D&D 5E PC Permadeath: Yea or Nay?

[Lanefan]

I don't mind revival from death being part of the game but I don't want it to be automatic and I want there to be consequences. 1e has a "resurrection survival" d% roll based on the character's constitution at time of death - the odds of making it are good but not perfect. 1e also has it that coming back to life costs you a con point, so this roll gets slowly more difficult each time you try it. Both good mechanics easily ported into 5e.

 

[iserith]

In most of my campaigns, when the PCs die, they die and can come back if they have access to resurrection magic. Players always get a say in whether they come back or not before such magic is used upon them.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I world where nobody stayed dead would be very weird, and treating the PCs as inherently different from NPCs feels meta-game-y.

A world where anyone with enough money can afford to be raised, and PCs can qualify under that condition if they survive a few adventures, seems like a decent balance. It makes adventuring into a high-risk / high-reward occupation, which can make sense for a setting.

 

[BookBarbarian]

How would permadeath work, do you just remove spells that bring Character's Back to life? What about a Zealot's level 3 ability, do you change it or ban Zealots?

I think it could work on a Setting specific Campaign, like my Adventures in Middle-earth Campaign has no Resurrection spells and no Zealots, so Death is permanent, but in my regular 5e campaigns I just play it as is.

 

[Warpiglet]

I follow a decision tree like this-

1. Is the PC a paladin? If yes, then permadeath. If no, then goto 2.

2. Is the PC a gnome? If yes, then permadeath. If no, then goto 3.

3. Is the PC a wielder of the rapier? If yes, then permadeath. If no, then goto 4.

4. Is the PC a character with a silly name, like "Character McCharacterface?" If yes, then permadeath. If no, then goto 5.

5. Is the PC's player someone who consistently has to "use the bathroom" when it is time to pay for pizza? If yes, then permadeath. If no, then goto 6.

6. Is the PC the beneficiary of dice rolled off the table that are consistently 20s? If yes, then permadeath. If no, then goto 7.

7. Is the PC a kender? If yes, then permadeath. And permadeath again. If no, then goto 8.

8. Eh, dying isn't much fun. Depending on the campaign, resurrection or new PC.

Hate to say it but I am with you 2 through 7.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

2. Is the PC a gnome? If yes, then permadeath. If no, then goto 3.

On that note, one very reasonable solution is to say that resurrection is or is-not allowed to certain races.

Traditionally, elves could not be resurrected, due to Tolkien baggage. There's nothing stopping anyone from creating their own setting with a cosmology that prevents gnomes, or evil characters, or even just non-humans from being raised.

 

[Sunseeker]

Everything you do to players should be a teachable moment. Teach them something about how the setting works, what sort of behaviours you expect from them, how you intend to run the game. If permadeath work to that end, great. But if the death doesn't serve any real purpose other than to tell Bobby to roll up a new character, what's the point?

 

[Wulffolk]

Perma-death

Without death life has no meaning.
Without meaning there is no sense of consequence.
Without a sense of consequence there is no fear.
Without fear there can be no bravery.
Without bravery there can be no heroics.
Without heroics there is no story.
And without a story you might as well just play a board game.

Nobody ever wrote an epic story about Monopoly.

Reviving is OK, but Raise Dead does nothing but animate a corpse and Resurrection is no more than a myth In my games.

 

[5ekyu]

Everything you do to players should be a teachable moment. Teach them something about how the setting works, what sort of behaviours you expect from them, how you intend to run the game. If permadeath work to that end, great. But if the death doesn't serve any real purpose other than to tell Bobby to roll up a new character, what's the point?

I always thought pernadeath was the opposite of a teachable moment myself.

The character is gone so why assume the new character knows more?

Seems the opposite of role playing to just assume knowledge transfer.

If i want characters to learn from experience they need to live or come back, right?

As for teaching players lessons, i dont need to kill characters for that myself. Often a conversation is enough.

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[cmad1977]

Depends.


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