Talk:Complex Death (5e Variant Rule)

If you die or stabilize at three ticks in the relevant direction - how would the situation where you have three ticks in both directions ever come about? It seems you have a rule for an impossible situation. Should this be two ticks in either direction?

No. This changes the rule such that you die only if you have three death ticks at the start of your turn. This means that, after receiving your third death tick, every single other character will take a turn before you actually die. In this time, it is possible for someone to use medicine on you, hence the caveat. (This was done so that there was reason for even recording the third tick. The old rule was a bit like chess; you don't actually need to make the last move to know the game is over. It also offset the critical fumble effect a little.)

I did not explain this very well in the line which states it, as I was attempting to describe both death and stabilization end conditions in a single sentence to avoid redundancy. I will adjust it for clarity now. Thank you for highlighting the confusion, and thank you for taking the time to read and comment! --Kydo (talk) 23:20, 24 October 2015 (MDT)

OK so it's been clarified a bit. This was mostly inspired by Grey's Anatomy, which I was watching at the time. I wanted to represent the drama, the twists and turns, the stress and intensity of medicine, while still maintaining a high degree of abstraction. I also wanted to add some strategy so it was more than just a "best two of three" coin toss. --Kydo (talk) 01:41, 25 October 2015 (MDT)