D&D General How Often Should a PC Die in D&D 5e?

[Crimson Longinus]

Ok so what would constitute death being a "real" possibility? Is a 1% chance enough? 5 or 10% chance PC's die? More and is this in every fight?

It is not a static probability, as the player can affect it by the choices they make. That is a big part of the game being interesting. Good tactics increase your chances of winning, so what you choose to do matters.

 

[TiQuinn]

That's real... this is make believe. Some DM's prefer more lethal games... if you dont that's fine but you're not everyone.

Yes, but your poll assumes a position others don’t have, and even your last response to me assumes I want a actively make the game non-lethal as a result.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I don't calculate the odds on this, and I won't even try. I dropped the two healers in a 19th-level party on Wednesday, and the party still had resources to not only survive but win the fight. I nearly TPKed a 6th-level party (dropped the tank) this past Saturday, but the one character did a thing to pull their bacon from the fire. In either case, the party was clearly (to me) teetering on the brink of a TPK; both groups, I think, know how close they came--and that I wouldn't have arbitrarily or capriciously saved them by fiat. That's good enough for me.

Yep. And these will be memorable battles, and the players who managed to turn the looming defeat into a victory feel that they accomplished something.

 

[TwoSix]

Ok so what would constitute death being a "real" possibility? Is a 1% chance enough? 5 or 10% chance PC's die? More and is this in every fight?

If each PC has a 1% chance of dying per fight, and there are 5 PCs, there's a 63% chance that at least one of the PCs will die by fight 20.

 

[Imaro]

Yes, but your poll assumes a position others don’t have, and even your last response to me assumes I want a actively make the game non-lethal as a result.

You said you desired no lethality but if it happens it happens...right?

 

[cranberry]

I played Pathfinder for years. I wouldn't say it's a deadly game.

More than 5E, IMO.

 

[Imaro]

If each PC has a 1% chance of dying per fight, and there are 5 PCs, there's a 63% chance that at least one of the PCs will die by fight 20.

See that's the thing.... There's all this talk of real possibility of death... but what does that actually mean? A more lethal game...but what does that actually mean? I get the impression many want the illusion of these things as opposed to the reality... but don't want to state it outright.

 

[bloodtide]

Often. As often as it naturally happens through game play.

It's not really "by level".

 

[CleverNickName]

As often as the dice allow it, I guess. We play over Roll20, and all our rolls are out in the open. I don't script character deaths, but victory is never assumed either.

 

[prabe]

Yep. And these will be memorable battles, and the players who managed to turn the looming defeat into a victory feel that they accomplished something.

True, but the group on Saturday ran away. If they persevere and kill that threat, I agree it will be memorable, and an accomplishment, just ... different from what you're describing.