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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ruleslawyer" data-source="post: 2658882" data-attributes="member: 1757">Um, guys, where's the "announcing that no PCs will be killed" coming in here?In any case, this is drawing an unnecessarily dualist (and, IMHO, simplistic) picture of the circumstances. The issue is not a divide between "encounter in which the PCs can die" and "encounter in which the PCs cannot die." There is a vast continuum of penalties and possible outcomes. As shilsen pointed out, there are many game-related consequences other than PC death. Taking damage and using expendable spells and items are two additional ones that he didn't list. Encounters are supposed to be a drain on resources; that's how the CR system is designed, after all. My point was merely that if the circumstances AND quirky dice-rolling result in a situation that is simply are too outrageous, IMO, to result in PC death (and this includes the context of failing to further the story), then I'm going to fudge to avoid it. Period. If your point is that EVERY combat encounter should be "dramatic" (in the sense that there is a real chance of causing PC death absent a crazy fluke of the device) and that any combat encounter that doesn't qualify should be handwaved IN ADVANCE, that's a difference in DM-ing style. I would find stopping the game and telling my players "Okay, I think it'd probably be pretty silly if I happened to roll exceedingly well here and actually kill one of you now, so we're just going to assume that you win this combat" pretty contrived. I generally run a good number of combats that simply don't have this kind of edge.My main point, in any case, is that there are times (rare ones) when it is appropriate to fudge in order to avoid killing PCs, especially if you do not find the corrective mechanic of easily-available resurrection spells to your taste (I do not).</blockquote>

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