Saying no to death

[Biggus]

I just became aware of the feat Tempting Fate (CSco p.80) which enables you to use a luck reroll once per day to not die when killed by HP damage but instead stop at -9HPs and stabilize. It got me thinking about what other ways there are to avoid dying when your HPs reach -10. What I know of currently is:

Contingency allows you to have a healing spell automatically cast when you would die (if you can also cast healing spells).

Craft Contingent Spell (CArc p.77): allows you to have a healing spell automatically cast when you would die.

Delay Death spell (SpC p.63): extends your dying without limit while the spell lasts.

Fortunate Fate spell (SpC p.99): casts Heal on you automatically when you reach -10HPs. You might still die if hit for enough damage.

Frenzied Berserker (CW p.34): Deathless Frenzy class feature extends your dying without limit while your frenzy lasts.

Shapechange into something with regeneration. Also works for Wild Shape if you use the Enhance Wild Shape spell (SpC p.82) and choose the "gain the extraordinary abilities of the new form" option.

What else is there?

[Doctor Despair]

Frenzied Berserker technically does not work by RAW. Totally dysfunctional. You take 2 points of nonlethal damage per round while you frenzy. Let's take a look at that Deathless Frenzy ability it's known for:

Deathless Frenzy (Ex): At 4th level and higher, a frenzied berserker can scorn death and unconsciousness while in a frenzy. As long as her frenzy continues, she is not treated as disabled at 0 hit points, nor is she treated as dying at —1 to —9 hit points. Even if reduced to —10 hit points or less, she continues to fight normally until her frenzy ends. At that point, the effects of her wounds apply normally if they have not been healed. This ability does not prevent death from massive damage or from spell effects such as slay living or disintegrate.

Would you look at that; no mechanism to keep fighting when nonlethal damage renders you unconscious. You scorn it by the fluff text, but immediately go unconscious when your HP hits 0.

Here's a few other options along this line of inquiry though:

Close Wounds technically should work

Just HAVING regeneration (Troll Blooded feat (especially with the Half-Undead (Gheden) template), or a race that offers it)

The Hide Life spell

The Knight class lets you fight when you'd normally die for rounds = challenge charges iirc

Being a ghost or vampire makes you a lot trickier to kill

Astral Projection

There's a barbarian ACF to delay the effects of something by 1 round iirc

[H_H_F_F]

There's a barbarian ACF to delay the effects of something by 1 round iirc

Mad Foam Rager. It's a feat, not an ACF. PHBII.

[Fizban]

Fearless Destiny (Races of Destiny): 1/day stop at -9 and stable. Requires Human or Half-Human, 6th level, and another feat that's basically an "action point" 1/day.

If you're going to count sources of Regeneration, Trollshape (PHB2) is 4th level and swift action.

[ShurikVch]

Bogeyman template (Menace Manual):

Death's Door (Su): A bogeyman appears to die if reduced to –10 hit points. However, unless it is reduced to its negative Constitution score in hit points, its "death" is only temporary; when the bogeyman’s fast healing ability (see below) brings its hit point total to 1 or higher, it springs back to life.

Curst template (Lost Empires of Faerûn):

Fast Healing (Ex): A curst heals 1 point of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point. If reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, it falls to the ground paralyzed, and its fast healing stops. After 1 hour, the curst makes a DC 20 level check. If the check succeeds, the curst regains 1 hit point, its fast healing resumes, and it is no longer paralyzed. If the check fails, the curst must make another check at the same DC 24 hours later, and every 24 hours thereafter until it succeeds and begins to recover hit points again. Thus, even a dismembered curst eventually recovers from its injuries.

Defensive Roll

Feign Death ACF (Exemplars of Evil): if enemies thought you're already dead - they may not actually finish you

Giant-Killer PrC (Silver Marches): Diehard class feature - not to be confused with the feat of the same name - extends amount of damage below 0 you can survive (up to -30 at 10th level)

Undying and Shock Resistant feats (Player's Guide to the Sovereign Lands): Undying allow to act normally when disabled or staggered, and 15% chance to spontaneously stabilizing when dying (and +4 on check of others who're trying to stabilize you). Shock Resistant allow to auto-succeed on Fort save vs Massive Damage (no roll required).

Frenzied Berserker technically does not work by RAW. Totally dysfunctional. You take 2 points of nonlethal damage per round while you frenzy. Let's take a look at that Deathless Frenzy ability it's known for:

Would you look at that; no mechanism to keep fighting when nonlethal damage renders you unconscious. You scorn it by the fluff text, but immediately go unconscious when your HP hits 0.

Well, OP don't asked to stay conscious - just alive; Deathless Frenzy does it...
One level in Fighter-Pugilist (Dragon #310) allow to get DR vs nonlethal damage (equal to your Con mod)

[darkdragoon]

Immortal Fortitude stance, ToB

[Max Caysey]

Contingency allows you to have a healing spell automatically cast when you would die (if you can also cast healing spells).

Craft Contingent Spell (CArc p.77): allows you to have a healing spell automatically cast when you would die.

Fortunate Fate spell (SpC p.99): casts Heal on you automatically when you reach -10HPs. You might still die if hit for enough damage.

What else is there?

If you ever reach -10 it doesn’t matter you have a healing spell cast, since you would need a resurrection.

The spells or contingencies have to be very clear on when they proc, and -10 cant be one of them… because you’d be dead!

So the way you’ve written it, Fortune Fate won’t work, neither will having a contingency proc at -10!

[Gruftzwerg]

Does "saying no to permanent death" also count?

"Walker in the Waste" becomes a Dry Lich at lvl 10. When you "die" you keep returning after a certain time (iircc some weeks).

Have a look at my Gaara/Mumm-Raadaptation if you want to see a full build around it.

[YellowJohn]

If you ever reach -10 it doesn’t matter you have a healing spell cast, since you would need a resurrection.

The spells or contingencies have to be very clear on when they proc, and -10 cant be one of them… because you’d be dead!

So the way you’ve written it, Fortune Fate won’t work, neither will having a contingency proc at -10!

While I agree with you on the contingencies, Fortunate Fate specifically states that it triggers when the target is 'subjected to an effect that would kill it', and that it 'the target does not actually die, saved by the heal', so it works.

I'm surprised 'Indomitability' (SC 121) hasn't been mentioned; next attack that would reduce your HP below 1 reduces it to 1. Not quite there, but close enough I think.

The 'Ancient PCs' article in Dragon 354 has the 'Pawn in the Great Game' feat, which allows you a fortitude save whenever you would hit -10Hp or fail a save against a [Death] effect. If you succeed, you take some Str and Con drain and have 1 Hp.

[Biggus]

Thanks for the ideas all, I'll add them in.

The Hide Life spell

Yikes, that's one crazy spell. Become a lich without having to die! I can see why it didn't get reprinted in 3.5.

If you ever reach -10 it doesn’t matter you have a healing spell cast, since you would need a resurrection.

The spells or contingencies have to be very clear on when they proc, and -10 cant be one of them… because you’d be dead!

Whether you can use Contingency + Heal to stop yourself dying is debatable. Depends on the exact wording and DM decision I think. Contingency + Revivify certainly works though.

[Darg]

Frenzied Berserker technically does not work by RAW. Totally dysfunctional. You take 2 points of nonlethal damage per round while you frenzy. Let's take a look at that Deathless Frenzy ability it's known for:



Would you look at that; no mechanism to keep fighting when nonlethal damage renders you unconscious. You scorn it by the fluff text, but immediately go unconscious when your HP hits 0.

Maybe so on its own, but combined with the Diehard feat you can prevent unconsciousness from negative hit points and regeneration or fast healing 2 can prevent the frenzy's nonlethal damage from dropping you unconscious. Then there are various sources of immunity to nonlethal damage, the easiest to use is favor of the martyr which comes with many additional benefits and can be made into potions, or if you have an archivist.

Whether you can use Contingency + Heal to stop yourself dying is debatable. Depends on the exact wording and DM decision I think. Contingency + Revivify certainly works though.

"when the prescribed circumstances occur." Can you word it to some how make death occur without dying? If you say "If I would die from an attack" it slices the mechanic pretty thinly as the rules say that if you "hit" you deal the damage.

[Quertus]

Did I just miss it, or have Lich and Ring of 9 Lives not been mentioned yet?

Also, just having your new character come in with a backstory identical to your old character’s story kinda works…

Contingency allows you to have a healing spell automatically cast when you would die (if you can also cast healing spells).

Craft Contingent Spell (CArc p.77): allows you to have a healing spell automatically cast when you would die.

If you ever reach -10 it doesn’t matter you have a healing spell cast, since you would need a resurrection.

The spells or contingencies have to be very clear on when they proc, and -10 cant be one of them… because you’d be dead!

Yeah, we may be in “ask your GM” territory here, but, at my table, a poorly worded version of that contingency just makes sure you leave a beautiful corpse. Which is nice, if you want your murderer to get away with it, I guess.

And, even worded correctly, at my tables, you’d still be dead if it was enough damage to one-shot you.

This kind of “rules of reality changing” is why Quertus, my signature academia mage for whom this account is named, came to care so much about information-gathering spells. So, make sure you know how this will work before you stake your life on it!

[ShurikVch]

Did I just miss it, or have Lich and Ring of 9 Lives not been mentioned yet?

Lich is already dead by definition - thus, counterproductive to the OP: "Saying no YES to death"

[Quertus]

Lich is already dead by definition - thus, counterproductive to the OP: "Saying no YES to death"

Lich is Undead. Undead is not dead. Just look at the word - it’s got the prefix “un”, meaning “not”, before the word “dead”. It’s hard to get less dead than “not dead”

[ShurikVch]

Lich is Undead. Undead is not dead. Just look at the word - it’s got the prefix “un”, meaning “not”, before the word “dead”. It’s hard to get less dead than “not dead”

You know ways to become a Lich without dying first?
Also, all living creatures have Con score; Lich have not.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Frenzied Berserker technically does not work by RAW. Totally dysfunctional. You take 2 points of nonlethal damage per round while you frenzy. Let's take a look at that Deathless Frenzy ability it's known for:



Would you look at that; no mechanism to keep fighting when nonlethal damage renders you unconscious. You scorn it by the fluff text, but immediately go unconscious when your HP hits 0.

Arguably, the Diehard feat (which you get as a bonus feat on entering the class) gets you around this, since it lets you choose between becoming disabled or going unconscious on reaching negative HP. Definitely a nerf compared to the intended reading of the class feature, since now you're disabled instead of fighting normally, but it does work.

Also, all living creatures have Con score; Lich have not.

Hey now, that's moving the goalposts! The OP clearly requested ways to "not die", not ways to stay alive.

[ShurikVch]

Hey now, that's moving the goalposts! The OP clearly requested ways to "not die", not ways to stay alive.

In that case, it would be enough to play as Undead or Construct without living subtype - they don't die by definition.

[Doctor Despair]

Arguably, the Diehard feat (which you get as a bonus feat on entering the class) gets you around this, since it lets you choose between becoming disabled or going unconscious on reaching negative HP. Definitely a nerf compared to the intended reading of the class feature, since now you're disabled instead of fighting normally, but it does work.
[/COLOR]

Diehard doesn't interact with nonlethal damage in a meaningful way. Nonlethal damage doesn't reduce you to negative hit points. It also doesn't render you dying, so you don't have the option to act as if you were disabled. You're just unconscious due to nonlethal damage. Different rules set.

[Morphic tide]

Frenzied Berserker technically does not work by RAW. Totally dysfunctional. You take 2 points of nonlethal damage per round while you frenzy. Let's take a look at that Deathless Frenzy ability it's known for:



Would you look at that; no mechanism to keep fighting when nonlethal damage renders you unconscious. You scorn it by the fluff text, but immediately go unconscious when your HP hits 0.

You just have to have its "fight normally" text, the only part of it functioning to let you fight below -9, extend to telling nonlethal damage to screw off just like it negates Dead without mentioning it by name. Hell, the first line can just as well be read as negating the Dead and Unconscious conditions as very explicit statement of what the ability should be doing that very clearly relates to actual game rules by name, just not putting them in Bold Letters because it's a TTRPG so you don't have to dot every i and cross every t since it's not a mindless machine that'll spit out syntax errors. If one thing says you can do something despite other rules saying you can't, it does not have to exhaustively refer to every single one of those other rules that might impede what it's allowing you to do, because the game has layers upon layers of haphazard crunch and supplements are prone to adding new clauses.

Edit: Importantly, this reading creates a drastic dysfunction with Dying and Disabled themselves as 0 nonlethal damage is greater than any amount of negative HP, so by the exact same reasoning you're using quite a lot of the process of handling negative HP doesn't actually work because it doesn't say you get to ignore the rule about being knocked out with nonlethal damage.

[Doctor Despair]

You just have to have its "fight normally" text, the only part of it functioning to let you fight below -9, extend to telling nonlethal damage to screw off just like it negates Dead without mentioning it by name.

Nonlethal damage is tracked entirely separately from your actual hp though. If "fighting normally" ignores conditions other than what is specified in the ability, then why not ignore stunned? Dazed? Grappled?

Alternatively: fighting normally means going unconscious when your nonlethal damage exceeds your current hp.

Hell, the first line can just as well be read as negating the Dead and Unconscious conditions as very explicit statement of what the ability should be doing that very clearly relates to actual game rules by name, just not putting them in Bold Letters because it's a TTRPG so you don't have to dot every i and cross every t since it's not a mindless machine that'll spit out syntax errors.

In 3.5, you can't do anything unless there's a rule that says you can. You do need it spelled out. That's how the game works. The DM can hand-waive poorly written rules, or houserule, or homebrew, but by RAW you can only do what the rules say you can do.

If one thing says you can do something despite other rules saying you can't, it does not have to exhaustively refer to every single one of those other rules that might impede what it's allowing you to do, because the game has layers upon layers of haphazard crunch and supplements are prone to adding new clauses.

The ability never says you can ignore nonlethal damage, or remain conscious when nonlethal damage would render you unconscious. It completely neglects to mention nonlethal damage. That's why it's dysfunctional.

Edit: Importantly, this reading creates a drastic dysfunction with Dying and Disabled themselves as 0 nonlethal damage is greater than any amount of negative HP, so by the exact same reasoning you're using quite a lot of the process of handling negative HP doesn't actually work because it doesn't say you get to ignore the rule about being knocked out with nonlethal damage.

This entirely depends on whether you treat a character with no nonlethal damage as having 0 nonlethal damage or NaN nonlethal damage. With that said, for nonlethal damage, it's NaN.

Dealing Nonlethal Damage
Certain attacks deal nonlethal damage. Other effects, such as heat or being exhausted, also deal nonlethal damage. When you take nonlethal damage, keep a running total of how much you’ve accumulated.

You literally don't even track it if you haven't taken at least 1 point of nonlethal damage. You don't track it starting at 0; you track it starting at 1. You literally CAN'T have 0 nonlethal damage.

[Troacctid]

Epic Destiny, natch.

[Morphic tide]

Nonlethal damage is tracked entirely separately from your actual hp though. If "fighting normally" ignores conditions other than what is specified in the ability, then why not ignore stunned? Dazed? Grappled?

Alternatively: fighting normally means going unconscious when your nonlethal damage exceeds your current hp.

Again, it does mention unconciousness, just not the exact condition "Unconcious". It doesn't reference Dead, either, it just says you "fight normally" at -10 and below.

In 3.5, you can't do anything unless there's a rule that says you can. You do need it spelled out. That's how the game works. The DM can hand-waive poorly written rules, or houserule, or homebrew, but by RAW you can only do what the rules say you can do.

The point I'm making is that Freedom of Movement does not have to say you get to ignore Entangle, because it's letting you do a thing despite a class of conditions that includes being subject to Entangle. Why is it so incredibly important that the ability say that the nonlethal damage rules are included in what it lets you disregard to continue fighting with bold-letter reference to the Unconscious condition exactly when it goes so far with not caring about Exact Proper Wording that it straight-up doesn't have hard rules text for its namesake?

The rule says you "can scorn death and unconciousness". That's a blunt statement of two classes of effect that relate to fairly specific areas of the rules. That it forgets to exactly reference nonlethal damage and the Unconcious condition does not mean the ability should be taken to do literally nothing at all for what amounts to a syntax error. The game runs on natural language, not formal logic, so abilities do not have to dot every i and cross every t to do what they say they do.

You literally don't even track it if you haven't taken at least 1 point of nonlethal damage. You don't track it starting at 0; you track it starting at 1. You literally CAN'T have 0 nonlethal damage.

Where does it at all imply you stop tracking it? Even if we assume it starts at NaN instead of 0, which is unstated, what about the rules indicates that it would specifically return to NaN instead of the final subtraction leaving a real value of 0? More importantly, it still bricks the core condition rules if you have one point of Nonlethal Damage and -1 HP, because by your reasoning having that one point from a Pixie slapping you overrides any possible statement of action at negative HP that forgets to specifically shut down nonlethal damage.

If the core game rules break down into absurdities, revise your grasp of what the words mean until said core game rules resume making sense. Dysfunctions are when the text of the rule has terrible unintended consequences in itself because the words just plain can't mean something sensible, not complaining that smashing a barely-ever-used secondary damage track into negative HP functions causes problems because of how few of them care about that secondary damage track.

[Paragon]

Shadow Discorporation from Telflammar Shadowlord is another cool one. Ref DC "damage dealt" and if you succeed you disappear for the day and reappear somewhere within 1 mile the next day. Pretty sweet

[Darg]

If the core game rules break down into absurdities, revise your grasp of what the words mean until said core game rules resume making sense. Dysfunctions are when the text of the rule has terrible unintended consequences in itself because the words just plain can't mean something sensible, not complaining that smashing a barely-ever-used secondary damage track into negative HP functions causes problems because of how few of them care about that secondary damage track.

We don't need to be so specific for PrCs you know. The DMG specifically tells you that they aren't meant to be taken as is. There is no legitimate RAW for PrCs because of this. We could have that discussion, but at the end of the day it's meaningless unless your DM hasn't read the DMG or is out to spite you. Unlike other RAW discussions, this one has permission to be a fun back and forth of hypotheticals.

~~~~~~~~~~

To add to the discussion, Crawling Eye and Disembodied hand invocations can return you to the dying state when the effect ends so long as you don't have more negative hit points than the invocations return to you. As it isn't healing you, it doesn't matter that you are dead and you still get the rise in current and total hit points.

[Doctor Despair]

Again, it does mention unconciousness, just not the exact condition "Unconcious". It doesn't reference Dead, either, it just says you "fight normally" at -10 and below.

But what does fight normally mean? That's what I'm commenting on. In context, it implies that you are not considered dying. It makes no mention of other conditions. Does it let you ignore stunned? Grappled? Dazed? Does it let you fight with 0 con? Does it let you fight underwater without penalty? The only concrete definition we have for what the ability does is that you are not considered dying at negative hp. The ability only does what it says it does.

The point I'm making is that Freedom of Movement does not have to say you get to ignore Entangle, because it's letting you do a thing despite a class of conditions that includes being subject to Entangle. Why is it so incredibly important that the ability say that the nonlethal damage rules are included in what it lets you disregard to continue fighting with bold-letter reference to the Unconscious condition exactly when it goes so far with not caring about Exact Proper Wording that it straight-up doesn't have hard rules text for its namesake?

If you want to use RAI to make a proper decision on how the ability should work, this is exactly how you should approach it. I am discussing the RAW for the ability. It's dysfunctional as written without a DM ruling on what it means to fight normally; as it is, it only lets you ignore the dying condition conferred by being at negative hp, and probably the dead condition conferred by being at -10 or lower. The DM can expand that to whatever they want, but that will be a house rule -- a very justified house rule, but not one another DM would be required to use.

The rule says you "can scorn death and unconciousness". That's a blunt statement of two classes of effect that relate to fairly specific areas of the rules.

That's just the problem. Scorning something doesn't do anything mechanically in the game. It may as well have said you sneer at death and unconsciousness. It's fluff text -- or, if you want to treat it as crunch, it forces your character not to take death and unconsciousness seriously, and to have contempt for it. It doesn't confer immunity to those conditions based on that line without a DM house rule.

That it forgets to exactly reference nonlethal damage and the Unconcious condition does not mean the ability should be taken to do literally nothing at all for what amounts to a syntax error. The game runs on natural language, not formal logic, so abilities do not have to dot every i and cross every t to do what they say they do.

That's what RAW is. Running the game as the rules say you should run them. The ability doesn't do nothing at all, by the way -- it just means you need another way to ignore nonlethal damage. It's just not as good as you want it to be -- or as good as the devs probably intended it to be.

Where does it at all imply you stop tracking it? Even if we assume it starts at NaN instead of 0, which is unstated, what about the rules indicates that it would specifically return to NaN instead of the final subtraction leaving a real value of 0?

You only track it when you take nonlethal damage. If you haven't taken nonlethal damage, you don't track it. I don't know how to state that more clearly. If you do read it as being at 0, then you go unconscious when using even the diehard feat. I don't know anyone who reads it as working that way.

More importantly, it still bricks the core condition rules if you have one point of Nonlethal Damage and -1 HP, because by your reasoning having that one point from a Pixie slapping you overrides any possible statement of action at negative HP that forgets to specifically shut down nonlethal damage.

Yes, that's true. If you are using diehard or frenzy to fight at negative hp, and someone deals 1 nonlethal damage to you, you go unconscious. It doesn't brick a core rule condition. They both function independently of one another. It's like saying that the fact that diehard doesn't specifically say you can continue fighting when your wisdom is reduced to 0 doesn't mean you can't ignore the comatose status that confers. They're systems of dispatching enemies that operate independently of one another.

If the core game rules break down into absurdities, revise your grasp of what the words mean until said core game rules resume making sense. Dysfunctions are when the text of the rule has terrible unintended consequences in itself because the words just plain can't mean something sensible, not complaining that smashing a barely-ever-used secondary damage track into negative HP functions causes problems because of how few of them care about that secondary damage track.

So because you don't personally use nonlethal damage and you feel it doesn't come up much, you think other unrelated abilities should just confer immunity to it? I find it difficult to empathize with that position. There are means to deal nonlethal damage; every character can do it. There are means to resist or negate nonlethal damage. If you want to play a game without nonlethal damage, then just house rule it that way.

[Morphic tide]

But what does fight normally mean? That's what I'm commenting on. In context, it implies that you are not considered dying. It makes no mention of other conditions. Does it let you ignore stunned? Grappled? Dazed? Does it let you fight with 0 con? Does it let you fight underwater without penalty? The only concrete definition we have for what the ability does is that you are not considered dying at negative hp. The ability only does what it says it does.

Saying it does in fact stop Dead but does not stop Unconscious is a double-standard nonsense reading, period, because the indication it stops Dead comes back to the exact same natural language needed to indicate it stops Unconscious that you dismiss as "flavor text". Both Dead and Unconscious are implied in that first line but not clearly stated, and both are strictly required to "fight normally" in a Frenzy at negative HP as is the entire purpose of the ability. Dead for the negative HP, Unconscious for the Frenzy.

Also, not dying from 0 Con is another perfectly understandable extension of what the ability says, with the caveat that you'd need external duration improvement because ordinarily it'd be impossible to Frenzy with less than four Constitution due to its duration of 3+Con rounds hitting zero. Because it stops you from dying, giving a blacklist of causes it doesn't prevent.

It doesn't brick a core rule condition.

No, it does, because it means the pile of text about removing Unconcious does absolutely nothing if someone gets any nonlethal damage on you. Having -1 actual HP and 8 points of nonlethal damage very much shouldn't make it so you are incapable of waking up for eight hours in blunt contradiction of the text of going from Stable to Disabled. Your interpretation relies on saying that nonlethal damage supersedes 0 HP and under rules instead of the opposite, and then extend this to saying they supersede abilities you spend sizable character resources on entirely about interfering with full-on death. There's arguments to be had about Staggered, but this kind of reading screws up quite the pile of abilities with a lot of investment towards them.

You only track it when you take nonlethal damage. If you haven't taken nonlethal damage, you don't track it. I don't know how to state that more clearly. If you do read it as being at 0, then you go unconscious when using even the diehard feat. I don't know anyone who reads it as working that way.

What about the rule at all indicates that you'd go from 1 nonlethal damage to NaN, instead of having 0 nonlethal damage? It says nothing about you ceasing to track it. You might have a point with beginning to track it separately only once it starts being relevant, but the wording has nothing to clearly decide that it always returns to a NaN or - value instead of a 0. This causing sizable damage to other rules indicates it "can't" be right, but your entire point is resorting to top-to-bottom Exact Condition Reference level RAW for an ability literally named "Deathless Frenzy" that just says you "fight normally" at the point death ordinarily happens to say it doesn't actually work on its own.

[Doctor Despair]

Saying it does in fact stop Dead but does not stop Unconscious is a double-standard nonsense reading, period, because the indication it stops Dead comes back to the exact same natural language needed to indicate it stops Unconscious that you dismiss as "flavor text". Both Dead and Unconscious are implied in that first line but not clearly stated, and both are strictly required to "fight normally" in a Frenzy at negative HP as is the entire purpose of the ability. Dead for the negative HP, Unconscious for the Frenzy.

Also, not dying from 0 Con is another perfectly understandable extension of what the ability says, with the caveat that you'd need external duration improvement because ordinarily it'd be impossible to Frenzy with less than four Constitution due to its duration of 3+Con rounds hitting zero. Because it stops you from dying, giving a blacklist of causes it doesn't prevent.

Replace 0 con with 0 wis, 0 cha, any other ability. It's nonsensical to say the ability, by RAW, lets you ignore any conditions other than what it says it does. Fighting normally is not a game-defined term, so we have to go based on the text in the section. It says you aren't considered disabled at 0, you aren't considered dying at -1 to -9, and you "[continue] to fight normally" "even if reduced to -10 hit points or less." All it says is that you CAN fight normally at -10hp or less. It's silent on ignoring other conditions, so you can't. You don't get to ignore the paralyzed condition. You don't get to ignore ability damage. You don't get to ignore nonlethal damage. Heck, technically you don't even get to ignore REGULAR damage -- you only don't die at -10 or lower, and can continue to operate unless something else says otherwise. It doesn't need to give a blacklist of abilities it doesn't prevent; it needs to give a whitelist of conditions it allows you to overcome. It allows you to overcome the impediment to fighting normally caused by being at -10 or lower. That's it.

No, it does, because it means the pile of text about removing Unconcious does absolutely nothing if someone gets any nonlethal damage on you. Having -1 actual HP and 8 points of nonlethal damage very much shouldn't make it so you are incapable of waking up for eight hours in blunt contradiction of the text of going from Stable to Disabled. Your interpretation relies on saying that nonlethal damage supersedes 0 HP and under rules instead of the opposite, and then extend this to saying they supersede abilities you spend sizable character resources on entirely about interfering with full-on death. There's arguments to be had about Staggered, but this kind of reading screws up quite the pile of abilities with a lot of investment towards them.

If you don't like the way the rules are written, house rule them to operate the way you feel like they should work. DMs do it every day; some changes make the rules better for it. Each hour, you heal 1 nonlethal damage and roll to become disabled. The injury and death rules say that you become conscious and disabled. The nonlethal damage rules say that when your nonlethal damage exceeds your current hp, you fall unconscious; it doesn't say you are unconscious, so I suppose there's room for a DM to rule that a character could be woken up by the percentile roll, but that also implies that you could essentially become immune to nonlethal damage thereafter, so a DM would be wise to rule that it checks again. You'd become disabled, but unconscious. Then, if you are recovering without help, you'd make the rolls to begin healing naturally again. During all this, you still recover 1 nonlethal damage/hour; this is unrelated to natural healing. Therefore, if you had, say, 1 nonlethal damage, it would be irrelevant when you make the first check, as you'd heal the nonlethal damage off WHILE you made the percentile check to stabilize or become conscious.

What about the rule at all indicates that you'd go from 1 nonlethal damage to NaN, instead of having 0 nonlethal damage? It says nothing about you ceasing to track it. You might have a point with beginning to track it separately only once it starts being relevant, but the wording has nothing to clearly decide that it always returns to a NaN or - value instead of a 0. This causing sizable damage to other rules indicates it "can't" be right, but your entire point is resorting to top-to-bottom Exact Condition Reference level RAW for an ability literally named "Deathless Frenzy" that just says you "fight normally" at the point death ordinarily happens to say it doesn't actually work on its own.

The rule tells you to track it when you've taken damage. What about the rule at all indicates that you'd track it when you don't have any? You can rule it that way, but it creates dysfunction when it comes to Diehard, or even being at 0hp where you'd become staggered when you're disabled and so on. If you have two readings you're considering, you should err towards the one that doesn't invite dysfunction. The rules don't tell you to track it when you don't have nonlethal damage, so you don't. It's a nonability; you don't have 0 nonlethal damage. You don't have the stat at all unless you've been dealt nonlethal damage.

If you want to play so that Diehard literally doesn't work, you're welcome to do so, but it's not the only RAW reading that works, and it's not the one I'd want to play under.

If you want to play so that Diehard and Frenzy and whatnot let you ignore nonlethal damage, that's not RAW, but you're welcome to do so. Apparently nonlethal damage is a barely-ever-used secondary subsystem in your games, so I'm sure it'll be more enjoyable for your players. I tend to use nonlethal damage somewhat frequently (not every encounter, but often enough) as a player, as I often prefer not to kill enemy NPCs, so I'd prefer to run it RAW, and as that means you have to decide whether to run no nonlethal damage as 0 or NaN, I'd prefer to run it so that Diehard actually works. Everyone has their own preference though.

[ShurikVch]

Stalwart Pact spell (Spell Compendium): when you go below the 50% of your hp, you got temporary hp (number depend on CL, but up to 35). Presuming the attack in question put you below the 0 hp (without killing outright) - it would look exactly like what OP asked

Since Lich was already mentioned, there are some more methods to "come back":

Spells
Death Pact (Spell Compendium),
Pact of Return (Heroes of Horror),
Phoenix Fire (Book of Exalted Deeds),
Undeath after Death (Player's Guide to Faerûn)

PrC
Jade Phoenix Mage (Tome of Battle): Emerald Immolation capstone
Sand Shaper (Sandstorm): Desert Shroud capstone

[Doctor Despair]

On the subject of undead: necrotic reserve

[Bohandas]

The Ring of Nine Lives (MIC pg 126) has the similar effect of automatically healing you 20 points if you would go below 0 hp.

Presumably one that triggered if you would hit -10 would be otherwise identical mechanically