An untested idea...
Use a usage die (from Black Hack, roll the die if result is a 1-2 you roll the next smaller die next time, 1-2 on a 1d4 means no die left.). So you have your HD (Fighter gets 1d10 per level so 1d10 usage die. When you hit zero you roll. Bad luck could mean you bleed out fast, good luck means you have more time. Stabilize could mean back to your HD value again, or it could mean just one die larger.

Might be best to have the usage die one lower than your HD to ensure nobody lingers too long.

For that kind of usage die, I'd just use the same size die for everyone, based on the odds you want.  Changing sizes gets funky in a hurry.  If you want to give particularly tough characters a boost, let them ignore the first failure or maybe two, which makes the odds more predictable. 

I love usage dice in some cases, but they its easy to get too cute with them by being enamored of the mechanic. 

Binge drinking.

I've always found bleeding out to be a kind of silly and frustratingly unrealistic idea. Bleeding out until you pass out is totally a thing, but bleeding out to the point of death from even grievous injuries takes minutes, and RPG rounds are typically only a few seconds long. Bleeding effects to fatality should practically be a rounding error. If the other PCs fail to immediately apply first aid after a combat is over, then you might have a case for bleeding out.

As such, it's generally my houserule that characters can only bleed when they are conscious and fighting back. When they keel over unconscious their blood pressure drops too much for it to matter, at least until combat ends.

Quote from: Fheredin on October 16, 2022, 03:41:37 PM
I've always found bleeding out to be a kind of silly and frustratingly unrealistic idea. Bleeding out until you pass out is totally a thing, but bleeding out to the point of death from even grievous injuries takes minutes

Earlier in the thread this video was posted, which is a black and white film of a bank robber shot in the neck who collapses in 20 seconds and loses consciousness 10 seconds after that. He may or may not be dead for another few minutes, but he is taking no further actions after 20 seconds, and certainly not after 30 in all, and his wounds would not be survivable even if he'd fallen over in a trauma ward.

QuoteRPG rounds are typically only a few seconds long

This is commonly true, and is another example of RPGs being unrealistic. GURPS' one-second rounds are particularly comedic, and come from having watched too many action movies.

Now, if you want to emulate Jackie Chan movies, all good. One second combat rounds, fight on with blood pissing out of your neck, ten actions a round. But in your comment you're appealing to realism. Nup.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron on October 17, 2022, 07:34:47 AM

Quote from: Fheredin on October 16, 2022, 03:41:37 PM
I've always found bleeding out to be a kind of silly and frustratingly unrealistic idea. Bleeding out until you pass out is totally a thing, but bleeding out to the point of death from even grievous injuries takes minutes

Earlier in the thread this video was posted, which is a black and white film of a bank robber shot in the neck who collapses in 20 seconds and loses consciousness 10 seconds after that. He may or may not be dead for another few minutes, but he is taking no further actions after 20 seconds, and certainly not after 30 in all, and his wounds would not be survivable even if he'd fallen over in a trauma ward.

QuoteRPG rounds are typically only a few seconds long

This is commonly true, and is another example of RPGs being unrealistic. GURPS' one-second rounds are particularly comedic, and come from having watched too many action movies.

Now, if you want to emulate Jackie Chan movies, all good. One second combat rounds, fight on with blood pissing out of your neck, ten actions a round. But in your comment you're appealing to realism. Nup.

Well, let me put things this way: is it fun to wait several rounds and make several death saves only to die when you can't control anything? IMO, if it isn't particularly realistic and it isn't particularly fun, it has no purpose for being there.

The bank robber was incapacitated almost as fast as if he had his throat slashed. This is an extreme injury which isn't necessarily representative of most combat injuries. I'm not saying that injuries in combat aren't fatal, but that they are rarely fatal this quickly. One could equally argue the Miami Dade shooting is an example of the other end of the equation, where one of the perpetrators received an almost certainly fatal shot and continued to fight for well more than a minute.

Again, I just don't see the value of a bleeding out mechanic once a PC has gone unconscious.

Quote from: Fheredin on October 17, 2022, 11:57:53 AM
Again, I just don't see the value of a bleeding out mechanic once a PC has gone unconscious.

I think the value is that his friends get X rounds to save him.  Maybe one of them has a magical bandaid if he can only get there in time

Quote from: Fheredin on October 17, 2022, 11:57:53 AM
Again, I just don't see the value of a bleeding out mechanic once a PC has gone unconscious.

It's intended to create tension and interest. It's not a simulationist thing.

Quote from: S'mon on October 17, 2022, 02:48:51 PM

Quote from: Fheredin on October 17, 2022, 11:57:53 AM
Again, I just don't see the value of a bleeding out mechanic once a PC has gone unconscious.

It's intended to create tension and interest. It's not a simulationist thing.

The original bleed out rules, from AD&D, were there mainly to reduce PC death. As before that, the only way for a character to be taken out of the fight and not be dead is for them to drop to exactly 0 hit points. The saving throw added in third edition D&D, where a successful save stabilized the character, just make it that much harder to die.

I will agree, however, that if you know the exact round that a character will die, it removes all tension from most situations.

Quote from: ForgottenF on October 05, 2022, 10:02:16 PM
I would like a system where a mortally wounded character has a chance to die instantly, survive for only a few moments, or possibly live on for hours, and I don't know of a game that has that built in. But what do you all favor, as far as death and dying systems go?

Phoenix Command rates a character's injuries with points of Physical Damage (PD), which are tallied and entered into the medical table, cross-indexed with the level of medical care available, yielding a Critical Time Period, and a Recovery Roll. The more serious the injury and the poorer the care, the shorter the time until a recovery roll is made to determine if the character lives or dies. It's left to the GM to determine whether this was due to infection, organ failure, or blood loss.