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Normally with when you roll death saves, you get up with 1 HP if you roll a 20. But how does this apply with modifiers like Bless?

You bless up to three creatures of your choice within range. Whenever a target makes an attack roll or a saving throw before the spell ends, the target can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the attack roll or saving throw.

Would Bless bringing it to 20 or over count for the waking back up function?

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You get a success and nothing more

Only rolling a natural 20 or a natural 1 has any predetermined effect when making a death save throw. When one of those is rolled, you follow the rule below:

When you make a death saving throw and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you roll a 20 on the d20, you regain 1 hit point.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ the reason i posted a very similar answer is because I think the title of your answer contradicts the content. If one rolls a 20 on the die, wich makes 21 with a +1 bonus, according to the title it counts as a normal success and according to the content it makes you regain 1hp \$\endgroup\$
    – Anne Aunyme
    Nov 2, 2020 at 15:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ @AnneAunyme I'm not sure I agree with that (and i'm not sure the other who have upvoted do either.) But the end result is a get a success, nothing more. THe reason why is in the body that only a natural 20 or 1 matters. Can I be clearer? Your answer covers the other side of the coin in that you don't use modifiers. It's another way of saying only natural roll matters. \$\endgroup\$
    – NautArch
    Nov 2, 2020 at 15:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ Even though the PHB says "a success or failure has no effect by itself", saying only a natural 1/20 has any effect is still a little confusing since other values still count as success/failure. Maybe "counts when calculating a success or failure, but doesn't have any other effect" or something along those lines. \$\endgroup\$
    – user3067860
    Nov 2, 2020 at 17:53
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    \$\begingroup\$ In fact, if you somehow acquired a +20 to your roll, it would be "2 failures and nothing more" if you rolled a natural 1 =) \$\endgroup\$
    – Cireo
    Nov 2, 2020 at 18:06
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What counts is the number on the die, not the final result.

From the rules:

Rolling 1 or 20. When you make a death saving throw and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you roll a 20 on the d20, you regain 1 hit point.

You specifically need the number that appear on the D20 to be either 1 or 20 for those effects to trigger, not to have the total roll with modifiers equal to 1 or 20.

Bless is taken into account to determine if the saving throw is a success or a failure, but not in the specific case of the "1 or 20" rule.

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    \$\begingroup\$ The final result definitely matters - it’s a matter of life and death. \$\endgroup\$
    – Thomas Markov
    Nov 1, 2020 at 2:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ This would be more clear if it explicitly stated that bless does not affect death saving throws. Only the number on the die matters. There are no modifiers. \$\endgroup\$
    – BobTheAverage
    Nov 1, 2020 at 4:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ @BobTheAverage "You are in the hands of fate now, aided only by spells and features that improve your chances of succeeding on a saving throw." Bless does not say it does not affect death saves. Death saves says it is affected by spells. Why do you say there are no modifiers? \$\endgroup\$
    – Kirt
    Nov 1, 2020 at 6:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ Bless is taken into account to determine if the saving throw is a success or a failure, but not in the specific case of the "1 or 20" rule. \$\endgroup\$
    – Anne Aunyme
    Nov 2, 2020 at 14:57

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