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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Philotomy Jurament" data-source="post: 5049777" data-attributes="member: 20854">Another factor might be death house rules.  For example, is your PC dead at 0 hp?  At -10 hit points?  At -Con hit points?  At -Level hit points?  Or maybe you get a Death save at 0 hit points to decide if you're really dead or just incapacitated.  Or maybe you roll on a table when you reach 0 hit points.I think the lethality of low-level D&D (especially the older editions) is something that isn't necessarily good or bad; it depends on player expectations and how you approach the game.  For example, if you take the approach where a player envisions his hero, creates him and a detailed back-story, motivations, et cetera, and expects a kind of "zero to hero" story to develop around that character, then the default lethality can easily be seen as a drawback. However, maybe the DM tells the players, "Okay, you're going to be starting in a frontier 'boom town' that's sprung up near a mysterious and ancient ruin where adventurous souls have been risking their lives to recover fortunes in treasure.  Many die, but a few find themselves rich and the subject of heroic tales and songs sung around campfires and in taverns.  I need you to roll up five characters each: all neophyte adventurers hungering after fortune and glory.  Roll them up, see what fate gives you, and pick one to start out with.  If he lives, great.  If not, you'll move to your second PC.  We'll see what the fates decree…"  That kind of approach puts a little different spin on the start of the game, and helps set the player expectations ("5 PCs -- damn, sound like I might die").  Most players will also see it as a sort of challenge, which can be fun.  Another factor is how often the group plays and how fast characters advance.  If you have frequent play, losing a low-level PC isn't so bad.  But if you just spent six months bringing your PC up to 2nd level, and then he dies after falling into a pit, you'll be pretty bummed.</blockquote>

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