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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7990305" data-attributes="member: 97077">I look at it this way: Either death is on the table or it isn't and I'm going to tell the players which it is as appropriate to the campaign theme.If death is on the table, then I expect players to make backup characters. Not because I'm gunning for them, but because my main concern is to make sure the players can get back into the primary mode of participation with the game as quickly as possible when a character dies. I don't want anyone sitting around, not earning XP or treasure, unless that's what they want to do. If they have a backup character at the ready, we tap that character in and establish whatever fiction is needed to have it make sense for the character to show up. Typically I make some effort to write in these characters in some way previously so that the transition is relatively seamless. If death is off the table, then life or death stakes are just not present in the game. The PCs can lose, but they cannot die. I find this is better than fudging or going easy on the characters because I am unwilling to accept death as an outcome. I'd rather just adjust what it means to lose all your hit points or fail your death saves than work toward making sure they don't lose all their hit points or fail their death saves. One that I've used before is something I picked up from another game - &quot;taken out.&quot; The &quot;dead&quot; PC is done in this scene, whatever that means, and can no longer contribute to the group's goals. In the next or some subsequent scene, the PC is back, perhaps a bit worse for wear, but not dead.Death happens. DMs who prepare for it make for a much better game experience in my view.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7990305, member: 97077"] I look at it this way: Either death is on the table or it isn't and I'm going to tell the players which it is as appropriate to the campaign theme. If death is on the table, then I expect players to make backup characters. Not because I'm gunning for them, but because my main concern is to make sure the players can get back into the primary mode of participation with the game as quickly as possible when a character dies. I don't want anyone sitting around, not earning XP or treasure, unless that's what they want to do. If they have a backup character at the ready, we tap that character in and establish whatever fiction is needed to have it make sense for the character to show up. Typically I make some effort to write in these characters in some way previously so that the transition is relatively seamless. If death is off the table, then life or death stakes are just not present in the game. The PCs can lose, but they cannot die. I find this is better than fudging or going easy on the characters because I am unwilling to accept death as an outcome. I'd rather just adjust what it means to lose all your hit points or fail your death saves than work toward making sure they don't lose all their hit points or fail their death saves. One that I've used before is something I picked up from another game - "taken out." The "dead" PC is done in this scene, whatever that means, and can no longer contribute to the group's goals. In the next or some subsequent scene, the PC is back, perhaps a bit worse for wear, but not dead. Death happens. DMs who prepare for it make for a much better game experience in my view. [/QUOTE]

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