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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 6531888" data-attributes="member: 53980">It's the same concept as, "Why bother playing out a disagreement between the PCs and NPC(s) if there's no risk of death". Conflicts are likely to arise numerous times during a campaign, and it's only the most basic of hack and slash dungeon crawls where death is always a risk. For example, the party might try to convince the captain of the king's guards to allow them to see the king. Unless they escalate the situation by attacking the captain, the worst outcome is likely to be that the captain says no (in the extreme, perhaps they are thrown in the dungeon as suspected assassins). I see a campaign where you can't die as working similarly.I keep the threat of death in my campaigns because my players prefer it that way. Even though they grow attached to their characters, they usually have a cool idea that they want to try waiting in the wings, so unless I'm killing PCs every 5 minutes (which I don't) it's a non-issue.However, I can see the attraction of a campaign where they can't (or can't without choosing that possibility via Death Flag mechanics). In such a campaign, I expect that combat is simply another approach to conflict resolution. If you argue with the villainous senator, you might sway the crowds in your favor, costing him a great deal of influence. Or he may gain the crowds favor, attaining even greater power. Or you might kill him, ending the threat he poses but becoming murderers in the eyes of the people. Or he might capture you and have you arrested, forcing you to either escape jail or attempt to argue your case before the court. Death isn't necessarily a threat in any of these outcomes, but many of them have potentially undesirable outcomes.It depends on the group in question, but for some groups in-game consequences are far more important than stats. I've seen players willingly and knowingly sacrifice their beloved PCs to avert in-game consequences, despite that it would incur level loss. I've seen players give up incredible power to bring about an in-game outcome (the character was a low level rogue who'd come across a Ring of Wishes with one wish left, and used it to restore the sight of a kindly, blind, retired adventurer who'd helped the party).I'll grant you, there are groups that would both hate and run roughshod across a campaign that didn't hold the threat of death. But I have no difficulty believing that it works just fine for some.</blockquote>

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