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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kennew142" data-source="post: 4033412" data-attributes="member: 18490">I agree completely. I've been in games where the GM insisted that these unsavory details be played out in excruciating detail. They were not games I chose to return to.IMO, PCs are the main characters of the story. Since a good story should be constructed around the PCs (their wants, desires, reputations, history, backgrounds, successes, failures, etc...), it can be a campaign killer to have them dying off with great frequency. A story written around the PCs will fall apart, if the PCs die. The hooks and backgrounds of the story no longer have relevance.The system as presented for 4e will limit death by happenstance, but will still allow for characters to die in dramatic ways (such as when fighting climactic battles). The former will not be ruled out. Players can still be unlucky. Dying characters can still be caught in area of effect spells, or eaten by ghouls while unconscious, dragged off by animals or monsters, etc... This rule simply makes it less likely.IMO, the nice thing about limiting the frequency of character death is that it makes Raise Dead (and similar magics) less necessary. Death, when it occurs, can be more permanent. Players whose characters aren't dying constantly due to happenstance, are often more sanguine about character death when it occurs.</blockquote>