Equalized Death Saving Throws (5e Variant Rule)

Equalized Death Saves

This is a simple tweak on death saving throws to make them more intense, neutral to survival, and to prevent characters from jumping up with 1hp from death's door on their own.

Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a death saving throw. Roll a d20. If the roll is 11 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. Track your accumulated successes and failures until you have three of a kind. On your third success, you become stable. On your third failure, you die. The number of both is reset to zero when you regain any hit points or become stable.

Rolling 1 or 20. When you make a death saving throw and roll a 1 on the d20, you die. If you roll a 20 on the d20, you become stable.

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