In my current campaign, a plot point is going to involve the PCs finding a dying man who has been kept prisoner and beaten repeatedly over a long period of time. He is able to give the party some important information before he expires. Classic trope, right? But I'm concerned that one or more of my PCs are going to start casting healing spells or feeding him potions in a heroic effort to stop him from dying.
I can, of course, just wave my DM fiat around and declare that he's just too far gone to be saved by magic due to a combination of injuries and exhaustion; that's what I have planned. But it feels a little weak to me, considering the kind of injuries PCs can bounce back from with a quick cure wounds spell. Is there a better explanation I can give based on the rules or existing lore as to why basic healing magic won't work in some cases?
Best Answer
Exhaustion kills
The game has a mechanism for modeling exhaustion. It's the exhaustion condition, and it's 6th level has the rather simple effect: "Death". Not reduction to 0 hit points, just dead outright.
A creature with 5 levels of exhaustion can reasonably be called dead tired, with disadvantage on everything, halved max hit points, and a speed of 0. Exhaustion is given by the game most commonly for overlong days, and exerting oneself beyond a normal day (see marching for more than 8 hours in a day). Calling speaking despite their injuries such an exertion seems completely reasonable. And in my experience, giving players an explanation like "They died from Exhaustion, so were never making death saves" appeases players who wants NPCs to use the same mechanics as them.
There are of course still spells which would be able to save the NPC, but instead of cure wounds or potions, they'd need revivify (3rd level; 300 gp) or better, or a greater restoration (5th level; 200 gp) used before the NPC dies (excluding any exhaustion caused by lack of food or water).