D&D 5E How many PCs have you had die?

[Tallifer]

Not that many of mine have died in D&D, but then again I have spent a lot of time playing a lot of other games.

I can't remember his name, but my first D&D character was backstabbed to death by a fellow party member in 1983. <grins>
Cornelius von Bek the 2nd level Swashbuckler
Merman Cockleshell the 2nd level Cleric
Bumblesnick the 1st level Paladin
Elder Karl the 6th level Shaman
Pompeius Izabelle Giulius the 1st level Bene Gesserit Witch

 

[Psikerlord#]

No deaths in 18 months of playing 5e. It's much, much too hard to die in 5e, or at least, without trying to squeeze in 6-8 encounters/day it is.

Suggested houserule: use the Dungeon Crawl Classics zero hp rule (which is basically once you're down, you're out until the end of the fight (no whack a mole). Then, after the fight when someone rolls the body over and takes a closer look, THEN you make a death save. If you save, you live! If you fail, you die. Very awesome.

 

[Caliban]

Permanent like. Going to zero HP and making death saves don't count.

I've had two so far. An 8th level shadow monk, and a 2nd level fighter. I guess that makes me around a 20% death rate, which is far less than it was in AD&D (my edition I played from 81 to 2012).


*Edit* Sorry if I was unclear. I'm referring to 5e mainly here.

None so far.

 

[iserith]

I guess this approach works in combat-simulation games with no real overarching story or character buy-in.

Engaging in combat is a choice the players make. As well, games that include a lot of opportunities for combat do not necessarily lack for story (which emerges as a result of play). I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "character buy-in." If you mean players getting attached to their characters, such games do not necessarily lack for that either.

In my view, a player character death that is just a series of bad dice rolls in a random encounter is a major letdown. Being killed by the evil sorceress who serves the lich goddess is another matter altogether. That's a cool story moment. Not saying that the GM should fudge every die roll, but they should think about challenge ratings or whatever (I don't GM, I just play). If characters are constantly getting killed, to me it's a sign that the enemies are too overpowered. Yes, GM, you can kill the players at anytime you want, you can have a meteor literally fall out of the sky and one-shot the paladin in his shiny armor any time you want. But what kind of a story is that? Not one I want to be a part of.

Again, combat is a choice the players make. If they find themselves outmatched, it is their choice to stay and fight or to find another way to defeat their enemies.

Also, I don't see why a "random encounter" shouldn't be as cool, fun, and memorable as the scene involving the evil sorceress. I endeavor to make every single challenge I present as awesome as possible. All of them are part of the emergent story.

 

[Imaculata]

Thinking about it, I think my PC death count as a DM is actually at zero as well. I had one player kill another player through an act of betrayal in an evil campaign. So that death isn't exactly on me. And another character died simply because the player had left the group, so it didn't really matter what happened to the character. But I've never actually caused a player to die myself.

And yet, I have subjected my players to pretty hard battles that were close calls. One player got knocked out, and almost got dragged into the jungle by cannibals. And a battle with a bunch of giant spiders in an underground city, almost ended badly for again the same player, playing the same character. And that same player character also almost lost his eyes a few sessions ago. Maybe this is more a case of one particular player taking a lot of risks.

Although the players often joke around about how I'm an evil DM, it is not my intention to kill any of them. In fact, I'd say I'm pretty fair and forgiving. But I do balance the challenge ratings of their battles carefully. I also tend to telegraph the danger level of certain opponents and hazards very clearly to them. I want them to know what the stakes are, so they can make an informed choice.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

Current campaign is a shared DM game (3 DMs rotate between adventures). We've had a total of 32 characters played by 8 different players in 37 sessions since 22-March-2016. Typically have 4 or 5 characters at each session (rarely 3 or 6).

1 PC killed in duel with kobold king. Body unrecoverable.
1 PC killed to strength drain from shadow - not raised from dead.
1 PC petrified by a medusa and left behind. Effectively dead. Although there is talk of mounting an expedition to recover him.
1 PC killed by a succubus kiss sucks. Later raised from the dead.
1 PC killed by darkmantles on Dark Lake in Out of the Abyss. Body sank into the lake. Unrecoverable.

32 characters, 5 deaths (or equivalent), 4 permanent in 37 sessions.

Interestingly I'm the only DM that has presided over any character death in this campaign, and 3 of the 5 deaths were played by the same player who is one of the other DMs. I must really have it out for that guy.

PCs in this game currently range between level 4 and 7. Four character deaths occurred at level 3 or 4. One (duel against kobold king) was level 1.

Four of the five deaths occurred in the first adventure I DM'd for this game. Two of the deaths (medusa and succubus) occurred in the same session.

 

[Demorgus]

As a DM, I haven't had a single pc die this edition.

Correction: I think I did lose a PC as a player or at the least we were facing down a no-win situation.

 

[LarryD]

As player, none yet. Have 2 in HofDQ and 1 in OotA - all have come close, but Spare the Dying saved them.
As a DM, killed off two, in Legacy of the Crystal Shard. 2nd lvl monk got surprised by a yeti, hit by both attacks (one was a crit), then grabbed for max cold damage. Negative double damage in one round. Knocked off a 2nd level sorc who, after disengaging from melee with a wererat, ended up putting himself in melee with two bandits. Wererat moved to reengage, and needless to say, all of their attacks with adv did him in.

 

[AngryTiger]

As a player, in 5th edition: none, as i haven't got to play as a player yet.
As a player, across 20-ish years of gaming across different systems: 0 deaths.

I also very rarely get to play so that explains some of it.

As a DM, in 5th edition: 3 deaths, everyone was raised later.
As a DM, in 20-ish years of gaming across different systems: 11 deaths, all but one was raised later.

Unless to game world has no resurrection, i always have option for players to bring the character back. The one time character died to a encounter in middle of nowhere with no allies who could have found him and resurrected him, i allowed the player to create a new character to go fetch the body and raise his character. The only permanent death i had in my games was when said character died second time and player chose not to have him resurrected again.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Suggested houserule: use the Dungeon Crawl Classics zero hp rule (which is basically once you're down, you're out until the end of the fight (no whack a mole). Then, after the fight when someone rolls the body over and takes a closer look, THEN you make a death save. If you save, you live! If you fail, you die. Very awesome.

That's only half of the DCC rules for getting dropped to zero hp though - there is also a window of your character's level in rounds that you can receive healing and get back into the fight.