Scentfinder: of death's door

I love when characters fall on one knee & stare down death itself. That is when the true measure of a character's fighting spirit is made. I'm a bit sad to see TTRPG mechanics are often incompatible with these ideas, & I want to make death & dying mechanics compatible with it. 

I want falling at 0 HP to be a dramatic occasion, not a semi-optimised way of dealing with damage. 

So what happens when a character falls to 0 HP?

Well, now, they're at Death's Door.

Only PCs, & NPCs of levels 4 & 5 are not directly vanquished at 0 HP (what exactly "vanquished" means will depend on context & a group's sensibilities).

When a character falls at Death's Door they have a choice: either they can admit their defeat & fall Unconscious (disarmed, prone, & knocked out until the end of combat)... or they can keep on fighting. 

If they do, they get Staggered & disarmed (what they were holding falling to the ground in their area), but keep their initative. 

And if they ever would take damage...

• [0] DEATH SAVE
  Trigger: suffer damage at Death's Door.
  Make a roll against a fixed value of [10 + current number of regained actions per turn].
  Critical Success: +1 regained action per turn at Death's Door (maximum 3, until end of combat).
  Success: -1 regained action per turn at Death's Door (until end of combat).
  Failure: die if 0 regained actions per turn at Death's Door; -2 regained actions per turn at Death's Door (until end of combat).
  Fumble: die if 0 regained actions per turn at Death's Door; -3 regained actions per turn at Death's Door (until end of combat).

Any amount of healing to a character at Death's Door gives them one of their actions back, 2 if it resulted from a Critical success.

Characters also have access to this use of their reaction:

• [R] HEROIC SACRIFICE
  Trigger: a character in the same area is about to suffer damage at Death's Door.
  Suffer this damage instead.

Another action can help with this predicament: 

• [2] ADMINISTER FIRST HELP (manipulate)
  Requirement: be considered in possession of healing tools.
  Choose another creature in the same area who is at Death's Door or suffering from at least one instance of persistent damage. Make a Medicine roll with a Difficulty of [3 - target's current number of regained actions per turn].
  Critical Success: if target is at Death's Door, get them out of it at 5 HP; or reduce one instance of persistent damage to 0; or reduce 2 instances of persistent damage to half (rounded down).
  Success: if target is at Death's Door, get them out of it at 1 HP; or reduce one instance of persistent damage to half (rounded down).
  Failure: ¤
  Fumble: if target is at Death's Door, they lose 1 regained action per turn at Death's Door; or  suffer +1 to one instance of persistent damage.