Fanaelialae
Legend
At low levels, I'm inclined to agree with the OP.
However, in the case of high level play, I'd consider 3.x the deadliest edition by a wide margin. In 1e/2e/BECMI your saving throws genuinely got better as you leveled up. In 3e, saving throws typically kept pace with DCs or fell behind. Also, monster damage rose considerably, while the maximum negative hp remained at -9. Admittedly, raising the dead was arguably a bit easier without system shock and the like, but I'm only considering frequency of death, not how often you might repeatedly die.
I played a good amount of BECMI and 2e back in the day, and from what I recall death happened but was relatively infrequent. In 3e, there were campaigns where people were rolling up new characters almost every session. I remember one ill fated campaign that had two TPKs in the first game! The majority of these campaigns were with the same group, so it's not like I had a softie DM running 2e and a RBDM running 3e. This is admittedly anecdotal, but it's my experience.
However, in the case of high level play, I'd consider 3.x the deadliest edition by a wide margin. In 1e/2e/BECMI your saving throws genuinely got better as you leveled up. In 3e, saving throws typically kept pace with DCs or fell behind. Also, monster damage rose considerably, while the maximum negative hp remained at -9. Admittedly, raising the dead was arguably a bit easier without system shock and the like, but I'm only considering frequency of death, not how often you might repeatedly die.
I played a good amount of BECMI and 2e back in the day, and from what I recall death happened but was relatively infrequent. In 3e, there were campaigns where people were rolling up new characters almost every session. I remember one ill fated campaign that had two TPKs in the first game! The majority of these campaigns were with the same group, so it's not like I had a softie DM running 2e and a RBDM running 3e. This is admittedly anecdotal, but it's my experience.