Question came up in combat Saturday in a game I was DMing. Once someone is stabilized at 0, how do death saves and damage work? For the purposes of this discussion lets assume we are not doing enough damage to kill by damage alone.
Here is what happened in play:
Grick surprised a 3rd level party (Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Rogue) and won initiative. It dropped on the Barbarian from the ceiling. Critted on the first attack with tentacles, then hit with his bite, go through all the players turns (all surprised) and it is back up to the Grick. Grick lands another tentacle attack downing the Barbarian, then lands his bite dealing 2 death saves.
So the Barbarian has not even taken a turn and is already at 2 death saves. Initiative order is Grick-Sorc-Barbarian-Fighter-Rogue
The Sorc used his action to stabilize (success) since the Barbarian rolls on her turn and would die outright with a failed death save. Now she is at 0hp but stable and no longer has to roll, can just sleep until the fight is over then get dragged somewhere for a short rest.
This is where the issue comes. Since she is stabilized she is not rolling death saves any more. So what happens if she gets damaged again while still at 0 and unconscious? Does she still have 2 fails and any damage, it takes her to 3 and kills her? Do the failed saves reset to 0 when stabilized but then she goes to 1 with damage (or 2 if hit with a crit)? Does damage just start the process over so the first time she is damaged it is not a "fail" and if so is she starting from 2 or 0?
I have no problem killing players with RAW and if she can still accumulate death save fails while stabilized then two hits (4 failed saves) would have killed her outright even if her fails reset to 0 when stabilized.
I would have attacked her again and went for the kill, but since I did not actually know the rules I went easy on the party and attacked the fighter (and because of that the party made quick work of the Grick, killing it in round 3)
Here is what happened in play:
Grick surprised a 3rd level party (Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Rogue) and won initiative. It dropped on the Barbarian from the ceiling. Critted on the first attack with tentacles, then hit with his bite, go through all the players turns (all surprised) and it is back up to the Grick. Grick lands another tentacle attack downing the Barbarian, then lands his bite dealing 2 death saves.
So the Barbarian has not even taken a turn and is already at 2 death saves. Initiative order is Grick-Sorc-Barbarian-Fighter-Rogue
The Sorc used his action to stabilize (success) since the Barbarian rolls on her turn and would die outright with a failed death save. Now she is at 0hp but stable and no longer has to roll, can just sleep until the fight is over then get dragged somewhere for a short rest.
This is where the issue comes. Since she is stabilized she is not rolling death saves any more. So what happens if she gets damaged again while still at 0 and unconscious? Does she still have 2 fails and any damage, it takes her to 3 and kills her? Do the failed saves reset to 0 when stabilized but then she goes to 1 with damage (or 2 if hit with a crit)? Does damage just start the process over so the first time she is damaged it is not a "fail" and if so is she starting from 2 or 0?
I have no problem killing players with RAW and if she can still accumulate death save fails while stabilized then two hits (4 failed saves) would have killed her outright even if her fails reset to 0 when stabilized.
I would have attacked her again and went for the kill, but since I did not actually know the rules I went easy on the party and attacked the fighter (and because of that the party made quick work of the Grick, killing it in round 3)