4e: are character deaths up or down compared 3E?
- Thread starter Emirikol
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blargney the second
blargney the minute's son
Way up.
Mustrum_Ridcully
Legend
I think it's the same region as before, but I think the "near death experiences" have picked up a little. 
Of course, if I take the extreme meat grinder for our group, Age of Worms, into account, it might actually be down. But that's what happens if you fight enemies too much over your CR (or just use a lot of under-CRed oppponents). The same would happen if I made such harsh encounters in 4E...
Of course, if I take the extreme meat grinder for our group, Age of Worms, into account, it might actually be down. But that's what happens if you fight enemies too much over your CR (or just use a lot of under-CRed oppponents). The same would happen if I made such harsh encounters in 4E...
juggler434
First Post
Yeah, I killed one character in the first session, and pulled a punch that would have killed two more in the third session. Although, I'm running a Lovecraftian setting where clerics aren't allowed. They do have a Warlord and an Artificer in the group though.
ThirdWizard
First Post
I voted "same" only because that's my experience so far, at only level 4 in my current game. I'm sure as we go up in level, it will become far less, as we had deaths approaching every other session to every session in the mid/high teens in 3e. I don't expect to see a dramatic change in deaths in 4e as levels increase like existed previously in 3e.
Agamon
Adventurer
I haven't played enough to say. The one group I played in has had 4 deaths in 8 games played (I've only played in 3 of them), but I think the DM is still getting used ot the 4e rules.
I can't see it though. Return to Temple of Elemental Evil and Age of Worms killed over 80 PCs. Old 1e-to-3e conversions killed another 12. My homebrew killed maybe 10 over the course of 3 years. I killed about 30 Living Greyhawk PCs as DM in 3 years in the RPGA.
So far my new 4e homebrew has no deaths (one session played
).
I can't see it though. Return to Temple of Elemental Evil and Age of Worms killed over 80 PCs. Old 1e-to-3e conversions killed another 12. My homebrew killed maybe 10 over the course of 3 years. I killed about 30 Living Greyhawk PCs as DM in 3 years in the RPGA.
So far my new 4e homebrew has no deaths (one session played
).
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
Down, but only because 1st-level PCs are tougher.
I killed two PCs in an easy encounter, another PC with a death jump spider, and sometimes knock them to almost dead.
In 3.x, 1st-level PCs might have 13 hit points if they were lucky. A crit could kill one just like that.
The higher hit points are probably less important than the - bloodied = death rule. In order for PCs to get killed (barring exceedingly "good" luck on the part of the DM) is for the PCs to run away and leave bleeding allies behind (or TPKs). It's possible, but difficult, to drop a PC all the way to - bloodied. But that's a good thing, IMO, and the new healing rules (set base hp to 0 and then add healed damage) is great IMO.
I wonder about higher levels. I think deaths will only slowly rise, as damage doesn't seem to scale all that well. Time will tell.
Nightchilde-2
First Post
More PCs getting dropped, but fewer actual deaths IME.
Gothmog
First Post
Way up over 3e. Yes, starting characters are tougher, but so are the monsters. Plus, monsters of any level actually pose a threat now since they are on par with PCs for HP, AC, and powers/abilities.
In the game I'm a player in, we've just finished Keep on the Shadowfell, and had five deaths in it. Oddly enough, Irontooth wasn't one where we had any deaths, but several PCs down and dying. The battle outside the waterfall killed one PC, the hobgoblin boss took one PC to -35 HP, the gelatinous cube killed 2 PCs, and drowning trap killed another. Almost every encounter has PCs down and dying, making death saves, and our group uses GOOD tactics. A group with poor tactics and teamwork would be toast right out of the gates.
In the game I run (which is more Lovecraftian horror with more limited PC healing and resurrections), we've had two deaths in 5 sessions. Again, almost every fight has at least one PC down and dying, and PCs are using very good and creative tactics.
4e is just plain brutal in combat, but my players and I LOVE it!!! We never had this kind of challenge in 3e- things were either a cakewalk, or a TPK- almost no in between. 4e seems to have ratcheted up the lethality, with the attitude "if you're a chump or the mysterious loner type, you're dead meat", which suits me just fine.
In the game I'm a player in, we've just finished Keep on the Shadowfell, and had five deaths in it. Oddly enough, Irontooth wasn't one where we had any deaths, but several PCs down and dying. The battle outside the waterfall killed one PC, the hobgoblin boss took one PC to -35 HP, the gelatinous cube killed 2 PCs, and drowning trap killed another. Almost every encounter has PCs down and dying, making death saves, and our group uses GOOD tactics. A group with poor tactics and teamwork would be toast right out of the gates.
In the game I run (which is more Lovecraftian horror with more limited PC healing and resurrections), we've had two deaths in 5 sessions. Again, almost every fight has at least one PC down and dying, and PCs are using very good and creative tactics.
4e is just plain brutal in combat, but my players and I LOVE it!!! We never had this kind of challenge in 3e- things were either a cakewalk, or a TPK- almost no in between. 4e seems to have ratcheted up the lethality, with the attitude "if you're a chump or the mysterious loner type, you're dead meat", which suits me just fine.
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