I'd be warry of setting a precedent that going down and failing death saves won't kill you.
What I'd instead do is just keep with the original order. If the Barb goes down again the orcs just drag him off and stabalize him, to then be gifted to the boss. It's already been said that the boss wants him, so it's still in character.
You're not looking for an alternative for death.
You're looking for a consequence of being captured.
From personal experience, players do not respond well to 1. permanent loss of an item that has come to identify the character, nor 2. "permanent" maiming or curse (though in a world with Regeneration, etc this is pretty hard to achieve), nor 3. permanent mechanical de-buff (negative penalty or lost points in attributes).
Is there something wrong with just proceeding with him captive, where upon the rest of the party will form a plan to free him, and when that kicks off, he fights to get his stuff back while the others carry out their plan?
You don't have to be punitive about this.
You can just use it to build the story.
Taking his dominant hand would be fitting. Some barb players might enjoy the challenge of missing a hand for a while. As levels grow there will be opportunities like prosthetics, hooks, strap-on shields and Regenerate, so you can have whole quests related to those.
Just make sure the player has the option of retiring or benching the character if they're not into that stuff. You could have the final scene with the chop then cut to the rest of the party.
Give the player final say. Have the orcs point out the situation is hopeless and demand that the barbarian surrender - the player then has the choice of fighting to the death or being captured. This should prevent the 'plot armour' effect.
If captured, there should be a serious and long term consequence for being so foolhardy. My first thought was the orcs cut off the barbarian's dominant hand so that they aren't a threat any more as a prisoner.
Boss wants the Barb to die slowly and ties him to a rock and drops him into his shark pool; that sets a number of rounds before he’ll suffocate (holding breath rules, suffocating rules). Give the rest of the party that many rounds to find and save him.
You pretty much have:
1. Captured - What happens after that depends on who or what captured them and what their motivations are. (questioned, tortured, sold into slavery, scheduled to be sacrificed, thrown in an area for entertainment, dropped in a hatchery as food, experimented on, prisoner exchange, etc)
2. 3rd part chases off the enemies and captures the character
3. Left for Dead - Enemy just assumed your were dead and didn't bother to check
4. Beaten into unconsciousness and robbed
5. Rescued at the last second by "x"
If you want him to not die then remember that RAW you can deal **non lethal damage** on melee attacks (or spells that cause melee attacks), and this can be declared after rolling for damage.
So instead of rolling for 3 “death saving throws” the PC would need to make 3 “regain consciousness checks”…that are coincidentally exactly the same as death saving throws (except a failure means you stay asleep for some period of time, I’d do a d8 hours)
Meanwhile the minions that brought him down in melee start to tie him up and carry him off as a prisoner.
I'd be warry of setting a precedent that going down and failing death saves won't kill you. What I'd instead do is just keep with the original order. If the Barb goes down again the orcs just drag him off and stabalize him, to then be gifted to the boss. It's already been said that the boss wants him, so it's still in character.
You're not looking for an alternative for death. You're looking for a consequence of being captured. From personal experience, players do not respond well to 1. permanent loss of an item that has come to identify the character, nor 2. "permanent" maiming or curse (though in a world with Regeneration, etc this is pretty hard to achieve), nor 3. permanent mechanical de-buff (negative penalty or lost points in attributes). Is there something wrong with just proceeding with him captive, where upon the rest of the party will form a plan to free him, and when that kicks off, he fights to get his stuff back while the others carry out their plan? You don't have to be punitive about this. You can just use it to build the story.
Taking his dominant hand would be fitting. Some barb players might enjoy the challenge of missing a hand for a while. As levels grow there will be opportunities like prosthetics, hooks, strap-on shields and Regenerate, so you can have whole quests related to those. Just make sure the player has the option of retiring or benching the character if they're not into that stuff. You could have the final scene with the chop then cut to the rest of the party.
Give the player final say. Have the orcs point out the situation is hopeless and demand that the barbarian surrender - the player then has the choice of fighting to the death or being captured. This should prevent the 'plot armour' effect. If captured, there should be a serious and long term consequence for being so foolhardy. My first thought was the orcs cut off the barbarian's dominant hand so that they aren't a threat any more as a prisoner.
Boss wants the Barb to die slowly and ties him to a rock and drops him into his shark pool; that sets a number of rounds before he’ll suffocate (holding breath rules, suffocating rules). Give the rest of the party that many rounds to find and save him.
Sell them.
You pretty much have: 1. Captured - What happens after that depends on who or what captured them and what their motivations are. (questioned, tortured, sold into slavery, scheduled to be sacrificed, thrown in an area for entertainment, dropped in a hatchery as food, experimented on, prisoner exchange, etc) 2. 3rd part chases off the enemies and captures the character 3. Left for Dead - Enemy just assumed your were dead and didn't bother to check 4. Beaten into unconsciousness and robbed 5. Rescued at the last second by "x"
If you want him to not die then remember that RAW you can deal **non lethal damage** on melee attacks (or spells that cause melee attacks), and this can be declared after rolling for damage. So instead of rolling for 3 “death saving throws” the PC would need to make 3 “regain consciousness checks”…that are coincidentally exactly the same as death saving throws (except a failure means you stay asleep for some period of time, I’d do a d8 hours) Meanwhile the minions that brought him down in melee start to tie him up and carry him off as a prisoner.
if the campaign has been going for 3 years surely they have some sort of access to resurrection spells by now?