maximum HP.

The instant death from the attack that drops the target to 0 only occurs if the excess (beyond 0) damage exceeds their normal HP maximum. Once at 0 HP, the same applies.

-BRJ

I mixed the numbers, I edited the comment to 30 to fit the damage of the second blast.

[BigRedJedi]

I mixed the numbers, I edited the comment to 30 to fit the damage of the second blast.

Yep, saw that, I figured you knew. ;)

-BRJ