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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 8581553" data-attributes="member: 22779">Since we're talking about changes, I think that the death save thing is a bigger change than people realize.  Not so much about the survivability, although that's part of it, but, the fact that now the DM more or less has to choose to kill your character.  In the past, death was mostly a function of the dice.  Drop to zero (or probably -10 at some tables) and you die.  So, anything that did your current HP+10 was instant death.  And that wasn't all that hard to do, especially in 3e where the monster damages were increased significantly. At higher level character at low HP went from alive to dead really, really quickly when you have things like Fire Giants Power Attacking for 30 or 40 points of damage per hit and multiple attacks per round.  4e and now 5e though, means that that shot that drops you below zero likely won't kill you.  At least, not after third or fourth level.  It's unlikely you're going to take your HP max in a single hit.  Possible, but, unlikely.  So, now you're down.  The DM has to pretty much deliberately target you to kill your character.  Granted, if he does, it's very, very likely you will die.  Two hits and you're dead since every hit is an automatic critical and causes two death fails.  But, like a lot of things in 5e, it has to be a choice.  The DM has to CHOOSE to do this.  And, I think a lot of DM's aren't really comfortable with that.  It's seen as kinda unsportsmanlike for the DM to turn to a player and just say, "Yup, I'mma killin' yer character now!!"Which does roll back around to the idea that 5e is so hard to kill PC's.  I think it's probably more accurate to say, it's hard to accidentally kill PC's.  It's really, really easy to deliberately do it.And, as I said, this is one of the bigger differences we see throughout the game.  The whole deal around racial ASI's where race choice funneled players into specific archetypes has now morphed into the game giving you a much more open choice.  You absolutely could play that elven fighter wizard in 5e that looks a lot like a 1e F/MU.  Totally doable.  But, again, it's a choice.  You don't have to.  You could play an elven Monk if you want to.  Something that absolutely didn't exist in D&D until 3e rolled along.  Like I said, one of the biggest differences in later D&D is the fact that you, the player or the DM, now have a lot more responsibility and ability to choose.  You want to be a killer 5e DM?  No problem.  Target softer PC's and hit them when they're down.  Easy peasy.  But, unlike earlier editions, you have to choose to do that.  Which makes for some ... uncomfortable table discussions.</blockquote>

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