That's a damned level headed way of looking at it. So what's the new character your piping together?
Well, we are playing HotDQ and RoT. There are only four of us:
*fighter2/blade warlock 6
*me (shadow monk6/warlock 2)
* raging barbarian 8
* thief rogue 8
So it's really kind of an accomplishment we made it this far with a small group and no healing. The battle I died in was against several yuan ti and lizardfolk. Victim of bad tactics and poor luck. The warlock had darkness over the group but moved, leaving me as the only exposed PC. The monsters went, and turned me into a pincushion of poisoned arrows.
The next PC I think I'm gonna play is Graxis, hill dwarf tactician from the famed Boulder squad. Everyone is level 9 now, and the DM is going to start me at the same level. So I'm going with:
Life cleric 5/BM fighter 4. Plate mail and halberd. Pole arm master and sentinel feats. I think the healing will do us good
*Edit* Also, I think it's the only way
to look at it. I have no interest in playing a game where you never have the threat of permanent PC death. Might as well not even play combat if that's the case. The threat of losing a PC permanently is what makes me appreciate and have fun with him/her while I'm playing them.