Pathfinder Makes Big Changes to Death in Second Edition Playtest

Pathfinder players could see some big changes to how they stave off death when the game's Second Edition comes out next year.

Earlier this month, Paizo announced plans to release a revised ruleset for its popular RPG Pathfinder. The new version of the game will feature simplified combat rules and other changes to move away from "optimizing" character builds to make them viable in gameplay.

During a recent Game Trade Media livestream, Paizo's Director of Game Design Jason Bulmahn revealed exactly how dying worked in the new ruleset. While players still only have a limited of chances to stave off death via death saving throws, the actual mechanics involving death has been overhauled.

Basically, players gain "levels" of death with every saving throw they fail. When a player first hits zero HP, they gain the "Dying 1" condition. With every death saving throw they fail, a player goes from "Dying 1" to "Dying 2" and so on. Once a player hits "Dying 4," their character actually dies.

This is a pretty big change from the current ruleset, in which players gain "negative hit points" with each saving throw they fail. A player only dies when their negative hit points equals their constitution score (which typically is 10 or higher.)

In the current ruleset, a player simply needs to make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 10 to become stable and stop dying. In the Second Edition playset, the DC of the saving throw is determined by what monster hit the killing blow. A goblin might have a low DC saving throw, but a boss monster might have a much higher DC for players to beat.

When a player succeeds on a death saving throw in the Second Edition playset, they gain a 1 HP but are still unconscious. Although a player can't technically die when they have 1 or more HP, they still need to make a second saving throw in order to wake up from unconsciousness. In the original rules, a player becomes stable when they make a death saving throw, but they can't wake up in battle without outside medical/magical assistance.

In current Pathfinder rules, the easiest way of bringing someone back from the brink of death is to simply pop them with a healing spell or potion. While healing a dying player with a spell or potion gives that player HP, they're still considered unconscious until they make a successful saving throw.

Finally, critical successes and fails also have an effect on death saving throws. A player who falls unconscious due to a critical hit automatically start at "Dying 2" instead of "Dying 1." Additionally, anyone who rolls a 1 on a death saving throws advances two levels instead of one.

It looks like death could be a lot more serious in Pathfinder's new edition, although things can always change between now and the new game's official release. The Pathfinder playtest will be released to the public later this year.