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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 5735217" data-attributes="member: 2011">Meh.Personally, I prefer to have give players "go to the well" abilities (typically specific items that I hand out as DM) so that they can work at preventing dying themselves instead of cinematic rules that make an implausible game even more implausible.The other aspect of it is that players will want to then use magic in that 30 second timeframe to change the outcome and then be disappointed when nothing they do works.And being down midpoint in combat only sucks if the player is a bit immature. I've had PCs down due to great rolls by the DM, and had a great time cheering on the other players. Nail biting fights where the survival of my PC was totally dependent on the success of the other PCs. It's all on how one approaches the game.I've seen this (somewhat whiny) concept of "my PC died, that sucks" just this summer. We were playing Encounters and a very young player (late teens, early 20s) made several serious earlier tactical mistakes for his PC and then ended up getting criticaled at first level for something like 25 hit points when his PC was currently around 5 hit points (he thought it was smart to go charge the toughest guy on the board when at really low hit points instead of staying put and finishing off the lesser foe his PC was currently fighting). Straight to death, do not pass go. He was one unhappy player. To me at the time, it seemed like he wasn't going to be having fun unless he was part of the group taking out the BBEG.The concept that every PC has to be "THE HERO" every encounter was what led to this PC's death. The same applies to dying PCs. D&D and other FRPGs are a team activity and a given player's PC doesn't have to be in the spotlight every single time. It's really ok to just sit it out for a few rounds and allow the other players to attempt to save your PC. Your PC doesn't have to be the center of attention every round and able to fight all of the time, regardless of situation.In fact, it's the more selfless concept of being a team player that typically results in combats not resulting in TPKs. Not all, but quite a few PC deaths that I have witnessed were because some player had his PC go off and do something on his own, or have a striker PC charge a group of foes and get surrounded, or some other equally subpar "heroic decision" that ended up with that PC getting smoked. Working as a team sometimes avoids these "heroically stupid" deaths.It's better for the players to work on ways to avoid PC death in the first place (acquiring Daily items, working as a team, etc.) then to come up with house rules to allow a player to go out heroically (especially when it's sometimes the fault of the player that his PC is dying in the first place).</blockquote>

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