In this world, death is not easily undone. The journey back from the afterlife is dangerous, uncertain, and becomes harder each time.
Death saves are made at the start of your turn and if you roll a natural 20 on your death saving throw, you regain consciousness with 1 hp and can take your full turn.
Death Saving Throws
To preserve the tension of dying, Death Saving Throws cannot be modified by general bonuses from spells, magic items, class features, or feats — unless they are specifically designed to affect death saves or the state of dying.
Allowed exceptions include:
- Racial traits like Relentless Endurance (Half-Orc) or Deathless Nature (Reborn)
- Spells or effects that explicitly interact with dying or prevent death, such as:
- Death Ward (prevents hitting 0 HP once)
- Spare the Dying (stabilises a dying creature)
- Class features that specifically reference death saving throws or dying (e.g. Grave Cleric’s Sentinel at Death’s Door)
Not allowed:
- General bonuses to saving throws (e.g. Bless, Resistance)
- Bardic Inspiration, Flash of Genius, or similar effects
- Magic items or features that boost saving throws in general, unless they directly mention death saves
Spells That Bypass This System
Only the following spells ignore the Death DC and ritual system entirely:
- True Resurrection
- Wish
Death DC
When a creature is resurrected by any magical means, a Death DC determines whether the soul returns.
- Base Death DC: 10
- For each time the creature has previously died, increase the Death DC by +1 permanently.
- This DC applies to all resurrection attempts, including Revivify, Raise Dead, Resurrection, etc.
Rapid Resurrection
When using a 1-action resurrection spell (such as Revivify), the resurrection is swift but not guaranteed.
The caster makes a spellcasting ability check (1d20 + spellcasting modifier, no proficiency bonus) against the target’s Death DC :
- Success: The creature is restored to life.
- Failure:
- The spell fails.
- The soul slips away — no further Revivify spells can be used on this corpse.
- The creature’s Death DC increases by +1
Resurrection Ritual
When a spell with a casting time longer than 1 action is used to bring back a creature (e.g. Raise Dead), a resurrection ritual is triggered.
Ritual Participation
- Up to three characters may contribute to the ritual.
- Each contributor:
- Describes an action they take to call the soul back.
- Makes a skill check based on that action (e.g. Religion, Persuasion, Arcana, Performance, History, etc.)
- The DM sets a DC for each contribution, based on the creativity, effort, and relevance of the action
| Roleplay Quality | Contribution DC |
|---|---|
| Weak or minimal effort | DC 18–20 |
| Average or expected | DC 15–17 |
| Strong and thematic | DC 12–14 |
| Exceptional and moving | DC 10–11 |
Ritual Resolution
- Base Death DC: 10 + 1 for reach time the creature has previously died
- For each successful skill check, reduce the final Death DC by 3 (minimum DC 1)
- For each failed check, increase the final Death DC by 1
Once all contributions are resolved, the caster rolls: 1d20 + their spellcasting modifier vs the adjusted Death DC
- Success: The resurrection succeeds. The soul returns to the body.
- Failure: The ritual fails. The soul is lost. No further resurrection attempts can be made except through True Resurrection or Wish