Dropping to 0 Hit Points
Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a
When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die outright or become
Severely Injured, unless a creature chooses to knock you out.
Instant Death
Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage reduces you to
0 hit points and there is damage remaining, you die if the remaining
damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum.
For example, a cleric with a maximum of 12 hit points currently
has 6 hit points. If she takes 18 damage from an attack, she is reduced
to 0 hit points, but 12 damage remains. Because the remaining
damage equals her hit point maximum, the cleric dies.
Severely Injured
If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill you, you become
Severely Injured. While you are Severely Injured;
Your movement speed is halved.
You have disadvantage on all attack rolls, ability checks, and
saving throws (except Death Saving Throws).
You cannot concentrate on spells.
On your turn, you can use either an action or a bonus action, not
both.
Your Severely Injured condition ends if you regain any hit points
unless you have accumulated one or more failed Death Saving
Throws.
Monsters and Death
Most DMs have a monster die the instant it drops to 0 hit points,
rather than having it become severely injured and make death saving
throws.
Mighty villains and special nonplayer characters are common
exceptions; the GM might have them become severely injured and
follow the same rules as player characters.
Describing the Severely Injured Condition
When you are Severely Injured you are visibly
damaged and have likely suffered some type of
trauma based on the damage type. For example if
fire reduced you to 0 hit points you may be terribly
burned with visibly charred clothing. If you were
severely injured by the blow from a giant's hammer
you may have broken ribs, a concussion, or horrible
bruising. These injuries are purely the visible
representation of the condition and do not have
any additional mechanical effect. DMs are
encouraged to allow players to role play the extent
of this damage in a way that fits their characters
persona. I recommend leaving more devastating
consequences like permanent scars, missing or
destroyed body parts, or other lasting effects up to
player agency. If the player chooses to suffer a
lasting injury, reward them if the injury contributes
to the character's story, role play, or the campaign.
Death Saving Throws
special saving throw, called a death saving throw, to determine
whether you creep closer to death or hang onto life. Unlike other
saving throws, this one isn't tied to any ability score. You are in the
hands of fate now, aided only by spells and features that improve
your chances of succeeding on a saving throw.
Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you
fail. A success or failure has no effect by itself. On your third success,
you become stable (see below). On your third failure, you die. The
successes and failures don't need to be consecutive; keep track of both
until you collect three of a kind. The number of successes is reset to
zero when you regain any hit points or become stable.
Rolling 1 or 20. When the DM makes a death saving throw and
rolls a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If they roll a 20 on the
d20, you regain 1 hit point.
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.
Persistent Death Saving Throws. Failed Death Saving
Throws are not immediately reset after you regain hit points. You
remain Severely Injured, regardless of your number of hit points,
until you have reset all of your death saving throws. The DM will
track these Death Saving throws until you are no longer Severely
Injured.
Resetting Failed Death Saving Throws.
You can reset 1 failed death saving throw;
By forgoing the healing provided by a healing spell, potion, or
similar magical effect that heals you for at least 10 hit points.
At the end of a Short Rest.
Otherwise all of your failed death saving throws are reset once you
heal your hit point maximum.
Stabilizing a Creature
The best way to save a creature with 0 hit points is to heal it. If a
creature receives healing from any source it is immediately stabilized.
A creature cannot recover hit points until it is stabilized.
If healing is unavailable, the creature can at least be stabilized so
that it isn't killed by a failed death saving throw.
You can use your action to administer first aid to a Severely
Injured creature and attempt to stabilize it, which requires a
successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check.
A stable creature doesn't make death saving throws, even though it
has 0 hit points, but it does remain Severely Injured. The creature
stops being stable, and must start making death saving throws again,
if it takes any damage. A stable creature that isn't healed regains 1 hit
point after 1d4 hours.
Acquiesce
When you start your turn with 0 hit points you can choose to
acquiesce. You immediately become unconscious but automatically
succeed your very next death saving throw. You remain unconscious
until you regain hit points.

Last Stand
When you start your turn with 0 hit points you can choose to fail
two death saving throws to make a heroic last stand until the end of
your turn. If these additional failures would kill you, you do not die
until the end of your turn. While you are making a last stand you
ignore the penalties of being severely injured and if you hit a creature
with an attack it is a critical hit. If you are concentrating on a spell
when damage reduces you to 0 hit points, you can choose to make a
last stand the instant you take the damage in order to maintain
concentration on the spell. If you are still alive at the end of your
turn, you immediately fall unconscious. You remain unconscious
until you regain hit points.

Knocked Unconscious
Sometimes an attacker wants to incapacitate you, rather than deal a
killing blow. When an attacker reduces you to 0 hit points with a
melee attack, the attacker can knock you out. The attacker can make
this choice the instant the damage is dealt. You must make a
Constitution saving throw to remain conscious. The DC equals 10 or
half the damage of the attack, whichever number is higher. On a
failure you are knocked unconscious but are stable. If you take
damage while unconscious you immediately regain consciousness but
you are Severely Injured and must start making death saving throws.
Otherwise, you remain unconscious until you regain hit points.

Special Interactions
Path of the Zealot’s Rage Beyond Death feature.
While you're raging, you ignore the penalties
associated with being Severely Injured and
Martyrdom only requires you to sacrifice one
death saving throw.
Undying Warlock Patron Defy Death feature. You
can instantly stabilize yourself and regain hit
points equal to 1d8 + your Constitution
modifier (minimum of 1 hit point) when you
succeed on a death saving throw
There may be other unintended interactions
that will need to be added over time.
Additional Optional Rules
Healing Potions
You can use your Bonus Action to drink a healing potion. If you do
so you recover hit points equal to your roll. Alternatively, you can
use your Action to use a healing potion on yourself in order to
receive the maximum hit points. Using a healing potion on another
creature requires your action and the creature must roll to determine
the hit points recovered.
Opportunity Attack
Withdrawing a potion from a backpack or
consuming a potion using your bonus action,
provokes an opportunity attack from any enemy
within 5 ft.
Healing Spells
When casting a spell that restores hit points you can focus more
magical energy to make it Restorative. The restorative version of a
spell takes 10 minutes longer to cast than normal but the spell
restores the maximum possible roll.
Raising the Dead
Casting a spell that brings a dead creature back to life is very taxing
on the spell caster. The spell caster accumulates 1 level of exhaustion
and takes damage equal to 1d4 times the spell's level plus the
character's level. If the caster doesn’t have the necessary components
available, the spell can still be cast but the caster takes double damage
and accumulates 2 levels of exhaustion.
When a creature returns to life it is considered to have 2 failed
death saving throws and is Severely Injured, unless the spell restores
all of the creature's hit points.
These effects are in addition to any effects listed in the spell's
description.
Limited resurrections
A character can only be resurrected by a spell or
spell effect with longer than a 1 action casting
time, a number of times equal to their proficiency
bonus.
Falling
This optional rule makes falling more dangerous and arguably more
realistic.
At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6+1 bludgeoning damage for
every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 30d6+30. The creature lands
prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.
When a creature takes damage from a fall equal to or greater than
half its hit point maximum, it must roll on the Impact table.
Impact Table
d12 Effect
The creature drops to 0 hit points, falls unconscious, and
1
automatically fails two Death Saving throws.
The creature drops to 0 hit points, falls unconscious, and
2-3
automatically fails one Death Saving throw, but is stable.
4-5
6-7
The creature drops to 0 hit points, and is stunned until the
end of its next turn, but is stable.
The creature drops to 0 hit points, but is stable.
The creature can’t take reactions and has disadvantage on
8-9
attack rolls and ability checks until the end of its next turn.
10- The creature can’t take reactions until the end of its next
11 turn.
12
Miraculously the creature managed to have something
break their fall. The creature suffers half damage. If the
reduced damage is still sufficient to kill the creature
outright, the creature instead drops to 0 hit points, falls
unconscious, and automatically fails two Death Saving
throws, but is stable.
Impact Table
The effects listed in the Impact Table are based on
the Dropping to 0 Hit Points House Rule outlined
in this document. If you do not use the Dropping
to 0 Hit Points house rule, you can instead use the
System Shock table found in the Dungeon Master’s
Workshop section of the DMG.
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House Rule:
Dropping
to
0 Hit Points
_ Removed the
​I have always been a little unsatisfied with the
rules for death and dying in 5e. This is my
revision to the SRD for playtesting.
It’s nothing revolutionary or ground breaking but
I wanted to share it to encourage theory craft
discussions and critique. My intention is to make
characters feel more heroic and give them
opportunities to avoid going unconscious
(which I always feel is boring for a player).
I attempted to balance this out by having the
death saves hidden from the table, adding some
lingering consequences, and by also making it a
little harder to bring a dead character back to life.
This Is Playtest Material
The homebrew material is presented for
playtesting. The game mechanics are in draft form,
usable in your campaign but not refined by
feedback and editing. All critiques and comments
are encouraged, welcomed, and considered.
This work may contain material that is copyright
of Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. Such
material is used in good faith with every intention
to comply with Community Content, Fair Use, and
Fan Art Agreements. All other original material in
this work is copyright 2020 by Feralborn Trading
Company and/or Design Team members.
Change Log V3
Changed the format of the Severely Injured
condition to match that of other conditions.
Added saves made against your spells have advantage to
the severely injured condition
Added If a creature receives healing from any source it is
immediately stabilized but does not recover hit points. A
creature cannot recover hit points until it is stabilized. To
the Stabilizing a Creature section.
hidden Death Saves.
Added If you are concentrating on a spell when damage
reduces you to 0 hit points, you can choose to make a last
stand the instant you take the damage in order to maintain
concentration on the spell. to the Last Stand feature.
Added Undying Warlock Patron Defy Death feature.
You can instantly stabilize yourself and regain hit points
equal to 1d8 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1
hit point) when you succeed on a death saving throw to
the special interactions.
Added limits to resurrections
Added opptional rules for falling
Theorycraft Feedback and Critique
All critiques and comments are encouraged, welcomed,
and considered! Thank you for the encouragement and
also for pointing out unintended consequences and
balance concerns!! My homebrew is continuously
revised based on feedback and playtesting.
Special thanks to Reddit users FreezingHotCoffee,
oddly-tall-hobbit, IntrinsicGiraffe,
CommodorePineapple, AnthonycHero,
AsmodeusOfTheNine, Bloodgiant65, QuesoFundid0,
IlstrawberrySeed, DMsWorkshop, Infernite583,
NormalDistrict8, and many others
Special thanks To Instagram users snuffles504,
norobotyet, hanandlia, jokal_25, and many others
I apologize in advance if I missed a user name, all
contributions are appreciated!!