Dreams of Mythic Fantasy: Death from Damage in AD&D. Again.
Isn't it a bit fiddly with all the nuances, like 0hp being its own category, and the similar but not same results on the death chart?
Why yes, yes it is. The question is, will it do what I want it to do? I'm okay with fiddly. I run AD&D after all.
Right now, I read that parenthetical on p. 83 as meaning that damage can take a character as low as -3 hit points, optionally, or as low as 0 under the normal rule, but no lower, and damage can no longer affect a character at 0 or fewer hit points. From there, the score is reduced by 1 per round as a timer counting down to actual death.
So, let's say a blow reduces my character to 0. No further damage can be done to my character, except for the automatic 1 point every round. If we were using the optional rule, being damaged to -3 in one hit—say I was at 2 and took 5 points of damage—would reduce my character to -3, but no further hits could damage my character, only the automatic reduction of 1 point per round until my character dies at -10.
Yeah, I think that's basically it but I don't think the PC is immune from damage caused by further attacks, if that is what you mean.
I just can't think of any other way to interpret "if from the same blow which brought the total to 0" in that context.
I don't think so, but it's really open to interpretation. OSRIC omits that part in parenthesis and states that the PC will start bleeding out from 0, but doesn't clarify whether damage from a blow will always stop at 0, then letting the countdown begin, or if a blow can bring a PC from positive into a negative number beyond 0 and having the countdown start from there.
I think it's better to just have 0 or less HP mean you're dead.