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

[Nevvur]

My opinion on the matter lives over here, but I'm curious how the rest of you guys do it. When a PC fails that last saving throw, how do you handle it? Does the player get a say in their resurrection? Do you go strictly by the book? House rule it? How do you like to handle resurrection at your table?

Haven't read all the replies or that thread yet, just going to describe my experiences:

PC death doesn't happen often in any of my games, but the permanency of death has varied from group to group. In the game I'm currently running, the only spell that returns a person to life is Revivify. Gentle Repose can buy a person time to find an NPC to cast it if none of the PCs have Revivify ready. We've only just started, though, and PC death hasn't occurred yet.

In a past game I DMd, all raise dead style magic existed in the world, but there just weren't a lot of people able to cast it. We had one PC death at level 3 before the campaign ended prematurely around level 8. Cause of death was a combination of rushing in alone and a critical hit Inflict Wounds. I told the players the group would need to detour off their main quest to find a priest to bring him back. ICly, they mourned his loss and moved on, reasoning their quest was too urgent to deviate. OOC, the player wanted to try a wizard anyway, so it worked out.

In a game where I'm a player, death is just a speed bump. We just reached level 14, and while we don't actually have a cleric in the party, we count among our allies (and enemies!) some of the most powerful spellcasters in the world. Just two sessions ago a nice Ancient Silver Dragon resurrected our druid after we tangled with Orcus. She has become rather snippy since then, however!

Generally speaking, as a player, I'm fine with however the DM treats raise dead magic. As a DM, I want PC death to feel like a significant set back and a major obstacle to overcome, but not insurmountable. The standard game settings work against that preference. I strongly state my own preference during session 0, but in the end, I'll abide by the group majority preference. So far, I've had my way each time.

 

[Sunseeker]

Death is meaningless in real life too, why should it be different at the table?

Because real life sucks and I don't think D&D should be meaningless and sucky.

 

[Inchoroi]

My opinion on the matter lives over here, but I'm curious how the rest of you guys do it. When a PC fails that last saving throw, how do you handle it? Does the player get a say in their resurrection? Do you go strictly by the book? House rule it? How do you like to handle resurrection at your table?

I leave that entirely up to the players and their characters. If they can get the dead character resurrected or raised, then more power to them! However, I won't pull punches (its one of my biggest rules) and if what I've prepared means that their soul is literally not available for resurrection, so be it--they stay dead, until PC shenanigans make it possible (e.g. wish, etc).

Death, however, is part of the story, and should be dealt with on occasion.

 

[epithet]

I handle character death by-the-book. While I usually have no problem tweaking the rules, when it comes to ending your character I think everyone's better off with maximum clarity on all issues involved. The last thing I want to do is to tell a player, who has assembled the components and made sure every t is crossed and i dotted according to the standard rules of the game, that a careful re-read of my campaign document will explain why he can't cast the spell to bring his buddy back from the dead.

I customize all the good treasure, because I want the players to feel like it comes from me. I leave death rules alone, because I want the players to blame either themselves or Jeremy Crawford.

 

[Fauchard1520]

Oh hey... I just found the old Chris Perkins article that got me thinking about this. Check out Page 73 over here for "The DM Experience" perspective:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/DM_Experience_2011.pdf

 

[BookBarbarian]

Because real life sucks and I don't think D&D should be meaningless and sucky.

I swear, some people think you shouldn't fight Dragons in D&D because you can't in real life.

 

[5ekyu]

I swear, some people think you shouldn't fight Dragons in D&D because you can't in real life.

Fight dragons? How absurd. team up with them. they make great allies as long as they are kept well fed.

 

[DRF]

I swear, some people think you shouldn't fight Dragons in D&D because you can't in real life.

Yes, fighting dragons when the dragons can't kill you (or if they do, you just respawn 5 minutes later) is great, exciting fun.

 

[Lanefan]

D&D is a game.
The purpose of playing a Game is Fun and Enjoyment.
Losing your character against your will is NOT FUN.

Lots of things happen - or can happen - in the game that many would see as "NOT FUN"; death - be it temporary or permanent - being but one. Loss of wealth or magic items being another. Loss of social standing, in games where acquirement and retention of such is a big deal. Loss of levels, in games that have such. Being turned to stone. Being captured by the enemy and hauled off to a prison camp or slave farm with zero realistic chance of escape.

Need I go on?

Sitting there NOT PLAYING while the game goes on is NOT FUN.

If this is truly the case then I have to say the rest of your table is doing it wrong. Even if you're not actually involved at the time, the rest of the table should still be providing enough entertainment and excitement to keep you engaged as a vested-interest spectator until such time as you do get back in.

Generally we go one of two ways.
1> If the player WANTS to revive their character, we let them play a side character (like a hireling) until they get back to a place where resurrection would be possible. If the party can't foot the GP bill for the necessary spells, then either they end up sacrificing something else to pay the debt, or taking on a new quest (adventure hook!) on behalf of the church to pay the debt.

2> If the DOES NOT WANT to revive their character, we let them make a new character at the current party level, outfit it decently but a little below where the party is, and incorporate them as quickly as possible. This is the more common choice in our group. (Often, we just shoe horn them into the adventure as someone to be rescued in the dungeon.)

We also do more or less this, though a new character usually comes in just below the party level. However, we also have an ongoing option 3:

3> Regardless of whether the player wants or does not want to revive that dead character, the player will usually have another one already in the party and thus still have something to do: we allow playing of 2 PCs at a time, in part for just this reason.

In my current campaign however, if a character dies at sea, they travel into the Eternal Depths itself. The party would need to rescue the deceased player from this realm, which is extremely dangerous.

This is cool! You've got the option of bringing in the whole Davy Jones' locker idea from Pirates, along with various other bits of that mythology...fun all round!

Lanefan

 

[Li Shenron]

My opinion on the matter lives over here, but I'm curious how the rest of you guys do it. When a PC fails that last saving throw, how do you handle it? Does the player get a say in their resurrection? Do you go strictly by the book? House rule it? How do you like to handle resurrection at your table?

We talk it out as a group, whether it feels better to either let the PC die or continue playing it after converting death to another penalty.

The decision is at least in part about the story, but also about how the player feels... Sometimes it's good to end a PC and create a new one, other times it is not.