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Message: <blockquote data-quote="scourger" data-source="post: 6227609" data-attributes="member: 12328">The ramifications of character death is a particular issue for me, with D&D especially.  As a player, it is harder for me to enjoy the game when I have to bring in a character of lower (power) level.  It's not just the XP loss, there is less money & magic - at least in the editions in the way we played it through 3.5.  As a DM, I had to find a different solution.  Once the death spiral starts, it can hurt a particular player especially if the character deaths are not really the players "fault".  The replacement PC is less effective, and the items of the past PC accumulate in the hands of the survivors.  My solution was to eventually give a player the option to bring in a lower level (XPs) character with the recommended amount of items (GPs), or a higher level PC with virtually no stuff.  The player wisely chose the latter, and much more fun was had by all.  And thinking of it in terms of "fault" reminds me that the concept of character death penalty is really about negatively reinforcing what the game designers considered "poor" play.  In D&D terms, tactical & strategic (careful) play is positively reinforced whereas power (bold) play ultimately is negatively reinforced.  Put plainly: if you play boldly (heroically) then your character eventually will die and the replacement will be less powerful. And the class niches reinforce the problem, too.  Fighter-types in the front lines will eventually die with less powerful replacements.   Rear echelon characters have better odds of surviving by careful play or escape, living to higher levels, and getting more stuff - including the equipment of fallen PCs.  Eventually, who wants to play a fighter or in any manner other than very carefully (strong emphasis on tactics & strategy)?  I believe the dynamic comes from D&D having its roots as a tactical war game.  For me a game like Savage Worlds solves the problem through several means: power levels are less dramatic; characters can be equally effective at different ranks; and there are many extras to take on the risk of death.  The last concept is the most important & portable for me.  Having the risk of death present in the game is important, but it needs to be spread to the extras by whatever name: hirelings, henchmen, NPCs, etc.  So having many allies, usually front line troops of fighter types, is important to keep the risk of death present but spreading it away from the player characters so that the death penalty is less a factor in play.</blockquote>

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