[Variant]Spelldeath

[Winged One]

This variant turns every save-or-die into a very potent save-or-lose by inventing a new special condition.

Spelldead: Whenever a spell would kill a character directly(rather than through hp damage, CON damage, negative levels, or something else that causes death indirectly), it instead causes Spelldeath. A Spelldead character can take no actions, and is also vulnerable to a coup de grace(failure on the fortitude save resulting in actual death as normal). They are treated as dead for the purpose of being targetable by a spell. If a Spelldead character is allowed to remain in a single place for 24 hours without any movement at all, the condition is reversed. Raise Dead, Ressurection, and Reincarnate cure Spelldeath without any level or Constitution loss. Reincarnate does not change a Spelldead character's race. Psionic Revivify does not cause any XP loss when curing Spelldeath, nor does it ever cost more than 200 XP to manifest on a Spelldead character. If a character remains Spelldead for a full week without revification, they die. Time spent Spelldead counts against the time since death for Raise Dead, Ressurection, and True Ressurection.

Variants2: Some DMs may decide that a Spelldead character does not revive in 24 hours, meaning that this variant only removes the level loss incured from Raise Dead, Ressurection, and Reincarnate, as well as the race changes from Reincarnate, in the case of instant-death spells.
Critiques would be apreciated.

[jlousivy]

possibly add in 'any additional damage will kill the character' but i like this... helpful for players and npcs alike.
Also i think the spelldead character should come back at 1 hp (if allowed to remain in place for 24 hours)

[icke]

If the spelldead character is automatically ressurected after 24 hours, why should anyone cast ressurection on him? Leave out that 24 hours bit and i like it, though.

[Winged One]

possibly add in 'any additional damage will kill the character' but i like this... helpful for players and npcs alike.
Also i think the spelldead character should come back at 1 hp (if allowed to remain in place for 24 hours)
Thank you. It now explicitly states that a Spelldead character can be coup de graced.

If the spelldead character is automatically ressurected after 24 hours, why should anyone cast ressurection on him? Leave out that 24 hours bit and i like it, though.

Mostly, you would do so if you were in a situation that you didn't have 24 hours to waste guarding your friend. I'll add your version as a possible variant of the variant, however.

[Halcyon_Dax]

Love. Used.

Been looking for an alternative, this is a nice happy medium.

Simple and well done.

[Raum]

Just curious, but why do you want to prevent magic from being deadly?

I do like your solution though, it's simple and easy to implement. I'd probably have the victim move from spelldead / unconscious to exhausted after the 24 hours though...slightly more immersive than simply being completely well after a day.

[Winged One]

I don't want to make magic itself non-deadly, I just want to eliminate the unfairness of spells like Finger of Death (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fingerOfDeath.htm). A Fireball's damage is unaffected, as is Enervation, and everything except save-or-dies. Finger of Death and other spells that are normally save-or-dies will be just as effective at removing people from the battlefield, but won't force a player to roll up a new character, or a DM to come up with a new plotline after the BBEG bites it from a save-or-die.

[icke]

Save or die, the greatest problem of D&D...

[Miles Invictus]

Anyone aware of spelldeath will still nuke the battlefield with save-or-dies, though, and take the added step of mutilating enemy corpses after the battle. That isn't to say I don't like the idea, but the only fix it provides is that the winners get their people back alive.

[mabriss lethe]

Interesting idea. You could, however, make it a little more punishing on the one who bites it. Leave them marked by a very, very, close brush with death. Up to you, but I'd say something like serious attribute damage that slowly heals over the course of a week or so. Something that makes the character feel very lucky to still be alive, while not letting him off the hook from the repercussions of rather nasty magics.

[Shazzbaa]

Ooo, I like this.

Though I understand it mechanically, having "reincarnation" function on a spelldead character seems... weird.