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

[Maxperson]

The characters don't know this.

How does that change my lack of enjoyment due to knowing that they can't die?

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Very late to this thread, and apologies as I don't have the time to read 600+ posts.

For my part, if it's a long-running campaign, I prefer character deaths to occur whenever the player deems it appropriate. Otherwise, the character is defeated - which will carry a range of other agreed conditions/consequences.

Not for everyone, but there it is.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Indeed. In RAW 5e, it is pretty much impossible for anyone to "permanently and irrevocably" die.

Which I find ludicrous, drama destroying, and if assumed to be the common way the reality in the setting works, would totally change how people in the world view death.

And that's where understanding that the rules are for PCs and not a physics book comes in clutch!

 

[Vaalingrade]

How does that change my lack of enjoyment due to knowing that they can't die?

That wasn't the thing DC was saying and therefore not the point!

 

[Maxperson]

That wasn't the thing DC was saying and therefore not the point!

"If you roll up the penultimate boss fight to wrap up saving the world and the heroes know they could just stand there and not die would take all the fun out of it for me."

That says, "It's not fun for me if death isn't on the table for the characters." What I said in my post is EXACTLY what @DarkCrisis was saying.

The characters not knowing isn't relevant.

 

[Vaalingrade]

His entire thing is about the heroes knowing they're not going to die, not the player.

But I'm not getting caught in another semantic slog with you so this is the end get your last shot in and I'm just not going to reply.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Anyway, how do people feel about this optional rule from the new DMG?



Maybe it was discussed before... It has been a long thread...

I think it would work fine in some situations, but there seems to be no advice how to deal with situations where the defeated character would logically surely die. Like a while ago in my game the PCs faced a hungry giant tyrant bird (basically a tyrannosaurus) that grappled one character and was munching him. The other characters managed to kill the bird and save they dying chew toy, but if they could have not, and would have had to flee, it would seem extremely contrived for that character to survive regardless of whether the normal rules for death saves were in place or not.

Intelligent foes might capture defeated characters alive (and would do so under the normal rules as well, as stabilising is trivial,) but many foes in D&D are various sort of ravenous beasts and monsters that would logically just kill and possibly eat the downed characters if given an opportunity to do so.

Maybe you're not supposed to use those monsters in a game with no PC death.

 

[Micah Sweet]

And that's where understanding that the rules are for PCs and not a physics book comes in clutch!

You have no idea how much I hate that they said that.

Actually, you probably do.

 

[AlViking]

Yet not impossible. True resurrection still works.

Hella expensive though. Getting the parts to do it would be a naughty word job too.

 

[Vaalingrade]

You have no idea how much I hate that they said that.

Actually, you probably do.

Had to be said.

Especially since like a lot of things, this was not the actual intent of that ruleset, but something that emerged in the world that has been hampering their intended design.