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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pbartender" data-source="post: 5635659" data-attributes="member: 7533">The problem didn't have anything to do with inflexibility in the adventure plot...  It had to do with the fact that we were playing through an adventure that was widely considered a meat-grinder with a DM who considered it his duty to kill the PCs, using any and every method at his disposal (he told us this once).Over the course of that year, we averaged one character death per session, and we only had one original character survive from beginning to end.  Side quests would not have helped, not only because it was not in the nature of the DM to provide such resource-boosting assistance, but also because he would have planned them to be just as deadly as the main adventure.I dunno...  We've not had a problem with it, since I started using it. Most of my players have enough time and energy invested in their characters that they go to great lengths to keep their PCs alive.  If it ever gets to the point where the character isn't working out (for one reason or another) they let me know, we talk it over, and if necessary, we just find a way to retire the old character and introduce a new one.Perhaps "in-character" vs. "out-of-character" would be a better categorization.  For example...A PC dies simply because of bad luck on dice rolls...  It's not the player's fault, so why penalize him?A PC dies, because the player was (appropriately) role-playing selfless heroism and got caught in a situation that he couldn't get out of...  If appropriate for the character, the player was doing what he should have been.  That should merit a reward, if anything.A PC dies because the player is being a jerk, role-playing his character like a reckless maniac, and reaps the consequences of his actions...  Penalties to experience and gear might mitigate this sort of behavior to some degree, but wouldn't it be better to find out why he's playing his character like this and deal with the problem player, rather than passive-aggressively penalize his characters?  Maybe he's bored with the adventure?  Maybe he doesn't like his character as much as he thought would and wants another?  Maybe he prefers a more action oriented game than what you're providing?I've just never run into a situation in which in-game penalties for character death actually prevents character deaths...  At best, there's no difference, and at worst you end up with PCs that are overly cautious, overly paranoid, and decidedly unheroic all in an effort to avoid death.  The few times I could see it applying all seem like situations that would be better handled by speaking with the player.</blockquote>

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