D&D 5E Do PCs at your table have script immunity?

[CleverNickName]

Nope. Plot armor is for Hollywood movies and fantasy fiction novels...not for my game. Characters can die (and have died) by bad luck, poor choices, happenstance, or any combination thereof. So yeah, permanent character death--not just dropping to 0 hp and falling unconscious--is definitely something that happens at my table.

But does it happen frequently? Not really. Our players have been playing 5E for years, and have learned the tricks. Everyone in the group always has at least one healing potion on them at all times, there are always at least two people in the party who can cast Healing Word, etc. The 5th Edition rules, used by experienced players, make character death nearly impossible. We haven't had a character permanently die in years.

 

[Nefermandias]

Nope. Plot armor is for Hollywood movies and fantasy fiction novels...not for my game. Characters can die (and have died) by bad luck, poor choices, happenstance, or any combination thereof. So yeah, permanent character death--not just dropping to 0 hp and falling unconscious--is definitely something that happens at my table.

But does it happen frequently? Not really. Our players have been playing 5E for years, and have learned the tricks. Everyone in the group always has at least one healing potion on them at all times, there are always at least two people in the party who can cast Healing Word, etc. The 5th Edition rules, used by experienced players, make character death nearly impossible. We haven't had a character permanently die in years.

The irony though, is that nearly unkillable individual PCs end up making TPKs more likely.

 

[CleverNickName]

The irony though, is that nearly unkillable individual PCs end up making TPKs more likely.

I don't think I've experienced this. How does this usually happen?

 

[HammerMan]

The irony though, is that nearly unkillable individual PCs end up making TPKs more likely.

yup 1 million times this...

I think almost every TPK I can remember (not just D&D either) involved a DM PC arms race

 

[Nefermandias]

I don't think I've experienced this. How does this usually happen?

Because parties don't realize they should be running away from a fight until half of them are on death saves and it's too late.

Also, the way they emphasize encounter balance makes people believe everything they meet are supposed to be fought head on.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

It always seems to me it’s mostly people who don’t have to put in the work DMing who think it is a democracy, or should be one.

Easy there Colonel Kickass! We're not talking about a special forces operation where lives are on the line here; this is a game. A social occasion. People are giving up their free time to have a bit of fun. If fun for some means creating characters who fit critically into a story, and fun is lost if they die, then so be it. If it means that that they are potentially cannon fodder to RNGesus, and character death is something to suck up, that is also fine. Let's shy away from the One True Way style of gaming comments please...

 

[Umbran]

I mean, it's only the most boring consequence if you make it that way. A pc dying can lead to amazing roleplaying opportunities for the group.

I find that the case only when death is rare. If it is telegraphed that PCs are expected to die frequently, I find that players don't engage much in building the bonds between characters that would lead to roleplaying opportunities.

Also, if every pc starts at first level, the consequences are far from boring.

If every PC starts at 1st level, when the rest of the party is level 5+, that leads to either PCs choosing not to engage (because they'll get killed) or dying even more (because they engaged with monsters set to challenge the higher level PCs, which splat them across the dungeon floor. Neither of these is particularly interesting.

Thus, I don't find many who are interested in playing with large power discrepancies any more.

 

[CleverNickName]

TPKs are exceedingly rare for us...we haven't had one since we switched to 5th Edition rules. (They weren't all that common in 3.5E and Pathfinder, either, having one about one every year or two.) Usually a TPK happens when the party decides to do something foolish, and then doubles down.

Rogue: "Those people in town were fools! There's no such thing as dragons!" (dies)
Cleric: "Oh no, the rumors were true! The dragon is too powerful, we have to run!" (dies)
Fighter: "Oh no, our cleric has died! We must avenge him!" (dies)
Bard: "I'll avenge you, my friends! The halls will ring with the ballad of your heroic..." (dies)
Ranger" "Hm. What do you think, Fluffy? Should we run?" (both die)

Because parties don't realize they should be running away from a fight until half of them are on death saves and it's too late.

Also, the way they emphasize encounter balance makes people believe everything they meet are supposed to be fought head on.

Ah, okay. In that case, yes...that is almost always how it happens. Somehow, there is a belief that if you "build" your character "perfectly," with a particular combination of race/class/subclass/magic items, your character will be invincible. (And if it isn't, it's because the DM is "cheating.")

 

[Nefermandias]

Easy there Colonel Kickass! We're not talking about a special forces operation where lives are on the line here; this is a game. A social occasion. People are giving up their free time to have a bit of fun. If fun for some means creating characters who fit critically into a story, and fun is lost if they die, then so be it. If it means that that they are potentially cannon fodder to RNGesus, and character death is something to suck up, that is also fine. Let's shy away from the One True Way style of gaming comments please...

He's not wrong though. DMs and players are not equals and it's a bit silly to pretend they are.

 

[Willie the Duck]

If every PC starts at 1st level, when the rest of the party is level 5+, that leads to either PCs choosing not to engage (because they'll get killed) or dying even more (because they engaged with monsters set to challenge the higher level PCs, which splat them across the dungeon floor. Neither of these is particularly interesting.

Thus, I don't find many who are interested in playing with large power discrepancies any more.

Even BitD, this usually ended either with a perpetual cycle of death, or NewGuy hanging out in the back but the DM ruling they still got full XP, which (since xp to level roughly doubled every level in much of the most-played part of the game) tended to level them back to right below the rest of the party at about one level per gaming session or so.