*nods head* Sounds like a good call to me. When 5 out of 6 players are down then its safe to say the party has been scared.

I actually tried to kill some players but failed. I had six players, 4 close combat, 1 pure mage and 1 sarishan priest. Given the starting positions the fighters moved up close and the mages engaged at range. They raced through his HP with frequent massive exploding damages. I gave him 100 HP extra and he was still down within 16 ticks with only one character dropped. Some times it's the luck of the dice on the day as to how hard an encounter actually is. His AC...I mean avoidance... seemed fine, they didn't hit too often (all were tier 1.5) just that when they did things rolled high for them.

*Nods head* That's sometimes the way the game works out too. There is a gulf in combat ability between characters that are hardened for combat and characters who are not. And the exploding dice mechanism means sometimes you get really big hits ... even from daggers. There is nothing inherently wrong with adding stamina to a "boss fight" as long as its to make it a memorable challenge and neither an exercise of Judges's ego nor an attempt to put more bodies on the ground.

As an aside there is nothing wrong (IMO) if a PC dies in an epic fight with the likes of Uhxbractit. However in other circumstances I'm uncomfortable with it in this game system. Given that there is no way back from the grave I think its important to avoid PCs deaths where possible or reasonable.

That being said, this is at odds with the average player's desire to engage in combat at almost every possible opportunity. How many times do people just take combat for granted and wade in? Further, I would argue that at least historically, people were more likely to get killed in small skirmishes and street fights than they were in big grand battles. First, because in a big battle, your enemy doesn't have time to make sure you're dead before they have to defend themselves, and second, when the stakes are higher, people will be more keyed up, aware, and engaged.

Someone mentioned once that it was absurd to be able to go toe-to-toe with Uhxbractit, and then get mauled by a shadow lion into unconsciousness in a later module. Taken at face value, that might be true, but it discounts the fact that every fight you get into could be potentially deadly (after all, it almost inevitably is for the enemies the players are fighting). A single small dog minion who gets a single critical hit, and explodes damage like nobody's business could still drop a player, given how the system works.

To your point Eric, I would agree that it is important to avoid PC deaths where possible and reasonable (i.e. it shouldn't happen just because the GM wants to kill someone). I would just argue that some of the onus for doing so belongs to the players and their decisions, not simply on the GM.

Tangential question. Sorry if this is answered somewhere (I don't remember seeing it).

If a PC is killed, what is the official line on new PCs? Do they start over at 1.1 (or 1.5 given the leveling cert) or something else? If it's not "something else", that's far harsher than any other league I've heard of (in both LFR and PFS, it's basically impossible to permanently die). It would suck to be forced to either replay all the mods (and only get replay certs) or essentially stop playing with friends (since 1.1 is not really useful later in the arc and 1.5 prohibits most crusade mods).

1) The Hero can elect to "remain alive", taking an additional flaw relating to how they were killed. For example, if the person was Vanquished by Wounds when fighting Zombies and failed their death saving roll, they can 'remain alive' and take a flaw such as 'Haunted By Nightmares' or 'Phobia: Undead.'

2) If you do not want to salvage your existing character there is nothing like in 3.5 where you can make a new character at a level lower than your previous one. At present you have to restart at 1.1 or 1.5 as appropriate.

Thanks. Now that you mention it, I do remember reading #1 (which is good enough as it gives the player and GM an option to not permanently kill the character and death should cost (LFR/PFS are probably too forgiving in that regard)). Do you remember where option #1 is (main rulebook in which section or the campaign guide or somewhere else)? Just so I know where to find it to reference if this comes up in the game I'm running (or for my char when I get to play).

Codex of Heroes, right at the end.

We are also discussing a new "when a character dies" option to possibly be included in the updated Campaign Guide. Bear with us, and interesting things may happen.

Player characters should die occasionally: when Big Bads like Uhxy are beating Valinor then there should be a risk of death. Usage of things like 'your fate is sealed' do help to re-inforce such things but as a GM you should be trying to keep things both fun and challenging so that the players feel that they have truly earned their scars and accolades.