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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dracorat" data-source="post: 5558929" data-attributes="member: 40170">I have a lot of DM experience.As a DM, my take on dying is this:When a player dies because his dice just cannot roll "to save his life" no matter how many times it rolls, that sucks.When a player dies because I told him something he acted upon - but he acted upon "the obvious" meaning of my words when I didn't mean them that way - that sucks. (And I mentally kick myself.)When a player dies because I overestimated their ability or underestimated a moster ability - that sucks.but ...When a player dies because he blindly charges in, odds-be-damned and party-be-damned - that's awesome. He learns that he needs to change if he wants to be successful.When a player dies as a last-ditch effort to save his party mates or an NPC - that is also awesome - for the unselfish act of doing so.But as a DM, death is a tool. I have to wield it sometimes as a hammer, sometimes as a feather. In the end, the perfect use of death is to create reward (not dying) for playing well while at the same time offering incentive to consider your action. For if I removed the essence of death all-together, then the plot becomes empty. Victory is assured - I'll just respawn and go at the goal again.So far, I have found the 4E death mechanic to be the best as far as this is concerned, but taking it up a notch, I have found the adventure paths to be the perfect companion to the 4E rules. For even if you fail miserably this gaming session, you start tabula rasa next session and can try again. You need not abandon your character or its concept nor explain their sudden re-emergence. Everyone nods, and then everyone starts rolling the dice again...</blockquote>

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