Desperate Measures

Homebrew mechanic from Critical Role Campaign 4 (DM Brennan Lee Mulligan), adopted RAW for Heretics of the Old Gods.

While Bloodied

A character at half or fewer of their maximum hit points is Bloodied. On their turn, a Bloodied character may take one or more automatic Death Saving Throw failures to gain a corresponding benefit. These failures are marked immediately, whether or not the character is currently making death saves.

1 failure — choose one:

• Take an extra Dash and Disengage as bonus actions
• Give yourself a +5 bonus to a d20 test you just failed
• Reroll a d20 test you just made
• If your attack hits, the damage dice deal maximum damage instead of being rolled

3 failures — choose one:

• Take an extra Attack or Magic action
• Regain one expended spell slot, Level 1–5

Failures taken this way persist until the character finishes a Long Rest — they do not clear on stabilizing or regaining consciousness.

While Dying

A character making Death Saving Throws at 0 hit points has two additional options on a successful save:

• Give Heroic Inspiration. Instead of marking the success normally, the character may give Heroic Inspiration to any creature within line of sight. This can be done every round the character continues to succeed on death saves.
• Stabilize automatically. If the character currently has zero Death Saving Throw failures, a success may be used to stabilize automatically instead.

A single Death Saving Throw failure removes the stabilize option for that dying spell. The character can still choose between marking the success normally or granting Heroic Inspiration on subsequent successes, but cannot self-stabilize until healed or revived by other means.

Notes

• Pre-marked failures from the Bloodied table count toward the normal three-failure death threshold if the character is later reduced to 0 HP.
• This is unmodified from the Campaign 4 source mechanic. Any HotOG-specific adjustments will be noted here if adopted later.