This question regards the pathfinder setting:
I'm having a bit of confusion as to how a death by constitution drain would take place, specifically with these rulings taken from the Pathfinder SRD:
Each roll of a Hit Die (though a penalty can never drop a result below 1—that is, a character always gains at least 1 hit point each time he advances in level). This rule suggests to me that a character will always have at least 1hp per HD, regardless of penalties, such as constitution drain. However, when looking under how much hp is lost after constitution drain, you find this:
Damage to your Constitution score causes you to take penalties on your Fortitude saving throws. In addition, multiply your total Hit Dice by the Ability Damage penalty and subtract that amount from your current and total hit points. Lost hit points are restored when the damage to your Constitution is healed.
So now, if we take a 5th level character (5 HD) with 16 Constitution and 35hp who took 7 points of constitution damage. Following the rules of how much hp is lost: 5 x 7 = 35 (HD x Ability Points Lost). Does this mean this fifth level character would die when hitting a constitution of 9? Or does this mean for every constitution point under 9, he only has a maximum of 1hp, as per the ruling stating a player always gains at least 1hp per HD gained?
Thanks in advance.
Best Answer
-d20pfsrd
Hp lost: 5 x -3 = -15. After another 7 ( 14 total ) the HP lost would be 5 x -7 = -35. With a Con of 2, and 0hp, he is conscious ( barely ), but not dead, because of: "When a creature's hit points drop below 0, it becomes unconscious. When a creature's hit points reach a negative total equal to its Constitution score, it dies."d20pfsrd
A further 1 point of damage will not do anything. An additional 1 point of damage after that will kill the character: "A character with a Constitution score of 0 is dead."d20pfsrd