This is the 18th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].
For rules category descriptions and more about the newsletters, see “About the Reedition of Phenster’s.” For an index of articles, see Coming Up in “Pandemonium Society House Rules.”
Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.
“If hit points are reduced to zero or below, the combatant is dead” (Holmes, 18).
The following article was printed in L’avant garde #77, dated March 1986. If the Postlethwaite Collection is near complete, this is Phenster’s penultimate contribution to the newsletter. It is the last concerning the Pandemonium Society’s house rules for combat.
Saving Throw VS. Death
The fight with the gnoll-demon's army went bad for us. Phenster Prime only had 3 hit points left when the black dragon raised its head out of the water. I tried to DISINTEGRATE it, but it saved, and I didn't have any other good spells against it, because I already used FIRE BALL on the gnolls and CHARM MONSTER on Charon, who was poling us down the River Styx, taking us to Hell.
We were sitting ducks. The dragon spit acid on us, and it didn't matter if I saved or not, and it didn't matter if the acid was washed away as the boat sank into the current. Phenster Prime was sizzled. Hazard called it an ignominious death.
When we used to play cops and robbers and war or other make-believe games, when we shoot somebody, we just say, "BANG, you're dead! Count to 10!" And you have to fall on the ground and count to 10 really really fast before you can get up and get back in the game again.
But D&D isn't like those make-believe games. The rules say when you lose all your hit points, you're character dies. No bang, no counting--when you're dead your dead. We usually play by the rules. You can be raised or resurrected with magic, but it's expensive and takes time to go back to base town and talk to the bishop or a wizard. Most times at 0 hit points it's faster just to roll up a new character, or take a henchman if you have one, and get back in the game.
Hazard gave me a saving throw versus death, but I didn't make it. You have to roll a 20 minus your level, then add your h.p. bonus. I needed an 8, but I got a 5, so Phenster Prime was dead on the River Styx.
The Bully got sizzled, too, but he made his saving throw against death. (He only needed a 4.) He was still unconscious though with 1 h.p., so Friar Tombs had to haul him to shore so he wouldn't drown. Then the Bully woke up, and Friar Tombs put some healing on him, while I rolled up a new character because I didn't have a henchman.
The dragon disappeared, and so did Charon, and they never found Phenster Prime's body. The party was stranded on the shore of the River Styx, so they had to walk to Hell. Phenster Double Prime joined them on the way.
Save vs Death [P]
A character who reaches 0 or fewer hit points may attempt a saving throw vs Death. The number needed is 20 minus the character’s level. The character’s Constitution bonus to hit points is added to the roll. Failure means death. Success means the character has 1 hit point and is unconscious until the end of the current encounter.
This was a recurring joke among the AD&D crowd when I was a teenager. A game in which one might make a saving throw versus Death couldn’t be serious. For that reason, I throw it in category [P] Pandemonium.
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