How does a character recover from the dying state on his own?

Question

In RAW it's a bit confusing how you go about this if no one is aiding you at all.

It states that a dying character "must make a DC 10 Constitution check to become stable. The character takes a penalty on this roll equal to his negative hit point total." This means adding your CON modifier, negative hit point total, and getting a 10 or higher will stabilize you right?

If I understand this correctly, once stable, after 1 hour, you have to make the DC 10 Constitution check to regain consciousness. Then another DC 10 Constitution check every day after resting to begin recovering hit points naturally

If any of those checks are failed, the character loses 1 hit point, and if they all succeed, then the character begins to recover naturally.

So if everything succeeds then even a character with negative hit points is now healing naturally (with rest) and conscious? Am I understanding this correctly?

Answer 1

So the party left you to die…

A character that has no way to heal himself magically and no one to heal him has a rather complex method to get back to health. It's a little weird, too.

How many hp does the character currently have?

• If 1 or more, the character is conscious and mobile. The character can recover hp naturally (i.e. 1 hp per level per 8 hours of rest or double that per day of rest).
• If 0, the character is disabled. if the character's cautious, the character can recover hp naturally (i.e. 1 hp per level per 8 hours of rest or double that per day of rest).

• If −1 to −(the character's Constitution score −1), the character is dying. At the beginning of the character's turn the character makes a Constitution check (DC 10) with a penalty equal to the character's negative hp.

  • Failure means the character hasn't stabilized and loses 1 hp.
  • Success means the character has stabilized. The character now only has the condition unconscious. At the beginning of each hour of unconsciousness the character makes a Constitution check (DC 10) with a penalty equal to the character's negative hp.
    • Failure means the character loses 1 hp.
    • Success means the character is conscious and mobile. After the character rests for 8 hours, the character makes a Constitution check (DC 10) with a penalty equal to the character's negative hp.
      • Failure means the character loses 1 hp. This does not make him unconscious.
      • Success means the character can recover hp naturally (i.e. 1 hp per level per 8 hours of rest or double that per day of rest).

• If −(the character's Constitution score) or less, the character is dead.

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This explanation assumes the absence of outside influences and was teased from the d20PFSRD section Injury and Death.

Answer 2

Basically, you are correct. Based on how I'm reading these rules, it looks like there's an extra DC 10 Con check to become stable, though. The Stable rules state:

If a character has become stable on his own and hasn't had help, he is still at risk of losing hit points. Each hour he can make a Constitution check to become stable (as a character that has received aid), but each failed check causes him to lose 1 hit point.

Which is sort of weird, to say that once someone is stable, if they haven't had help, they need to make a check to become stable. It's like there's an extra, near-stable state that doesn't have its own entry. It's not clear whether this check overlap with the standard check to become disabled when you've received aid, So it might be intended that they happen concurrently.

Other than that, your description is correct. One check for dying to stable, two checks for stable to disabled, and one check for disabled to healing naturally.