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Learn the ins and outs of death saves & dying in D&D 5th edition
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You’re fighting a deadly monster in D&D, only for your character to fall unconscious. The DM asks you for a death save—but what does that mean? In D&D 5e, death saving throws are rolls that determine whether a fallen, unconscious character lives or dies. Passing your death saves means your PC will survive—but failing death saves brings them closer to death. Keep reading for a detailed guide to making death saving throws, plus advice on dealing with dying characters in combat.
Things You Should Know
- Death saving throws are d20 rolls determining whether a character lives or dies. Rolling a 10 or higher is a success while rolling a 9 or lower is a failure.
- If you roll 3 successes, it means your PC stabilizes and isn’t in danger of dying. If you roll 3 failures first, that means your PC dies.
- Roll death saves at the start of your PC’s turn after they drop to 0 hit points. You don’t need 3 successes in a row so long as you roll them before getting 3 failures.
Steps
Section 2 of 6:
How to Make Death Saving Throws
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Roll a d20 at the start of your turn after falling unconscious. When your PC falls unconscious, you can’t take actions or move them anymore; instead, on their turn, roll a single death save using a d20 (20-sided die). If you roll a 10 or higher, it’s a success—and if you roll any lower, it’s a failure. Mark the success or failure on your PC’s character sheet, then wait for your next turn. [3] X Research source
- Keep in mind that there are special rules for rolling a 1 (also called a critical failure) or a 20 (a critical success).
- If you roll a 1 on a death save, it’ll count as 2 failures. If you roll a 20, your PC will instantly become conscious once more with 1 hit point.
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Add any active bonuses or spells that affect saving throws to the roll. Since there are no innate bonuses associated with death saves, the outcome of a death save normally comes down to the luck of the roll. However, abilities and spells that affect saving throws can absolutely be used to increase your chances of succeeding on a death save, so don’t forget to factor them in! [4] X Research source
- For example, Bless is a spell that lets you add 1d4 to your saving throws—so if an ally casts it on your PC, be sure to roll that d4.
- If your PC has the Lucky feat (which is an optional feature that you can choose to give them), you can also reroll a death save up to 3 times.
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Keep rolling death saves until you get 3 successes or failures. Your goal when rolling death saves is to get 3 successes! At 3 successes, your PC becomes stable (no longer dying). Unless they’re healed, they’ll remain unconscious for 1d4 hours and wake with 1 HP. However, if they take damage while unconscious, they must make death saves again. And, if you fail 3 death saves, your PC dies. [5] X Research source
- You don’t have to roll 3 successes in a row to count them. As long as you get 3 successes before you get 3 failures, your PC will stabilize.
- There’s no such thing as negative hit points in D&D 5e—so once your character gets healed, they’ll regain consciousness and their death saves will reset.
- Some players use “Meat Grinder Mode” (which uses rules from the Tomb of Annihilation adventure). In this game mode, the DC for death saves becomes 15—making successes significantly more difficult to get.
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Unconscious PCs who take damage automatically fail a death save. Unfortunately, taking damage while already unconscious at 0 HP is the equivalent of making and failing a death saving throw. If it happens, mark a single failure on your PC’s character sheet (even though you didn’t roll for it). [6] X Research source
- Furthermore, if your PC takes damage from a critical hit, that counts as 2 death save failures.
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QuestionDo failed death saves reset after being brought back?Community AnswerYes.
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References
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
- ↑ https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/downloads/DnD_BasicRules_2018.pdf
- ↑ https://youtu.be/qo7zMVrdyXo?t=28
- ↑ https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/how-to-play/damage-healing-dying/
- ↑ https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/how-to-play/damage-healing-dying/
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