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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 5243584" data-attributes="member: 66434">If you and your players want different things out of the game then perhaps discussing it with them and coming to a satisfying middle ground would be the best solution.  Your players may be playing extra risky just to see if you have the stones to let them fail as they propbably should in such situations. If this is the case, then finding ways to keep them alive is just prolonging the situation.The harder you try to preserve the PC's lives the more ridiculous risks and boneheaded tactics the players will try until their characters die or the campaign becomes one big joke.  You don't have to be a "killer" DM to simply allow the players to stand or fall based on their own decisions and luck. Once the players realize that death or survival depends on good play decisions then hopefully their tactics will begin to reflect that. But what if?  The players don't seem to care what happens to their characters. You might have a group of really casual players who approach the game as a kind of dungeon boardgame and a dying character simply means please insert another quater and continue playing. This can be a fun playstyle but if it isn't what the DM wants to run there will be problems. This will require an open, honest discussion with everyone involved. If the players really don't want anything more from the game then there is little that can be done apart from running what they want or finding a group that likes another kind of game.  If your players may want to be more involved in what is actually happening in the campaign, there are ways to help motivate them. One way to do this is with campaign rewards. A severe penalty imposed on a player for character death is a kind of negative reinforcement that makes the experience less enjoyable. Without any drawback for death though, there is little real incentive for going out of the way to preserve a PC life.  Positive reinforcement can get better results than negative. Campaign rewards are the kind of thing earned through play much like treasure or XP but are a form of non-transferable currency. Gifts and favors from NPC's are great for this. If the best magical items in the game come as special gifts and the items will only function for the recipient it is good reason to keep a character with one of these alive if at all possible. The same thing goes for favors and debts of gratitude. It's important that these rewards be better than any "standard" rewards in the game and that the players are aware of this.  Suppose this paladin received a magical sword as a gift from a Fey princess for a quest reward. This sword is better than anything on the standard treasure tables and will grow in power as the character gains levels. It is magically linked to the paladins soul and functions as a normal weapon for anyone else. The princess departed to a spirit realm after that adventure so a replacement isn't an option. Based on that information would the paladin's player? Want to charge into certain death just for kicks. Want to be raised if he/she did get killed. Possibly consider surrender to certain death.</blockquote>

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