D&D 4E Fun to die in 4e?

[Gentlegamer]

If I may, here is a speech that expresses my outlook on adventure gaming, as well as life in general, in regard to "death" or "taking a hit."

 

[frankthedm]

In FPSs I fling proximity mines with abandon, use rocket launchers in melee range and wish i could pull the pins of all my grenades at once. My aim sucks, but that won't save my foes.

 

[Gentlegamer]

In FPSs I fling proximity mines with abandon, use rocket launchers in melee range and wish i could pull the pins of all my grenades at once. My aim sucks, but that won't save my foes.

In Stars Wars Battlefront, you can place land mines on the sides of vehicles, then kamikaze other characters or vehicles. We bemoaned that mines couldn't somehow be attached to the infantry units to use similar tactics.

 

[maddman75]

Personally, I don't like death in games. I don't like introducing replacement characters every time someone gets an unlucky roll. Nor do I like using 'come back from the dead' magic all the time. I do know what the article is saying about dying being as fun as winning.

I'd like to see a ruleset where its easy to get taken out, but hard to actually die. Thus if the whole party goes down then everyone is toast, but if they pull through then everyone makes it.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I'd like to see a ruleset where its easy to get taken out, but hard to actually die. Thus if the whole party goes down then everyone is toast, but if they pull through then everyone makes it.

Short ruleset.

Change "dead" to "dying" in all cases.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Personally, I don't like death in games. I don't like introducing replacement characters every time someone gets an unlucky roll. Nor do I like using 'come back from the dead' magic all the time. I do know what the article is saying about dying being as fun as winning.

It sounds to me like 4e is making sure that people don't die of an unlucky roll - you're a Hero at 1st level. It sounds to me then that you only die of several unlucky rolls in a row (rare), or player stupidity (common).

Keep in mind though, that this does not mean "all encounters should be level appropriate", but rather that PC's make smart judgments about which encounters to engage in, and keep their avenues of retreat open.

What I think I'm looking for when I play and when I DM is a strong sense of legitimate risk; I want to know that there is a chance that if we go A Door Too Far (apologies to Cornelius Ryan), it's dead hero time.

This is the key phrase of the post - and yes, I agree. DM's and players want "CR inappropriate" encounters because they want the satisfaction of having attempted something hard, and won or lost on the merits.

If WotC makes it possible (and safe) to fight goblins at a 4:1 ratio, expect 8:1 ratios by the second adventure.

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.

Let no PC be a cold and timid soul.

 

[Treebore]

Doesn't anyone use Raise Dead or Ressurections anymore? Plus be smart enough to drop the additional balogney penalties the PC is further shafted with?

Plus be smart enough to have a friend, or allie, or sponsor, etc... that can hook up low level characters with Raise Dead? Such friends are only a message spell away, usually.

 

[(contact)]

I'd like to see a ruleset where its easy to get taken out, but hard to actually die. Thus if the whole party goes down then everyone is toast, but if they pull through then everyone makes it.

Core-rules 3e is that ruleset after 9th level. Death becomes a speed-bump once you have raise dead.

 

[(contact)]

If WotC makes it possible (and safe) to fight goblins at a 4:1 ratio, expect 8:1 ratios by the second adventure.

QFT

 

[Irda Ranger]

Plus be smart enough to have a friend, or allie, or sponsor, etc... that can hook up low level characters with Raise Dead? Such friends are only a message spell away, usually.

Sure, why not just buy Adventurer's Insurance from the Delver's Guild?

Doesn't work that way IMC. The "big guns" are busy doing their own things to preserve the fires of civilization from being snuffed out. They're counting on you to handle what you can, while they do what they must.