Why dont you kill PCs?

[Einan]

I prefer to avoid killing the PCs, because Death is an end to all suffering.

No, to really torture the PCs, they must be kept alive as long as possible. And they must retain some measure of Hope, the greatest of all gifts, that will let them foolishly believe that things cannot get any worse

Quoted for truth. Amen.

Einan

 

[Imruphel]

I actively cheat to keep the PCs alive if I feel that we're all enjoying the game and things are flowing well. They don't know this, of course, and never will. However, really, really, really stupid play will result in whatever consequences the dice determine.

I also use fate points so that the PCs have a few "lives" before I need to start cheating to ensure that they don't die.

 

[Delta]

The price is up to the dice.

If PC's take an unlucky hit, then they're dead.
Consider it a "plot twist": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_twist

 

[National Acrobat]

I don't hold back at all. All dice rolls at our table, no matter which of the three of us is currently GMing, are out in the open.

What happens, happens. We're all comfortable with that. It's a game. People die.

 

[Crothian]

Death in D&D is too easy to come back from so I don't hold back.

 

[Shieldhaven]

I certainly don't go out of my way to avoid killing the characters. Though in my most recent campaign (ended last night, unless I wind up not moving to another state as I intend), I only killed one PC, and that was with a crit from a large greataxe wielded by a ogre with better than normal stats. It was the party's tank, see, and he would have survived the damage from the crit... but against all probability he failed his Fort save to resist death by massive damage. It was quite a moment.

Haven

 

[Psion]

D&D has lots of script immunity built in; the standard encounter is not meant to be threatening. I tend to follow that in my games. If I accidentally make an encounter more threatening than I intended it to be, I will compensate.

But dramatic encounters, let's just say (as Clueless related Shemmy put it) the holodeck safeties are off. There is risk a character will bite it. Just risk mind you. Not necessarily a major one.

As to why -- I don't like killing PCs because the player has something invested in it, and it can disrupt the PCs connections to the campaign. But I think the game loses an element of tension and excitement if the players can say to themselves "the GM won't kill our characters."

 

[D.Shaffer]

In general, I dont like killing off PCs and will fudge things so they dont die outright. The players are there to have fun and (Especially at lower levels) to have to sit there for the rest of the game until a new character can be introduced can be boring as heck. Nevermind the hassle it takes for them to create a new PC, along with the time it takes to approve it.

That said, if the players do something with the PC that I feel is overly stupid (You want to JUMP DOWN the bottomless looking pit?) I dont pull the punches.

 

[Menexenus]

In the campaigns that my friends and I are in, there is a certain understanding between all the players/DMs involved:

DMs fudge a bit for the characters until the cleric hits 9th level (and can cast Raise Dead). After that, the kid gloves come off.

 

[Endur]

Okay, well do you as a Dm ever hold back on killing PCs for some reason? My main one is because I often have plots dealing with a PC and killing them would naturally ruin it. That, and I would rather play DnD that have to take time out for the player to make a new character.

Those are good reasons. Another reason is that characters in novels often have close calls but rarely die.

I don't change the results of die rolls to keep PCs alive. Or offer fate points or things like that.

But what I will do, is ask myself whether Powerful Evil Guy really wants to kill the PCs, or whether he just wants to take the PCs prisoner or whether he wants to negotiate. So my bad guys don't attack as much as bad guys in computer games.

If I have a real neat special attack I want to use, I might consider using that special attack on a NPC for demonstration purposes before using it on a PC or I might give the PCs warning of the monster ahead of time. i.e. the Party sees a Dragon flying in the distance (and knows they might encounter the dragon) or the party sees a statue of someone they met in town (and knows a Medusa might be around).