Which is better: Character death or item destruction?

[Crothian]

This ought to be good. Which of these do you like better ? Do you perfer to lose your magical equipment or do you perfer to just have the character die?

This is "in general"; so is the idea of your character dying better? Or the idea of your character getting magical items detroyed? Think in general terms and not specific circumstances that would yield one or the other

 

[ThirdWizard]

Depends on the item. An item or multiple items worth more than 50,000 gp is/are always worse than death, for example. Loss of an item worth 5,000 gp or less is better than death, especially since not all death can be bounced back from with raise dead. Between that it will get hazey.

 

[Endur]

Which of thiese do you like better ? Do you perfer to lose your magical equipment or do you perfer to just have the character die?

I know what you meant, but I think you should have said, which is worse. Since most people would say neither is preferred.

I'd much prefer to lose magical equipment. Equipment can be replaced. Life is sacred.

I know there are some campaigns where raise dead spells are easier to find than a magic item. But there are probably more campaigns where magic items are easier to acquire than a return from the dead.

 

[kaomera]

Magic item destroyed => character killed => magic item surreptitiously removed, used to cause genocide and other crimes against the cosmos, and then returned.

 

[Cedric]

I never mind dying. I have a lot of character concepts I would like to try out. I consider myself a very accomplished player..if my character dies it was either because the circumstances were out of my control or because I knowingly put him in a position where he could die.

Now, if I die because I was unknowingly doing something stupid, then I'll get frustrated with myself. But honestly I can't remember the last time that happened.

I hate having my items destroyed though. Most of that comes from the fact that I used to play with a GM that took EVERY opportunity to roll for magic item destruction.

If you were hit by a fireball...then you failed your save, had to roll for every item you had on you, including clothing. This was 1st ed...but none the less, it left a bad taste in my mouth for item destruction.

 

[sckeener]

If we are talking permanent character death, then item destruction.

If we are talking raised dead, then it would depend on the item. If it was something unique, then I'd prefer character death.

It would also depend on the character. If I was playing an undead character (which I prefer), then character 'death' is a very bad thing since a raise dead wouldn't restore me to the same condition.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Refering to 'default' DnD. I'd say it depends on a number of things.

Is the cleric alive?

Does he/she have true ressurection.

Do you have 25k gp of diamonds?

Are there house rules on death/ressurection?

If the answers are 3 yes's and then a no, then you're probably better of dieing.


There's plenty of other considerations. Would it be a TPK. Are there roleplaying reasons why your character should treat the afterlife as an annoying status condition. And so on.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I voted character death. You can always roll up a new character! But, of course, it does depend on the item. Die rather than lose my +2 sword when I've got a +1 sword in my Bag of Holding? I don't think so!

 

[Squire James]

I didn't vote, since the answer varies greatly be situation. Item destruction is the "lesser of two evils" in nearly all cases, but the exception is so catastrophic that it tempts me to answer the other way. In a typical high-level D&D setup, the item destruction caused by a Mordenkainen's Disjunction on the party is a bigger disaster than all but 1 character dropping dead about 10 times each.

Having fun can make up for a lot, I admit. Losing all equipment is VERY UNFUN at any level, and DM's who dream of running a campaign full of module A4 equivalents should keep that in mind...

 

[Crothian]

I didn't vote, since the answer varies greatly be situation.

This is an in general question not dealing with specific situations.