[4e] stupid "dying" question

[Thajocoth]

then, of course, second wind is a standard action, so you'd only have a move/minor left anyway.

In the game in question the character failed their death save anyway, so it was redundant.

They need to fail THREE death saves to die. (This gives the other players 3-4 rounds to help them.)

A Move and a Minor can do great things... And if they're a Dwarf, that Second Wind was a Minor, so they've got a Standard. Don't forget Action Points...

From what I understand, succeeding in a death save brings your hp up to 0. Then you can spend a healing surge and re-enter initative.

Of course, if someone manages to heal you with a power or stabilise you with the Heal skill before that then it changes things.

Death saves are explained fully in PHB and the DM's screen.

If you roll 9 or less, you fail a death save. Three failures means death. 10 or better causes no change. Bonuses to saves help these (So a Ring of Protection would give you +1 to Death Saves, as it gives a +1 to all saving throws)

On an unmodified 20, you're stabilized (no more Death Saves) and may spend a surge. If you spend a surge, you suddenly jump to 0hp, then take the healing.

If you roll a natural 20 and decide not to spend a surge or have none to spend, you still stabilize, so you stop rolling death saves and start your 6 hour rest. Unless, of course, somebody pours a potion down your throat to bring you to 1... I'm not 100% sure if the unconscious no-surges heal -> 1hp thing is a houserule or not though.

If you're stabilized, but still unconscious, taking more damage (even from, say, ongoing poison damage), will put you back into the dying condition, causing you to need to roll Death Saves again. Because this is a possibility, you don't remove a stabilized person from initiative.

Your failed Death Saves go away when you take a Short Rest... Meaning that if you fail one, but get back up, you've still failed one... So being knocked down again and rolling another two failures would kill you.

The other way to die is if your hp is your bloodied value into the negatives. So if you have 83 hp, your bloodied value is 41, so you die instantly, no saves, if you reach -41.

Death Saves are, like most other saves, at the end of your turn. You're only removed from initiative if you die and don't have one of those Epic powers that triggers when you die... So when you return to consciousness, you don't return to initiative because you never left initiative. So you're right where you were before.

Technically, if somebody could grant saves, they could grant you a Death Save while you're dying, as it is a savable condition. Failing that would NOT count towards your total of failed saves, but on a natural 20, you'd still benefit. It's only a 5% chance though, so unless you have the feat that lets you treat 18-20 on a Death Save the same as a 20, it's not really worth it. And even then, that's only a 15% chance.

Even if you're conscious from Maiden's Waking, being a Revenant, or something else, if you're at 0 or in the negatives, you still roll Death Saves (unless you stabilized).

A person can use the Heal skill (I think this is a Standard, but check the PHB, skills section, Heal skill) to get someone else to spend their Second Wind if they still have it, or to stabilize them. DC 10 for Second Wind, 15 to stabilize. If your Second Wind is used while unconscious, you don't get it's +2 to defenses that it normally gives.


This should clear up any and all questions regarding the dying, stabilized and unconscious conditions. (Technically, Stabilized isn't a condition... It's the lack of a condition. It's just a word for "Not dying".)