TheSword
Warhammer Fantasy Imperial Plenipotentiary
We play monthly for the record. Live for the moment.Indeed. That combat means you may not live past it makes it concerning; it does not make it matter. It is the things which give value to survival that matter. Conflating meaning with utility is a lamentably common mistake.
A character dying every ten weeks would mean that by the end of the year, you'd have practically a brand new party.
No, I don't think 2-3 deaths in a year is low. I think it is quite high. Especially since this is 2-3 extra deaths, completely separate from deaths due to failing death saves or other effects that kill characters. 2-3 deaths a year means literally any investment I might put into my fellow characters is pointless; either my character will die, and thus nothing they cared about will matter, or most of their friends will die, and thus it won't matter that they were friends. Death is the ultimate investment killer. Why bother when you can be almost certain it'll all be gone in a few months?
Or to use Dorothy Jones Heydt's "eight deadly words": "I don't care what happens to these people."
For the record I mentioned earlier I’m leaning to 2d6-1 exhaustion levels under 1D&D so a one in 36 chance of a fresh PC dying instantly.