Poll: PC Death

[Agamon]

I'm pretty much a 'let the dice fall where they may' kinda guy. I used to be a 'fudgemeister', but that changed somewhere...I can't exactly point where either, but it was a while ago.

Three PC deaths last session in my AoW game, the first since a near TPK against a dragon 1 1/2 adventures ago. Spire of Long Shadows is pretty harsh, though....

 

[Sundragon2012]

This is my style:

PCs die when they make stupid mistakes, and the DM sometimes pulls punches when they do something smart but the dice don't roll their way.

Caveats being...

1.) It is very, very rare that I do this.

2.) The players never know when I pull this shiznit...they would string me up if they knew.

3.) My campaign does not support the curse and soul sucking stupidity that is easy resurrection.

I am really surprised that there are DMs out there that don't allow PCs to die and that there are players who actually expect to have every encounter balanced for them as if the world is set to some videogamey difficulty level (easy, medium, hard, nightmare) that somehow balances itself against them no matter where they go.

What is the point of a game filled with combat, eldritch horrors, dragons, demons and whatnot if there is no fear of death on the part of the heroes? Heroism in either a high fantasy or sword and sorcery millieu requires the very real possibility of death. There can be no heroic last stands if there is no death. There can be no sense of the real repercussions of evil and/or war without death. Without the possibility of death, D&D is IMO a kids game of guaranteed victories and shallow heroics. Somewhere along the line, some people confused D&D with a videogame where as long as you have a saved game everything will be fine.

Maybe if I were playing with a bunch of kids (9-14yr olds) I would be very lenient. I'm not trying to break a little kid's heart. If I am playing with adults (18-30+) they will either accept that death can happen or they can go play shoots and ladders with the kiddies. Having said that I am not against all resurrection, it is available, but there is a very high cost in resources and/or effort to get it.


Sundragon

 

[Melan]

I'm really more of a

PCs die when they make stupid mistakes, and the DM sometimes pulls punches when they do something smart but the dice don't roll their way.

That's pretty much me as well.

 

[Glyfair]

My style is between option 2 & 3, and much closer to 3. However, I would love to play in a campaign with option 4.

That doesn't mean there shouldn't be negative consequences to failure. Just that the consequences aren't death.

 

[robberbaron]

PCs die in my game.
I don't fudge the dice.

I accept that some DMs feel the need to fudge dice to keep PCs alive but I've never felt that myself.
Death is part of the game and my players understand that. If the PCs are wandering about, killing things, why shouldn't there be repercussions? it's never nice to have your character kick the bucket but, if PC death isn't going to be part of the game, why are there rules for it?

I guess that, if your players are young and/or immature, they might react badly to their character dying (and there have been plenty of threads with tales of tantrums) but I don't play with people like that - luckily.

 

[Jhaelen]

If the PCs are smart and be willing to avoid / retreat, they should have a very good chance of survival in my campaign.
[...]
Where I may fudge is doing things like picking targets.

Yup, same here. I always roll dice openly, so there's no chance of fudging there. But I often choose suboptimal tactics for the npcs/monsters, unless they're clearly highly intelligent or have 'insider' information about the pcs.

I'm also reluctant to use coup-de-grace against pcs. There's only been one encounter so far, where I made an attempt (which failed, though). Unless the attackers are assassins, I typically argue, they're more interested in dropping any foes that are still moving rather than making sure, the helpless ones won't be able to rejoin the fight.

 

[DragonLancer]

If the players do something stupid or the dice go against them, thats how it is in my games. Character death is part of the game - part of the risks if you will.

 

[Doug McCrae]

10 sessions. 5 PC deaths.

I didn't vote in the poll. It's not DM vs player or player 'stupidity' (which invariably means a miscommunication between player and DM).

 

[Delta]

I would have to pick something between choice #1 and #2.

PCs can expect to die at some point; not only from stupid mistakes; and the DM never pulls punches.

 

[shilsen]

59 sessions, 28 PCs going to -10, 1 death. My game is very heavily player/PC-driven and I don't like PC death in it (unless the player wants it, of course), so I use an action point (and more latterly, swashbuckling card) mechanic that allows PCs dropped to -10 to survive the encounter at -9 and stable.

One of the reasons I prefer to not have death in the game is that I find it to be one of the simplest and most boring repercussions of PC failure/defeat. I'd much rather have PCs alive to deal with the repercussions of their failures, whether it be ending up captured, losing valuable equipment, failing to prevent a BBEG's plan, failing to protect a beloved NPC, etc. A good torturer knows to never kill the victim.