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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shiroiken" data-source="post: 8186892" data-attributes="member: 6775477">It depend on what kind of DM you want to be. My players are well aware that I'm a "killer DM," which used to have a completely different definition*. If the characters die, even if only through the fault of poor dice rolls, they die. There may be reasons and ways for characters to return (resurrection IS an aspect of the standard setting after all), but they are things that need to be done by the PCs, not by DM intervention. Other DMs are more lenient, preferring to avoid PC death. In that case, intelligent enemies should subdue, rather than kill, allowing the PCs a later chance to live/escape. This shouldn't be done after the fact, IMO, such as after they failed 3 Death Saves. If so, you telegraph that death is irrelevant, since the DM will intervene to save the PCs.*back in the day, a "killer DM" was one who never allowed the players a chance of success, regularly killing the PCs with unstoppable traps and creatures. They would often change the situation mid-session if the players start to succeed, since being DM was a power trip, rather than a responsibility.</blockquote>