D&D 5E Not dying?

[Oofta]

I've killed off a PC or two in my day, but have also had heroic fights with the last PC standing a wizard that ducks under the table for cover and kills the bugbear with their last magic missile with barely enough time to save her compatriots.

I've had PCs sacrifice themselves valiantly, and their story is now part of the lore of the world.

Death is rare, and I've probably had nearly as many characters die as I've killed off. The only time I felt bad about it, or adjusted the game to nudge it to the favor of the PCs was when it was obvious that it was just plain dumb bad luck for the PCs. When I'm rolling all 20s and they're rolling all 1s.

I do like pushing parties to the edge, or more likely allowing PCs push themselves to the edge of what they can handle because I think it makes for a better game. But I don't generally hit people when they're down. I don't put PCs into no win situations. Every once in a blue moon the city guard arrives just in the nick of time.

I think this is something you should really discuss with your group. Do they want to play on "don't kill me?" or do they want to play on "today is a good day to die?" Either style can be fun.

 

[SwivSnapshot]

As a DM, I avoid killing a PC unless I can see a clear way to make a story line better. However, I am not going to stop a player from killing their PC because they didn't pay attention to the clues I gave them.

As a Player, I regularly kill off my PC's because it fits the concept I created, or more frequently, because I designed the PC badly.

 

[Sunseeker]

I will not typically aim to kill a PC, but that doesn't preclude me from setting up deadly situations where PCs may die. I usually give them ample opportunity to discover fairly obvious clues about the deadliness of a situation, and I usually provide the other players with at least a couple opportunities to save their friends.

I typical design my games in the party's favor, provided they don't behave like complete nitwits.

However, sometimes when a player is acting out via their PC and causing difficulty for the game, I am not against setting an example. A bop on the nose can go a long way.

I try to discourage the "Whatever, I'll just roll a new character." attitude. I don't like it. It tends to lead more people to play stupidly than not. So I like to figure out ways to give deaths meaning, either to show the other players some important element of the plot they were missing (the necromancer can turn the living into their undead slaves!) or to show players the impact they've had on the game world (generic NPCs show up for your friend's funeral, or erect a statue in their honor).

However, in some editions death is such a mild speedbump it makes it very difficult to place value on it.

 

[hejtmane]

I always try to build encounters that will challenge them and may kill them at least a few some they will breeze through it is about burning resources. I am not actively trying to kill them but at the same time sometimes it works out that way. Had a few guys die most the time it is gets sketchy for one or two people. I mean if I wanted to kill them that is easy just build your own Kobayashi Maru

 

[Li Shenron]

I was just reading another interesting thread, The Dying Conundrum, and I realized that my response wouldn't really address the question. Thus a new thread is born.

Does anyone else not kill player characters? Or at least mostly not?

Ever since high school, I've generally run long campaigns (lasting many years) with most players keeping their characters in binders stuffed with background information, campaign lore, maps, descriptions of magic items, unique spells and items, etc. The investment by the players is huge, so character death, for the most part, isn't part of it. We want to see what happens to these characters over time. How can they impact the world? How will they get out of tough spots?

In more informal pickup games, of course, characters get knocked off, and it's great fun. But with the real campaign, there never feels like much need to have character death as a threat. Failing in their goals is enough of a threat to keep game tension high. Allies and NPCs can and do die, sometimes tragically due to PC failures. These moments are packed with pathos and keep the players coming back, hungry for revenge, forgiveness, or to rehabilitate their reputations. (We've definitely had tears at the table.)

There are occasional exceptions. We've agreed that if someone does something so ridiculously dumb that there's no reasonable way for the narrative to continue, then they're toast. That's for situations where someone leaps into lava, charges toward Cthulhu, etc. Similarly, there are occasional epic confrontations that could lead to dramatically satisfying character death. Mostly, however, characters die when players feel like it is appropriate. Sometimes one comes to me before a session (sometimes months before) and lets me know that they're up for an epic death. I've even had players mid-session pass me a note (or whisper to me during a snack break) that they feel like their character should die in a particular scene.

Anyone else in this camp? How big a deal is character death at your table?

This is pretty much my starting point for handling PC deaths.

I do not need to house rule the death & dying rules to achieve this, or fudge rolls. In fact, I do not even need to stress too much about balancing encounters. Instead, I simply do so that when a PC "dies", we decide together (player and me, with input from anyone else in the group) what really happens to her. It could be anything from just staying unconscious for a while, be captured, suffer a temporary or permanent disability, lose equipment, trigger a side quest, or truly die. It depends on the player's ability to deal with her PC's death, on what the group think it's fair*, and on what makes for a satisfying story. If someone abuses the idea, it becomes unsatisfying and the players just correct themselves. But at the (very low) mortality rate of 5e, this is unlikely to happen.

*and by the way "bad luck" is generally a not fair and not satisfying reason to retire a good PC, for me saying that death is deserved when someone just rolls poorly is basically punishing a player for something she's not guilty of; but at the same time, "unless the PC does something really stupid" is not a valid rationale for me, because this is a lot more subjective than what most people think

This approach totally includes the case when a player is fine with her PC dying (which is by the way what I prefer as a player for my own PCs most of the times). It just doesn't force it on anyone.

 

[CheezyRamen]

Sometimes I tell my players they died, but then they beat me and throw my books on the ground until I say they stabilized. It's a harsh world out there, I guess some people get really attached to their characters. Either way, as long as people dont hold me down and spit in my mouth anymore I am good!

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I would never give a PC or NPC any sort of plot armor. Everyone lives or dies based on their own decisions. The world isn't such a dangerous place that anyone is particularly likely to die, unless they're specifically looking for trouble. Running away is almost always an option.

The main difference between the PCs and the NPCs is simply that, due to their station, the PCs actually do have enemies out to get them. It's no different than if they were royalty, with enemy assassins after them, except with rather less resources at their disposal.

 

[Shiroiken]

The only way I've ever not slain the PCs is during a TPK against intelligent foes, because it made sense for the enemy to keep them alive. In both cases this happened in my campaign was against the Temple of Elemental Evil, which wants live people for sacrifice or slavery. Otherwise I've let the dice roll where they may.

 

[uzirath]

The very real possibility of failure/death makes victory worth something.

I agree that taut drama requires a real possibility of meaningful failure (where meaningful = "it hurts for both the player and their character"). I keep the stakes very high, but they typically revolve around success/failure rather than physical survival.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Death happens. But death is usually little more than a speed bump for PCs in most cases and before you know it they're back. Yeah, being disintegrated sucks but there are ways back from even that.

I think death is an important part of the game. Without it the PCs take risks they should know better than to chance while the risk of death makes them a little more cautious and humble in situations where they should be.