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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 5782437" data-attributes="member: 2011">The difference between Voldamort and D&D is that the author decides who dies with Voldamort whereas with D&D, the DM might decide who might die, but mostly it is a matter sheer dumb luck as to who happens to be closest to the magical blast (or most threatening to the enemy spell caster at the moment) combined with the random dice deciding. If Voldamort would have killed Harry in chapter 2 of book 3, that series would have sucked. The story would have been lame and the same happens if random PC death occurs (with little chance of success when the dice are cold), the story again would be lame.I have no problem with magic being scary. I have a problem with random arbitrary death with a single die roll.This doesn't drive the story, it ends it, at least for one player.All of your examples are ones where an author decided upon a character death for the improvement of the story. That doesn't happen with save or die. It tends to make the story worse, not better.DMs who use save or die as a crutch for a story element don't really understand good story telling. Yes, heroes can die. But a lightning bolt from the heavens and the PC is dead is totally lame and does not inspire a good story. Yes, the other PCs can pick themselves back up, mourn their lost ally, actually roleplay it, and move on, but the player of the PC that died was just screwed.DM: "Honestly Frank. This makes the story better."Frank: "Whatever." (mumbles "it'll make the story better when I key your car moron")Sudden death in a written story can be awesome. Sudden death in an rpg is usually just lame and even anti-good story. The two medias are totally different, even if the one is attempting to emulate the other.</blockquote>

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