D&D 5E Do PCs at your table have script immunity?

[Oofta]

I had never considered that death could or would be off-limits in D&D but I think that I will change my approach somewhat. As others have said, I would gauge the players' opinions in a Session 0 to the idea of having no death until the average party level is 5 and Revivify becomes available. Until then, PCs that 'die' are saved from actual death but will lose an ability score permanently depending on how they 'died'. Through bad luck - player chooses; through stupidity - wisdom or intelligence; big mouth brought on an unnecessary fight - charisma; hit by massive damage - strength, dex or con. That sort of thing, so that death has lasting consequences but doesn't require a new character. After Level 5, the consequences are more narrative-based - something happens to the PC in the nexus between life and death that affects them when they are brought back/revived, malevolent interest from the planes etc. My basic premise is that 'death' should have lasting consequences but not necessarily a new character.

In my home campaign raising someone from the dead is not as simple as casting a spell. Revivify pretty much works as written (but still has a chance of attracting unwanted attention) because the soul takes a minute to start crossing over. However, after that minutes souls go to the Shadowfell/Nifleheim where they meet a spirit guide that takes them to their final reward.

In order to raise dead someone has to actually travel to Nifleheim and find the spirit and convince it to return, the raise dead portal just opens the door. Sometimes people bring back a stowaway or the soul of the person that died becomes tied to Nifleheim and constantly attracts attention. Even the people that go into Nifleheim can have negative consequences.

Once people cross over to their final destination, it's nearly impossible to retrieve them because I loosely base my world on Norse mythology where even gods can die. Souls that refuse to move on (or manage to evade their guide) eventually become ghosts, specters or other undead.

 

[Argyle King]

I'm not sure if this is relevant to the conversation, so just gloss over it if it doesn't fit:

I answered earlier with option 4.

Though, thinking more, I feel as though I can empathize with being (negatively)surprised by death because it's not always easy to tell what is deadly or what isn't deadly in D&D.

The non-D&D games I play are largely WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). What I mean by that is there is some correlation between what can be perceived by the players/PCs and how things work in actual play...

...Gigantic fire-breathing lizard with large teeth?
It's probably physically strong; the teeth are probably deadly if I'm chomped; and maybe I should try different tactics than Leroy Jenkins.

But in D&D?

There may be no difference at all between the physical strength of the aforementioned creature and some random halfling encountered along the road.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are anecdotal experiences I've had in which Straahd -who is supposedly some uber vampire- is completely stomped by the party, yet the jackal-headed demon thing from an earlier encounter almost TPKs the party.

Yes, in combat, flukes happen sometimes. However, my point is that threat and danger are difficult to evaluate in contemporary D&D.

There's a bit of a disconnect between what a PC perceives and what the actual danger level of the situation is. While other games may also include situations with hidden dangers, they tend to require some effort to hide the danger; it's not just an assumed part of how those games are built. In D&D, the information available to a player often doesn't provide much meaning in the context of making a decision.

I think this may be a factor in some players being upset about PC death in D&D.