When a character dies, where does their soul go? Instead of character death resulting in mechanical disadvantages for the characters, the cost could be narrative. Your players will not be so nonchalant about one of their party members dying if the cost is a decrease in power. Consequences like this mean that your players will prioritize keeping every member of the party alive.Īn extreme consequence of death would be that a resurrected character comes back to life at one level lower than they were before they died. As a DM, you could decide to disable one of the character’s abilities.įor example, a fighter who has died and returned cannot use their Action Surge ability until they recover in a way you deem necessary. After ten successes, the wound heals.ĭeath could also have a severely damaging effect in the short term. Alternatively, someone can tend to the wound and make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check once every 24 hours. The wound heals if you receive magical healing. If your hit point maximum drops to 0, you die.
Increasing the cost of dying in your game world can raise the stakes for the party and give them a reason to still fear character death. While the Player’s Handbook (PHB) and Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG) don’t have much more to say about this, there are changes that a Dungeon Master (DM) can make to ensure the stakes are high for every encounter. Once a party reaches 5th-level and has access to this, they can shake off death like it were the common cold, discounting a sense of danger in the adventure. When damage reduces a character to 0 HP, and there is remaining damage that exceeds their hit point maximum, they die instantly.Ī dead character can be brought back to life by various resurrection spells, such as the 3rd-level spell Revivify.
The standard rules in 5e for death require a character to drop to 0 hit points, then fail three death saving throws before they are healed, stabilized by a DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check, or stabilize from three successful death saving throws.