I’m really liking ve4grm’s hacks; those I’ve stolen for my files.

Thanks. I actually got one part wrong, though.

Wail of the Banshee doesn’t kill/paralyse/whatever anymore. Instead, it causes an Insanity effect (as the spell) for everyone in range.

That hack was written a while back, though, and we haven’t played any high-level stuff since. I may change it to Int/Wis/Cha reduced to 0.

Finger of Death, Slay Living, and Destruction have essentially been removed from our games (anything the players use, the monsters can use against them, and the players don’t find them fun), but the “drop to -1″ is a much more acceptable option.

(I’ve also found that there was a bunch of stuff that D20 Modern did that I thought would be great for D&D.)

Yeah, that inspired a lot of my game design and GMing, ever since I first ran a game of it. It’s a good system.

(I’ve also found that there was a bunch of stuff that D20 Modern did that I thought would be great for D&D.)

As for Phil…

“And dude, seriously, get a freaking blog! You’ll have readers I guarantee it. :)”

That’s coming soon, at least for the game I’ll be running in 2 weeks.

Until a player asked to Overrun someone…. Sigh….

That’s probably because I ignore this rule (and material components in general). I allow casting, so long as you make the Concentration check and it isn’t longer than a standard action.

Which is probably what your fix was going for in any case.

1) Get rid of Save or Die. Ve4’s hacks sound great! Agreed!
2) Make Returning form life a lot less accessible. More plot device than Save point.
3) Make death mean something and happen for a damn good reason. (be it Method Actor imposed stubbornness or self-sacrifice)

Gotcha! Thanks!

I’ll comeback later to take in, Ve4grm’s comments. But seems like good point.

I absolutely, positively, can not stand save-or-die effects. I was playing a d20 Modern game once, was at full health, and got hit by an enemy. I was told to make a Fort save, failed, and was then told I was dead.

I couldn’t believe it. At level 3 or so, an enemy that has a save-or-die effect on his normal attack, in a game without resurrection? I was livid.

We later discovered that the effect was actually the equivalent of a d20 Modern massive damage save, where you drop to -1 hp and begin to die, not drop to -10. The former gives your party a good chance to save you.

In any case, we have rewritten every save-or-die effect in D&D at this point. We removed some, we made some drop you to -1, and we made the Phantasmal Killer and Wail of the Banshee drop your Int and Cha (and Wis for Wail) to 0, effectively paralysing you and removing you from the battle. Same as death for enemies, recoverable for PCs.

As for when I would accept death, it when I volunteer for it, and know it’s a possibility. Whether that’s by giving my all in a drawn-out huge battle, knowing that I’m getting weaker, or by voluntarily putting myself in a situation where it’s possible. My characters are usually the types that would give up their own safety for the safety of another, and I have no problem with character death if it did some good along the way.

Those are when I’d gladly accept my death. But I have no problem with character death in most cases, as long as I can see that it’s a possibility. If it’s sudden and unexpected, then I dislike it, but if I’m wounded and fighting, I can always accept it.

As another example, from when I was GMing, the party wizard rushed into a beholder’s lair, and started blasting at it. Initiative was rolled, the beholder won, and he couldn’t see the rest of the party. So, disintegrate ray (failed his fort save, rolled the damage, he was dead, until we remembered we hadn’t rolled the attack roll which, somehow, missed), followed by flesh-to-stone (success) and telekinesis (violent thrust the statue into a wall, goes shattery).

The player didn’t mind, as he knew what he did was stupid and that death was a serious possibility.

(His hastily-rolled-up substitute character later went on to one-shot the BBEG. This was my City of the Spider Queen adventure.)

Its impact unto its society is rarelly taken into account. If every ennemy you encounter as the potential of returning from the dead what do you do?

For simplcities sake most DM will just take it into account for player but then again it should at least affect the behavior of your ennemies. “If I kill him they’ll just raise him back. Better capture him, torture him until he goes insane and then release him. That way he won’t be a thorn in my side again.” point is its not some little things that should just be taken for granted.

Personnally it feels like a safety net put into place in D&D because of the save or die crap. Remove this and increase the uncounscious buffer zone and you won’t have to worry about accidental death. That should bring back the meaning to self sacrifice…