D&D General I asked AI: "What's the Most Common Cause of Character Death?"

[Lanefan]

No, because the information is not available. Nobody tracks all the deaths in D&D games.

In all D&D games in aggregate? No.

In our own games here? Yes.

It's impossible to track what led up to the death - was it bad luck or bad planning or player-side stupid or DM-side malice etc. - but the actual cause of death can be tracked provided half-decent records are being kept.

And each death often has two parts to its cause - the source, and the thing that did the actual killing. For example: Trap - Poison, or Melee - Giant, or Breath Weapon - Dragon, etc.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Given their hit points and work habits, I assume paper cuts claim the lives of a lot of wizards annually.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

However, that AI does not admit to ignorance and gives and answer anyway is a mark against AI as a general search and research tool.

It does make them fit in well with the rest of discourse on the internet, though.

 

[CleverNickName]

It does make them fit in well with the rest of discourse on the internet, though.

 

[Morrus]

In all D&D games in aggregate? No.

In our own games here? Yes.

What an odd reply.

"What is the average salary in Europe?"

Well I know my salary, but that's not really the question being asked, is it? That's of no use to anyone. Of course we all know our own salary. Or what happens in our own games.

 

[Shiroiken]

IME, the answer is stupidity. It's almost always stupidity...

 

[GMMichael]

(AI is) no more reliable than the local bartender who overhears much but verifies little (and is usually drunk.)

This also describes certain popular news programs.

And each death often has two parts to its cause - the source, and the thing that did the actual killing. For example: Trap - Poison, or Melee - Giant, or Breath Weapon - Dragon, etc.

DM - Player. As long as neither side backs down, some poor character is going to get caught in the middle.

Given their hit points and work habits, I assume paper cuts claim the lives of a lot of wizards annually.

Gods, I wish wizards were still this fragile.

 

[Charlaquin]

I mean, I only read the Artificer one, but I didn’t see anything untrue in it. On the other hand I don’t think it’s really answering the question. It’s just kind of describing reasons a character of a particular class might die when a character of a different class might not have. This really doesn’t give us any actual insight into which, if any, of those reasons is most common. It feels like a horoscope: just say a bunch of nonspecific stuff that’s likely to be broadly applicable and count on the audience to take what they want to hear out of it and ignore the rest.

 

[Lanefan]

What an odd reply.

Not odd at all. Umbran said nobody tracks deaths in D&D games, I merely pointed out that for my own part, I do.

"What is the average salary in Europe?"

Well I know my salary, but that's not really the question being asked, is it? That's of no use to anyone. Of course we all know our own salary. Or what happens in our own games.

And if enough people in Europe share their salary numbers and someone aggregates that info then you've got something to work with. It might not be "scientific" for peer-review purposes but so what - it's still a whole lot better than nothing.

Same as if enough people share what happens in their own games and someone aggregates that info, then you've got something bigger than just a single game's data. And in this specific instance you'll never get "scientific level" data anyway as everyone's game is different in terms of lethality, what can or cannot kill characters, and so forth.

 

[Stormonu]

The most common cause of character death is either a Widows 3 or an Intelligence 3 moment, as I call them. Even when forewarned by the DM.

The bold part usually results after a TPK...