A bad roll of the dice. A plan doomed to fail. An epic showdown with the Big Bad. Character death is a natural part of Dungeons & Dragons. And while spells like revivify can undo a tragic swan dive off a cliff, your party may at times find themselves short of a diamond or spell slot to bring a dead character back to life.
But there's value in letting characters fail, and death doesn't have to be final. You can use death to drive the narrative forward and facilitate great roleplay. Here's how:
- Don't force death onto your players
- Improvising with your players
- Giving characters a second chance
- Putting the dead to rest
Don't Force Death Onto Your Players
Players experience the game through the lens of their characters. So, they should have a sense of control, especially in cases where their characters can die. Consider, for example, how a player may respond if a monster killed their character in one blow. Such a death can be anti-climactic and even bring the game to a halt. For players who have labored over character creation, a sudden and meaningless death could leave them feeling detached from the story.
That's why it's important for DMs to carefully consider encounter difficulty when planning a session. The threat of death should be present in games to create tension, but if player characters can't walk two steps without fatal consequence, you may find them taking a 10-foot pole to each tile along their path. Instead, seek to use traps and similar dangers to wear down the characters. Save the truly deadly dangers for remarkable moments, such as when the characters are trying to destroy a lich's cursed phylactery.
In the same vein, when it comes to creating combat encounters, avoid having a deadly-level encounter each time. An encounter with a deadly difficulty may best be reserved for pivotal combats in the adventure, like when the characters track down the cult leader terrorizing their town or come face to face with an adult red dragon as they're looting its hoard. Dying to a random beefed-up owlbear that has no bearing on the story may not make for an exciting end to a character.
That isn't to say that the characters shouldn't face consequences. If a player refuses to have their character ever retreat in combat, even when low on hit points, the DM shouldn't necessarily have the enemies change behavior in order to spare them. The point is, if a character should die, the player should feel as though they could have avoided it, or that at least their death was meaningful.
Running a Deadly Adventure
If your table has agreed ahead of time to a deadly challenge, then slay away, DM! High difficulty games such as the meat grinder adventure Tomb of Annihilation can be rewarding for players who like a challenge. When run as a one-shot, a meat grinder can also be a hilarious way to pass an evening. What's important to understand, though, is that players enter these sorts of games with the expectation of dying. An instant death to a trap isn't so common of an experience in your typical D&D game nowadays, so it could be an unwelcome surprise for players who weren't given a heads up during the session zero.
Improvising With Your Players
When the dice fall and that final death saving throw turns up in failure, DMs should consider giving the player whose character died more narrative control over the scene. Say, for example, that a character dies at the hands of a ruthless orc chieftain. You might ask the player to:
- Explain what their character did just before falling unconscious
- Describe what it looks like when they take their final breath
- Say any last words
Don't be afraid of rewinding the scene in order to give your player an opportunity to write a death that's satisfying to them. Perhaps their character got in one last quip before falling unconscious. As a DM, I've even allowed characters to fire off one last spell or make a debilitating attack. Though such actions could tip the scales of combat in favor of the players, it can make character death more memorable and cinematic.
Giving Characters a Second Chance
Death doesn't have to be final, not when you're the DM, at least. Whether by divine intervention or pure mystery, you can bring a character back to life. However, you should only do so with purpose and sparingly. The threat of death is a great source of tension in D&D. You don't want your players to start expecting a free resurrection anytime their characters go down.
Bringing a character back from the dead can introduce new conflict and mystery to your game. Below are ideas for resurrecting a character while pushing the narrative forward. Just make sure you have the go-ahead from the player before giving their character a second life.
A Deal With a Patron
Powerful adventurers draw the eyes of all manner of entities throughout the multiverse. Should one of them die, it stands to reason that someone—or something—will step up to strike a bargain. The warlock class offers all manner of ideas for otherworldly patrons that could bring a character back to life in exchange for services. Perhaps Asmodeus seeks out a hero who could help free him from the influence of the Ruby Rod, which forces him and his devils to adhere to law. In exchange, he could offer resurrection and perhaps a modicum of his power.
A deal with a patron need not be one-sided or force a character to do evil. Their heroic acts may have caught the attention of a celestial who asks the character to help them destroy an evil that has breached the Material Plane. This evil could be working in cahoots with the campaign's overarching Big Bad. Such a deal would allow you to move the story forward while giving the player the opportunity to keep enjoying their current character.
Limited Time Offer
To complicate matters for the player, the resurrection could be temporary. In exchange for completing a task for a patron, the character could be offered an indeterminate amount of time to live. This not only allows the player to say goodbye to their character but also adds tension to the game, as the players would be left wondering when the character would permanently die.
The Character Backstory Callback
When you're looking for creative ways to bring a character back to life, you may not need to look farther than their backstory. If the character has been seeking to track down the monster that slayed their family, that unfinished business could be enough to bring them back, if only for a time. For DMs comfortable with homebrew solutions, you might have the character play as a ghost or other undead until their soul finds peace.
An Unnatural Return to Life
Some parties will do anything to bring a friend back to life. So, let them try! In a realm where undead walk the earth and quirky scientists stitch together flesh golems for fun, there's bound to be an unconventional way to resurrect a player character. A series of Arcana and Medicine checks, some spell slots, and a sacrifice of sorts could be just what's needed to bring someone back to life.
That isn't to say there won't be consequences. The Raven Queen or Lathander may not take too kindly to those disrupting the natural order of life and death. And who's to say the resurrected character returns just as they were? They may have lost memories or their connection to their deity and bear the scars of their death. In such cases, look to the reborn lineage from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft to modify the returned character.
Indebted to the Villain
Character deaths are a common threat during boss encounters. If you suspect that your players' characters may be killed by a key villain, consider whether that villain would be forgiving of the heroes' trespasses. Some enemies may even broker a deal with the surviving party members. In exchange for resurrecting their dead ally, the party must agree to leave the region, for example. An infernal contract would be an easy way to ensure the party keeps up their end of the bargain.
Journey to the Underworld
You may require the surviving characters to go on an epic quest to retrieve their deceased party member. Such a quest would allow you to switch up the pace of the game and take the players into new realms with unique monsters.
Don't feel as though you need to take the characters to Elysium, the Nine Hells, or even the Ethereal Plane for such a quest. If the dead had ties to the Feywild, then perhaps their spirit was whisked away to that realm. You could even have the character's soul be trapped in Mechanus, where they await judgement from the ultimate being of law and order, Primus.
Putting the Dead to Rest
The permanent death of a character can be just as impactful as a resurrection with a plot hook. In such cases, memorializing the dead creates roleplay opportunities and can offer the players closure before continuing on their adventures.
Planning a Funeral
Whether you bury them in an unmarked grave in the middle of the woods, throw a lavish party in their honor, or build a funeral pyre, you have a lot of options for putting a dead character to rest. Consider what makes the most sense for them. If the character was a boisterous barbarian, then an evening spent drinking and brawling could be a fun way to celebrate them.
At the burial, you may recommend that each party member bring an item they think the deceased character would appreciate or that signifies their relationship. Players may choose to give a short speech in remembrance of the character in or out of game, too.
Seeing the Character Again
After a character has been put to rest, you can occasionally hearken back to them. For example, if a druid who commonly used Wild Shape to take the form of a bird died, the party could more frequently encounter birds of the same type. The deceased character could also return as an NPC spirit that offers a quest or aid on a future occasion.
Be mindful of how frequently you call back to the dead character, however. Repeat visits or signs from the dead can quickly lose their emotional impact. At some point, you may even find that the players have moved on from the death.
What's Your Approach to Character Death?
Death is a curious thing in D&D. It doesn't have to be so final. You can bring the dead back to life through unconventional means and reshape the narrative around their return. Even if you prefer to let dead characters lie, there's ample opportunity for roleplay. No matter how you approach character death, however, it's important to be mindful of how a player can feel after losing their character. Be respectful of their needs and seek out ways to bring them back into the game, especially if they end up creating a new character with no ties to the party.
Michael Galvis (@michaelgalvis) is a tabletop content producer for D&D Beyond. He is a longtime Dungeon Master who enjoys horror films and all things fantasy and sci-fi. When he isn’t in the DM’s seat or rolling dice as his anxious halfling sorcerer, he’s playing League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering with his husband. They live together in Los Angeles with their adorable dog, Quentin.
Congratulations. You have just passed your insight check! I think we can safely let him boil in his own sense of outrage. Enjoy your games, and may your table be full of happy co-operative players!
It's nothing to do with outrage, I'm just trying to get either of you to understand that banning something doesn't magically solve the actual problem; but if all the two of you are going to do is keep fluffing each other rather than answering basic questions or engaging on literally any level then this is pointless.
There is a reason the D&D rules don't make a distinction between players vs. non-players and player vs. player interactions; banning "PvP" is banning a chunk of the game itself, it's limiting player freedom, player choice and player agency, and it almost certainly isn't solving the actual problem(s) your tables had, because if you let it go so far that a player character actually died then the fault there very much does not lie with the PvP.
Banning things doesn't solve problems, it hides them, which is not the same thing. Again, if you have a player who takes things too far, then banning PvP won't stop them from doing that; if you have a light touch DM who won't intervene when they need to, then that's a problem that affects every aspect of the game, and so-on. We are talking about how a player apparently killed another player character; your problem therefore is with the first player, it's with the DM doing nothing to stop it, it's not with PvP which again, the game does not even recognise as a concept.
I understand that style of play. Personally I believe that if a fight to-the-death breaks out, death should be a real possibility for player characters, but there's nothing wrong with a more cinematic, story-based game. It's really nice to see different playstyles and how different groups handle situations.
When my brothers character (half elf bard lvl 3) died to an onslaught of cultists and an untimely explosion I had an idea.My second brothers character and his were more than friends but soul mates so I made it that his spirit was absorbed into his rapier making it magical and giving it sentitience. How was the idea?
Love it.
I tend to worlds where adventurers are considered more of an “occupation” so death is a very real possibility at all times. The adventurers aren’t “heroes” until tier 2 or 3, at that point if death happens I might be slightly inclined to bring a character back but they’ll take a warlock level in a pact with something. Of course I communicate this to players, and I think you’ll never go wrong as you communicate.
I agree! I always ask my characters if they are ok dying before I kill them (unless it was a surprise to me to, because of bad rolls). For example, if I know someone might die I ask them if they are ok with that, and if they have a character ready.
Ya
I think that is sound advice for a a group of new players. But eventually they should experience deadly encounters not every encounter but one encounter a night being deadly should not be out of the question.
So true
Not sure this is covered in the article or comments - but what about player agency? If they want to be dead then can they stay dead? I personally would always check with the player about this. I am in a game where I am very squishy and just got dropped and was dying when I got hit with massive damage (as in greater than my maximum HP). I said it was alright for my character to die but essentially got ignored and forcibly revivified. They did not break the rules - it was all legit but I was disappointed by the outcome. Should players be expected to accept being brought back from the dead?
That’s a really good point, from a DMs view point, I’d say that if you really are over that character, ask your DM to make that character an NCP and make a knew character, or you could make it the your character is just super depressed and take unnecessary risks because maybe they believe that they should have died and that it was their time. Or I’m dead wrong and completely off point😂
I am with you on this, @thesingingbladescult. It just seems unnecessary. However, we have had another session and I just decided that getting along with this is the best outcome for everyone to have a good time. I am going to start to be more aggressive when possible and if my time comes - all the better.
I could make the Harry-and-Dumbledore-King's-Cross scene in DnD, with a warlock patron!
Two of my players are really invested in their characters and would be sad to see them do; the other two complain that combat is too easy as a result.
My table had banned pvp because it's actually quite surprising how much they want to kill each other (I think there's only one player who wouldn't start attacking all the other players)
Just my party...
It's not that easy to actually kill players with combat as long as you're not throwing around power word kill or similar (that kill immediately with no death saving throws) or so much damage per hit that you can kill them outright).
If you want to keep combat tense and challenging without risking death too easily then all you really need to do is make the combats hard enough that players going unconscious is highly likely, but you can back off a little once that happens, or if it happens to too many players.
A good option is to always think of an escape route to a tough fight, i.e- a way that the players can get out of a fight if they're sure they're going to die, so it's not that you went easy on them, it's that they had to flee, or the enemy spared them to force them to embark on some quest for it instead etc.
Not saying it's easy, to get it right, but there are options between total party wipe and combats feeling redundant.
*slow clap* that works
I had a rather small party while playing Lost Mine of Phandelver and one of our fighters died. What I did was that the dead PC made a deal with Oghma (god of knowledge) that the PC was to be brought back to life. But here's the catch: He must destroy the shrine of Maglubiyet within three days will he'll die again never to be resurrected. If the shrine is destroyed within the time limit, he'll officially be brought back from the dead until he runs out of HP again.
Cool concept featuring a couple of Deities.
I honestly-- and I'm sure this is to be incredibly controversial-- think death in D&D is stupid. I play with a Barbarian 3 Wood Elf (closest match to the unofficial species he is) and I love him, he is very strong and smart. But he's also part of an ongoing story I have with his partner-in-crime (not romantically), a Half-Elf fighter 4 I think? So I think it would be so sucky if he died, though there's a huge chance he could die (we barely got past that darned nothic, thank dog for our high DEX rolls) because he's so unwise and irrational, and he's never raged before, and he has bad stats, and he loves fighting and would never try to talk out of situations (e.g. CHA is his 2nd worst stat before WIS). If he dies in D&D and we can't bring him back, it would make me so sad even though I know it's just a game.
HOWEVER, on a TOTALLY CONTROVERSIAL note to what I just said, his funeral would be hecka fun. But, like, only one person would attend it because he's never gone on a campaign with anyone else, but I REALLY want him to.