I voted easy to die, hard to be revived. Live by the sword; die by the sword.
As I understood the question, "easy to die" means you can die due to your own stupidity and sometimes forces beyond your control (the dice). "Hard to revive" meaning it is either expensive or arduous for your character to return to life, and when/if they do so there may be consequences thereafter. May even be part of the "cost" of coming back.
I had a character once who died four or five times over the course of the entire campaign. What we ended up doing was having him indebted to the Spirit of the Earth Mother and compelled to mete out her justice on perceived threats. The character ended up hating life, wishing for death, but each time he died there was a pressing reason for him to come back. Comrades in peril, an oath left unfulfilled, something.
We paid the standard costs to raise (3.5) him and the rest was RPed out.
I find anything less than a brutal world feels like Swords & Sorcery by Fisherprice(tm) otherwise. I can't care about the character if I don't think I'll ever lose them. And while the above story may at first sound like it does not jive with that sentiment, there was a different sort of loss as his actions were being dictated by a god he wished to have nothing to do with (he was a godless barbarian to begin with).
As I understood the question, "easy to die" means you can die due to your own stupidity and sometimes forces beyond your control (the dice). "Hard to revive" meaning it is either expensive or arduous for your character to return to life, and when/if they do so there may be consequences thereafter. May even be part of the "cost" of coming back.
I had a character once who died four or five times over the course of the entire campaign. What we ended up doing was having him indebted to the Spirit of the Earth Mother and compelled to mete out her justice on perceived threats. The character ended up hating life, wishing for death, but each time he died there was a pressing reason for him to come back. Comrades in peril, an oath left unfulfilled, something.
We paid the standard costs to raise (3.5) him and the rest was RPed out.
I find anything less than a brutal world feels like Swords & Sorcery by Fisherprice(tm) otherwise. I can't care about the character if I don't think I'll ever lose them. And while the above story may at first sound like it does not jive with that sentiment, there was a different sort of loss as his actions were being dictated by a god he wished to have nothing to do with (he was a godless barbarian to begin with).
