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

[Crimson Longinus]

But it also require the combat in question be under circumstances where capture is what the opponents want. I don't want every potentially deadly fight to work that way.

Sure, obviously.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Fair.

I would say that if you're in a game where the party all hits 0 every 8-10 fights, but the DM never actually kills the party, then the system is pretty lethal but the DM is pulling their punches.

Which is not a bad thing if the group prioritizes narrative continuity.

I feel you should probably be using a different system if you're constantly pulling your punches to keep the PCs alive.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Are we talking just "death" or actual "character is gone permanently from the campaign" effect? Because those are two very different things.

Well, yes. That is why we had to bully at least one of the group into playing a cleric: even a low-level one massively increased our recovery speed.


Characters can make bad decisions or suffer runs of bad luck that will get them killed, and if the group does not have the capability or the DM blocks it, not be brought back.

However a TPK is almost always our fault as DMs. We misjudged the capabilities of our party. What in our head seemed to be clear warning signals weren't expressed as such and so weren't received. We didn't consider the character and motivations of the PCs.

There is generally no permanent character death that is a good thing: just a thing that sometimes happens. TPKs however are almost always a bad thing: they either derail or completely shut down the campaign that we're trying to run.

This statement I feel really makes assumptions about the playstyle everyone should be using.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It is interesting the people are still saying the 6-8 encounters as an intended design when they specifically removed that in the 2024 rules and said it was a mistake to include that from the get go. It was not "as intended," it was a mistake.

Not everyone has purchased and is using the 5.5 rules (which at the time of writing are still incomplete).

 

[cbwjm]

I don't think there's really a number since I don't think X number of PCs should die, just that in DnD, death should be on the table (for my games at least). As a DM I'm not out there trying to kill my player's characters, I'm there to challenge them and if death happens, then it happens but it isn't a goal of playing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

There are plenty of games that do feature a plot "A". Most WotC 5e adventures, and Paizo adventure paths, depend on that concept, as an example.

Sure, but just because WotC does it doesn't make doing it differently any more or less valid. I don't recall a playstyle restriction in this conversation.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I was talking about my home campaigns only.

Indeed. How can we legitimately talk about anything else?

 

[Micah Sweet]

When a manufacturing company has a sign saying X days since last accident, do you think their preferred number of accidents is greater than zero?

I mean, this certainly feels like a gotcha competition, not gonna lie.

That's why I haven't answered the poll. I can't see an an answer that won't be thrown back in my face.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The need to airdrop a New Guy and is still going to blunt and drama that comes from the death.

Not to mention monkey-wrenching anything that character was formerly involved with.

Which is why I don't see the value added by death in stories or game unless it was very carefully planned and executed.

Maybe for stories, but to me stories are not games.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And think deadly and popular don't go together. I want more death but I'm not a very popular person.

I don't think popularity is a good reason to do much of anything.