Orcus's "Voice" lair action is casting the spell Power Word Kill. If he were to use it on a PC, would they drop to death saving throws or instantly die?
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Spells do exactly what they say, whether cast on PCs or other monsters. Power Word Kill says a creature with 100 hit points or fewer dies. PCs are not exempt from this as they are also creatures and thus are perfectly valid targets for the spell. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not make a saving throw vs the effect, do not drop to 0 HP and start making death saving throws. They just die like any other creature targeted by the spell. Note that this is a 9th level spell so it's meant to be powerful. |
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They would instantly die, with no saving throws. However, at this level, players are assumed to have access to means of resurrection, so this isn't as devastating as it would be at earlier levels. |
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Power Word Kill does kill a PC with fewer than 100 hit points without a save. However, a quick calculation shows that there would be many high level PCs that would have more than 100 hit points at full health (a level 18 paladin with CON 10 would have an average of 99 hit points, for example). Additionally, this spell is actually a bit on the weak side for a 9th level spell. If a monster cast Meteor Swarm on a party of PCs, they could potentially take 40d6 damage each, which would add up to far more than the 100 HP maximum damage that Power Word Kill would inflict. |
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