How to Handle Character Deaths?

It has been a while since I played (life, etc) but we had a rule that roleplay mattered uber alles. As long as players were committed and stayed in character (e.g. the brave barbarian can't run away from a fight, etc), no one would die forever. We'd either bend the death to make an injury or find a way to resurrect the victims. The drama was still real but a bad session wouldn't derail the entire campaign.

How does your group handle character demise?

Depends.

In my Strahd campaign, I've had three deaths.

1. A character was at 1HP, a character tripped, fell onto her and effectively rugby tackled her. She took 1 Bludgeoning and went to Death Saves. Got a fail. We had gone into turn order because timing was a real issue. She got over eager and rolled before I said she could and got a Nat1. What did I do? I rebuked her for not waiting her turn and told her to reroll it. She survived.

2. The Party I advisedly when down a turning in a mine that I repeatedly tried to tell them that was very dangerous. They got ambushed by Giant Spiders, and one got killed. The player was really down about it, so I allowed them to go to the afterlife and retrieve his spirit. It was a haunting and gruelling experience.

3. Strahd later tormented the Party, trying to turn them against each other. Apparently he succeeded all too well, and one killed another. The players were fine with it, and it's permanent. This isn't over and they'll find out soon that the character isn't completely gone (although he will no longer be a PC, the player is rolling a new one).

How I handle it depends on the circumstances, how the player feels about it and whether there's anything interesting I can do with it.

It can depend on the players. Some have a backlog of charactor ideas theh want to try, so it becomes a case of talking with them on how to inject them into the mission.

Others dont take losing their beloved charactor so might need time to digest the lost.

Best trick it to talk to them privately and negotiate what the next step could be. As long as you arnt cackling like a villian and gloating, most players should be pretty good

I had the party TPK'd by a demon at the entrance to the Abyss. I had previously had the party discover one of their parents (who died 200-odd years ago) had been killed in a ritual to open such a portal, and they were rescued as their souls were dragged to the abyss by this dwarf. Some explanations later and the Dwarf character realised this was their dad. He thought he had been there for 6 months, and now saw his son, 200 years old.

They fought the demon at the gates to this sanctuary, and they managed to step through. The Dwarf saw the world breaking around them, and their dad told them he had to break the walls to get them out, and did so gladly to save his son. The character then used their last action as they stepped through to cast banishment on the dad, which ejected him to his native plane - freeing his spirit in the process. It was hugely touching, and the party awoke with 1hp, swam to the surface, and ran like hell.

I have further plans for individual character death, which will involve Death, who is tasked with offering the paths available in the afterlife. Death will explain to them the options they have, and that these options are not guaranteed. If the party uses resurrection magic, then Death has been bribed to open another door, one to return. However, they will be informed of their options, and how they may not be open to them again. "If the soul is willing" requires informed consent, after all!

It depends on the type of game.   I got nothing against perma death, as I can still use them in one shots with a new build. As a player who loves playing with concepts, replacing a character is not that big a deal.  

The only concern I have is if a death is fair overall. I played during 3e, so I’m no stranger to an untimely death. As long as its not a bad ruling that got me there, I’m generally ok.   

So far, 4 people have been killed in the last 24 in game hours. There was one of my many(300) rogues, the cleric who killed her, the chill ranger, and a sorcerer who decided to drop in.

Not even joking, the first person was reaching for a bottle of drugs, the pet dragon saw this and blasted her with fire, putting her on death saves, the  cleric(who's against such substances) decided to finish her with his mace. Then, the DMC chased the cleric into the sky and cut him down. The cleric failed to clutch and died to fall damage. 

The enemy the party is fighting is a 20th level wizard who also identifies as an Asian mom. She slaps everyone with her sandal(3d6+9), and then proceeded to cast chain lightning on them. OH, and a funny thing, the Asian mom tamed the Tarrasque, don't ask questions.

My players once asked for an ad-hoc game (no prep) so I randomized something suitable. They ended up dying. I called it "non canon" and we never spoke of it again. LOL.