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<blockquote data-quote="JiffyPopTart" data-source="post: 8706264" data-attributes="member: 4881">Death has a big place in stories about PCs, but not so much random death (unless the player wants it).My example earlier was a shield being disintegrated.&nbsp; This was a thing that happened in my 3e campaign.&nbsp; A player, due to a string of bad luck, found his dwarven fighter sent from full health to Massive Damage dead due to a simple failed save vs a disintegration trap AND a preternaturally good roll on my part for the damage dealt.&nbsp; This wasnt on a grand adventure, just a side exploration of an otherwise fairly mundane ruin.Rather than kill the character and loose the years of story involved in an essentially random death out of nowhere, I instead offered the player a choice to instead lose his shield.&nbsp; This was 3e, so that characte both by feats and stacking magical abilities was 80% shield focused.&nbsp; It was like asking Captain America to lose his shield permanently.The player chose to keep playing the dwarf and made it interesting by roleplaying the very literal lamentations of how useless he was without his prescious.Ultimately he was able to secure a new shield with some part gold, but we were able to keep the years of story with that party going without an abrupt introduction of a new character.Contrast this with a character I made in 3e.&nbsp; All I remember about them is they were a 6ish level elf rogue with a human bane weapon.&nbsp; First adventure, first hallway in a dungeon.&nbsp; Failed to find the trap.&nbsp; Trap went off.&nbsp; Dead.&nbsp; Not 15 minutes of playtime.&nbsp; That's not a fun experience, especially in 3e where creating characters took some time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="JiffyPopTart, post: 8706264, member: 4881"] Death has a big place in stories about PCs, but not so much random death (unless the player wants it). My example earlier was a shield being disintegrated. This was a thing that happened in my 3e campaign. A player, due to a string of bad luck, found his dwarven fighter sent from full health to Massive Damage dead due to a simple failed save vs a disintegration trap AND a preternaturally good roll on my part for the damage dealt. This wasnt on a grand adventure, just a side exploration of an otherwise fairly mundane ruin. Rather than kill the character and loose the years of story involved in an essentially random death out of nowhere, I instead offered the player a choice to instead lose his shield. This was 3e, so that characte both by feats and stacking magical abilities was 80% shield focused. It was like asking Captain America to lose his shield permanently. The player chose to keep playing the dwarf and made it interesting by roleplaying the very literal lamentations of how useless he was without his prescious. Ultimately he was able to secure a new shield with some part gold, but we were able to keep the years of story with that party going without an abrupt introduction of a new character. Contrast this with a character I made in 3e. All I remember about them is they were a 6ish level elf rogue with a human bane weapon. First adventure, first hallway in a dungeon. Failed to find the trap. Trap went off. Dead. Not 15 minutes of playtime. That's not a fun experience, especially in 3e where creating characters took some time. [/QUOTE]

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