Delay Death

[Sargon]

well first of all i was useing this spell wrong.

level 5 spells simpally dont do things that cool, level 9 spells hardly do things that cool. so it occured to me that this spell (how we were useing it) was really sick and overpowered, so i looked into it.

here is what the spell (or the only parts in the desription that matter) says

the subject of the spell is unable to die from hit point damage. unless killed in the any of a million other ways.

then it moves on to say...
the spell does not prevent the subject from entering the dying state by droping to -1 hit points. it mearly prevents death as a result of hit point loss.

this is where we were in error.

so i looked up dying ...

when your characters current hit points drop to between -1 and -9 inclusive he is dying. A dying character immediately falls unconscious and can take no actions.

as you can see the spell delay death says nothing about you being conscious.

so the spell works like this, you can be under -9 HP and still live, but your condition will be dying, so you can do nothing and are unconscious. untill the cleric can get over and restore your hit points to above -1.

so as we can see i was doing it wrong, sorry about that Galaga, from this point on we will be much easyer to kill.

[landamus]

So diehard would allow some partial and free actions and allow you to stay concious under this spell. "When reduced to negative hit points, you may choose to act as if you were disabled, rather than dying." Also, "f you perform any standard action (or any other action the DM deems strenuous, including some free actions, such as casting a quickened spell) you take 1 point of damage after completing the act." So take the diehard feat and the spell is once again very powerful.

[galaga]

Since Diehard 'theoreticaly' caps at -10 yet delay death prevents you from dying from HP damage I would rule that at -10 you fall unconsious

[Lord Kain]

DIEHARD [GENERAL]

Prerequisite: Endurance.

Benefit: When reduced to between –1 and –9 hit points, you automatically become stable. You don’t have to roll d% to see if you lose 1 hit point each round.

When reduced to negative hit points, you may choose to act as if you were disabled, rather than dying. You must make this decision as soon as you are reduced to negative hit points (even if it isn’t your turn). If you do not choose to act as if you were disabled, you immediately fall unconscious.

When using this feat, you can take either a single move or standard action each turn, but not both, and you cannot take a full round action. You can take a move action without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action (or any other action deemed as strenuous, including some free actions, such as casting a quickened spell) you take 1 point of damage after completing the act. If you reach –10 hit points, you immediately die.

Normal: A character without this feat who is reduced to between –1 and –9 hit points is unconscious and dying.

Where is this -10 cap?, the feat doesn't cap it just reminds you your dead at -10.

[galaga]

note the theoreticaly. It says straight out you are dead at -10. delay death prevents you from dying but would not keep you going beyond the frame of Diehard