Rules as written, A unarmed strike done by anyone who doesn't have a Negative Strength Modifier, can instantly remove 2 death saves from their target.
How?
When at HP Zero (0HP) you are unconscious.
When unconscious, attack rolls against you are at advantage, and any hit is a critical hit if they're within 5ft of you.
When at 0HP, a Critical Hit makes you Fail 2 Death Saves instead of one.
Now, why would you do this? Well, for one thing, a quick poke or 2 can insure any enemy is actually dead, not just knocked out (Which i think is funny, in a morbid way), and It can be useful if PVP is Enabled, as it allows you to stealthily kill a unconscious PC/NPC, no spell or weapon required.
(I'm Not going to argue weather or not 0 damage should count as "Any damage" for "Damage at 0HP=Fail", but I do understand how some could choose to rule that way.)
Yeah, not sure what this gives you that using a weapon doesn't? I mean besides being potentially funnier to slap an unconscious dragon to death. 😝
The main reasons to use a regular unarmed strike are either a) you have no choice (e.g- disarmed) or b) you need to hit something and do as little damage as possible. The second case can be quite an important one in the game, especially if allies get charmed or put to sleep, and any similar effect that can be broken by taking damage.
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Most monsters don't make death saves though, it's mostly a PC thing.
That's dependent upon your DM as skipping death saves for monsters is entirely optional, it's not even really a recommendation, it just says "most DMs" with absolutely no qualification. Bosses and such are prime examples of when you should have them to take death saves, especially with minions around that could stabilise or even revive them.
Your adventurers need to learn the hard way to always make certain their (future) nemesis is definitely dead. 😉
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Death Saves for major enemies are so infrequent these days because so many tables use some variation of the "How do you want to do this" system. So when PCs do manage to defeat a major villain it ends up taking the form of some kind of elaborate Mortal-Kombat-Style finishing move that usually ends with a head lopped off or a heart ripped out or something. I feel like it mostly comes up these days when the players are deliberately keeping someone alive to interrogate them later or something.
Rules as written, A unarmed strike done by anyone who doesn't have a Negative Strength Modifier, can instantly remove 2 death saves from their target.
How?
Now, why would you do this? Well, for one thing, a quick poke or 2 can insure any enemy is actually dead, not just knocked out (Which i think is funny, in a morbid way), and It can be useful if PVP is Enabled, as it allows you to stealthily kill a unconscious PC/NPC, no spell or weapon required.
Sources:
(I'm Not going to argue weather or not 0 damage should count as "Any damage" for "Damage at 0HP=Fail", but I do understand how some could choose to rule that way.)
What is the context here? Did somebody say that unarmed strikes are not useful? Why don't you have a weapon to poke the unconscious target with?
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
Yeah, not sure what this gives you that using a weapon doesn't? I mean besides being potentially funnier to slap an unconscious dragon to death. 😝
The main reasons to use a regular unarmed strike are either a) you have no choice (e.g- disarmed) or b) you need to hit something and do as little damage as possible. The second case can be quite an important one in the game, especially if allies get charmed or put to sleep, and any similar effect that can be broken by taking damage.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Most monsters don't make death saves though, it's mostly a PC thing.
That's dependent upon your DM as skipping death saves for monsters is entirely optional, it's not even really a recommendation, it just says "most DMs" with absolutely no qualification. Bosses and such are prime examples of when you should have them to take death saves, especially with minions around that could stabilise or even revive them.
Your adventurers need to learn the hard way to always make certain their (future) nemesis is definitely dead. 😉
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Death Saves for major enemies are so infrequent these days because so many tables use some variation of the "How do you want to do this" system. So when PCs do manage to defeat a major villain it ends up taking the form of some kind of elaborate Mortal-Kombat-Style finishing move that usually ends with a head lopped off or a heart ripped out or something. I feel like it mostly comes up these days when the players are deliberately keeping someone alive to interrogate them later or something.
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