Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cyraneth" data-source="post: 1117144" data-attributes="member: 1199">I get your point, but instantaneous and irrevocable maiming or otherwise irrevocably rendering a character unplayable is kinda the same as death, so that doesn't really prove anything. Whether you're paining or killing the PC is irrelevant. He's no fun anymore.What I meant with that irrevocable thing was what PCs should fear. If they know a lich, catoblepas, or banshee can kill with an instant, they'll fear them. If you soften everything up (by reducing death effects to near-death effects), they don't fear those creatures as much. If everything gets softened up to the point where the fighter just shrugs after meeting a vampire, saying: "Ah, those 6 negative levels go away tomorrow anyway," and the rogue sighs a breath of relief, remembering that his rogue's just unconscious 'cause the DM didn't feel like having finger of death spells kill PCs or threaten their lives so severely, we've reached the point where there's no real consequences to adventuring. If you want to be heroic, you need to face real dangers. Instant death, demonic possessions, the deaths of loved ones, the risk of failure always being a possibility. If DMs and players don't feel like facing real dangers, "because that might kill their character too fast", something wrong. If the players face a lich, they know they're wading into the arms of danger. If they didn't want to meet a creature capable of causing instant death, they shouldn't have faced it.Be consistent: A death effect kills. Otherwise it isn't a death effect. Nobody's afraid of a might-possibly-if-you're-really-unlucky-kill-you effect. And a softened-up-'cause-the-DM's-a-wuss-who's-afraid-of-killing-players simulating-death effect isn't scary either.No offense intended, swrushing, but you do see what I mean, right?- Cyraneth</blockquote>

Verification