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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 7014662" data-attributes="member: 20564">5e, and most D&Ds, unlike other game systems, Death isn't a very big speedbump because of the methods to bring characters back to life.  And they put in large buffers before you even get there.  Even if there is a death, the player is usually out-of-play for about the same time as if their PC was captured.  Or returned to play even quicker once you reach the levels that the PCs can raise other PCs.  And I love the fear of death, both as a player and as a DM, which requires a real chance of it happening.I go full out when I run.  I set up encounters that are deadly.  And then when we run I am my player's biggest cheerleader and "Say Yes!" man - but I still roll all my dice in the open and play them how they fall.  My players know I'm on their side, but situations are stacked against them and there is real risk.  So when they overcome it they feel like they did good.  Because they did.And for all of that real risk, in my current campaign that just hit it's 3rd year, I killed zero PCs in combat.  They know it can happen, so they stay on their toes and prevent it.  (I did have one death, where a player wanted to retire their character and pulled a martyr to save another PC.)  My previous two campaigns lasted 12 year between then and also have very few deaths, maybe once every 3-4 years.  But that's because they respect it, are willing to run, and play smart - especially when the dice go south and the plan goes pear-shaped.As a player, I get bored at the time wasted for trivial combats.  I don't mind a few combats we know we're going to win to wear us down, but an "oh look, one combat today and you win it handily" is boring.  (Mind you, I'm not a combat junkie - I have great fun pure RP for a session.)  One great memory as a 4e game where I was playing Measure, a warforged warden, and we were trapped on this island trying to use the magic of the island to pull in an airship but it would take a logn time.  And the DM threw combat after combat at use, wore us down to where we were done.  And then threw another combat.  We scraped out every last trick, consumable, and managed to walk away from that utterly drained.  And then he three the biggest combat, with Girallon pull people limb from limb.  We cursed him - and managed to pull it off without any deaths.  We felt like gods.But all of that circles back to D&D has a large buffer between going down and getting killed, and has plenty of get-out-of-jail-free even if the character dies.  So I don't put on any kid gloves and go full out knowing the system has the protections built in - and my players enjoy it.</blockquote>

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