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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 6548815" data-attributes="member: 8835">I think the whole matter of risk and failure is a complicated question.Not everybody even recognizes failure as failure.  There are some positive thinking folks who just don't see a loss as a loss.Consider a PC fighter, entering a room guarded by a robot that just happens to have the exact same combat stats as the PC.If the 2 just go at it trading blows, the fight is basically a 50/50 chance the PC dies or the robot dies.If the player is smart and does something like flood the floor, so the robot short circuits and freezes, or suffers penalties, then the PC's chance of success is obviously higher (what a rational player would desire).If the PC rolls poorly during the straight fight, I don't think there's a rational player who would not run away, rather than die (especially if the PC was higher level).Is this retreat a failure?  Not exactly.  Sure there's no XP or gold reward.  Yet.  The PC can regroup, try something different.  Come back later.  Find a different way around.Consider if this robot encounter could be entirely bypassed?  How is it a failure to run away from the robot and find another way around, when an alternative path could have been to avoid contact with the robot in the first place.  The outcome is relatively the same.  Even lost hit points come back, so it's not really a big deal to get hurt and run away.</blockquote>