About death saves in D&D 5e (updated to 2024 rules)

2024 Rules: Death Saves

Although death saving throws have not changed in any way in the 2024 Core Rulebook, this article has been updated to reflect the new terminology and describe new aspects affecting death saving throws introduced in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. I did.

What is a death save in 5e?

Danger is common in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. Your character’s life is always in danger: the dragon’s fiery breath, dangerous traps, and falls from great heights. When a character reaches 0 hit points, they immediately fall unconscious.

To determine if a character is beginning to approach death, a character makes a death saving throw whenever they begin their turn with 0 hit points. To do so, roll a d20. If the roll is a 10 or higher, the character succeeds on the death saving throw. If the roll is 9 or less, the character fails the saving throw.

Keen observers will notice that the chance of a death saving throw failing is slightly lower than the chance of succeeding, at 45% and 55% respectively. Are the cards stacked against death in D&D? That remains to be seen.

Please keep in mind the following:

No modifiers are applied to this role. Your fate is determined by the luck of the dice. If your character fails a death saving throw three times, the character dies.

However, if a character successfully makes three Death Saving Throws, they manage to survive in a stable state. You are still unconscious with 0 hit points, but your condition is stable and you are no longer in danger of dying (that is, unless someone is still trying to kill you).

Critical success and critical failure on death save

Rolling a 20: When a character rolls a 20 on a death saving throw, they regain 1 hit point and are no longer unconscious. Starting your turn by making a death saving throw means you come back with actions, bonus actions, and movement at your disposal.

Roll a 1: If your character rolls a 1 on a death saving throw, the character fails twice.

Take damage at 0 hit points

If the monster really wants you to die and attacks you when you’re down, you may die early.

If you take damage while at 0 hit points, you suffer an additional failure. But things get even worse. If you take damage from a critical hit, you take two failures instead.

You might think, “Well, at least the chance of landing a critical hit is 1 in 20.”

Unfortunately, your unconsciousness not only gives you advantage on attack rolls against you, but also makes hits from attackers within 5 feet of you a critical hit.

So if the enemy that brought you down is desperate to finish the job, has multi-attack, and is within 5 feet of you, the chances of them attacking again don’t seem very good.

instant death

When you take damage and are reduced to 0 hit points, you die instantly if you still have damage equal to your total hit points. Death is not salvation.

Instant death can be the result of other effects, such as dying from the Disintegrate or Power Word Kill spells, or reaching 0 Strength as a result of Shadow’s Strength Drain attack. In this case, the player skips the death saving throw and a resurrection spell is required to continue playing the character.

Healing and death saving throw resets

If a party member has 0 hit points, it’s important to heal them as quickly as possible. Whether using a healing spell, potion of healing, class feature, or healer kit, regaining hit points removes unconsciousness and resets the death saving throw count.

Healing Ward is one of the best options for reviving downed teammates. This is a ranged option, can be performed as a bonus action, and requires only a level 1 spell slot. Additionally, the 2024 Player’s Handbook now restores 2d4 + spellcasting modifiers instead of just 1d4. Even if your party members are dropped again in the next round, they won’t die from a wrong natural 1 since they’ve reset their death save failures.

Stabilizes at 0 hit points

If you become stable while rolling a death saving throw, you remain unconscious with 0 hit points, but you are no longer sliding toward your demise.

There are several ways to stabilize when making a death saving throw.

Get 3 successes with Death Saving Throws. Have an ally use the Help action to make a DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check with consistent successes. Have an ally cast “Spare the Dying”. Have an ally with a Healer Kit perform the “Use” action to consume one of the kit’s usage amounts. They do not need to do a medicine check.

If a character is stabilized but remains unconscious, they regain 1 hit point and are no longer unconscious after 1 hour.

the best way to cheat death

A death save is mechanically a saving throw even though it is not tied to an ability score. However, abilities that can affect saving throws, such as breath spells and lucky feats, can be applied when making a saving throw.

Halflings are one of the biggest beneficiaries of this, as their luck trait allows them to reroll 1s on D20 tests. However, rolling 1s in a row can still be a problem (even if it’s a 0.25% chance), as new rolls must be made.

The Constitution feat in the 2024 Player’s Handbook now also provides advantage on death saving throws, similar to the Light of Hope spell.

Do all creatures make death saves in 5e?

In most cases, monsters and other NPCs die when they reach 0 hit points. For particularly powerful monsters or important NPCs, the DM can knock them unconscious and roll a death save when they are reduced to 0 hit points.

Death is not the end, but this is the end

Death saving throws are an unfortunate but important aspect of D&D 5e. Understanding the rules of death saves and how they work in combat can mean the difference between life and death for your character. Now that you’ve learned how dangerous it is to go into a death saving throw, I want you to do your best to avoid it. However, adventure is a dangerous profession, so good luck.