Please note that we are talking here about a computer game, so creating a new main char in the middle of the game is not an option.
If your main char dies you have to reload. If it happens often enough in a row players will quit.
Which is bad because it means players will miss a great game.
I play computer role playing games because I like the mix of story, exploration and combat.
I do not play them because I expect my char to die any moment because of an unlucky roll.
You again is ignoring hat there are protections against it and a faster and more brutal combat makes the game more interesting.
Also, on mid to high levels, there are ways to revive party members.
Ahem, as I said, "Most players don't really think it's fair or fun to have their entire campaign ended by a single bad die roll, or having to reload their game multiple times because their only option is to succeed a random chance roll, with no gradation or middle-ground. A DM who thinks it's fair or fun to levy save-or-dies against their party and risk complete and irretrievable character loss based on a single die roll, beginning from party level 7 or 8, just because, is also a pretty rotten DM."
Your answer bore no relevance to that, especially when the chat was about how someone thinks disintegrate should be a SoD. I reiterate again: "A 5th level spell should not be able to one-shot any creature in existence for free.
1 - Random death happens. I see no problem with it in a game.
2 - You keep ignoring again what I said about protection
3 - What is the problem of starting from char level 7/8? IF the adventure is designed for that level, players who wanna play that adventure should start at that level. Same for video game adaptations. Dark Sun : Wake of the Ravager has you starting at lv 8. Baldur's Gate 2 too around lv 7~9 depending on the class. Hordes of the underdark on nwn1? Start at lv 15.
4 - If you throw a necromancer able to cast wail of the banshee against the a low level party(without expecting that they will find a way around)
5 - Disintegrate is a 6th level spell and can't one shot any creature in the existence. On 3e, the DC to resist that spell would be 10 + 6 + INT MOD, assuming greater spell focus transformation, and 22(superhuman) intelligence, the DC will gonna be 24. An mature red dragon only would need to roll 3 to not be OHKilled and it if happened, is a fun lucky situation in the table. This not considering the spell resistance. And note that contrary to 2e, disintegrate on 3e can't OHK sadly.
, I've got a character who is level 8 right now; I've been playing her for several years... I have a lot of strong emotions tied up in that campaign and the story that we as a group are exploring and creating together. Character death can, and ideally should, be dramatic, emotional and poignant; I'll be devastated if it happens, but it's always a possibility. There is plenty of risk and challenge, and we've had a number of very close calls... it has been a very exciting game, as well as a deeply involving and investing one... However, the idea that I might lose this character beyond any possibility of retrieval due to a random trap containing a 5th level spell in the middle of some random ruin would be complete anathema to the entire principle of what I play this game for.
That is the game which you are playing. Very low level, very low lethality. Guess what. Only a sadistic dm would ever throw a necromancer capable of casting finger of death against a low or mid level adventure. Raise dead is a 5th level spell.
GURPS is far higher lethality than D&D 2e, mainly on high tech or high magical settings. A .338 lapua magnum rifle can OHK the average players several times with a single shot. People do everything that they can to avoid being exposed to lethal risk and is part of the game. You can say that you don't like higher lethality but IMHO, D&D nowdays lacks any sense of peril.
And Larian with the hp bloat rule is makign it even worse.
It's immersive if the wizard tries to use Animal Handling or Misty Step to just avoid the bear. Not all outcomes should end in combat, what if the bear is starving and just looking for food? Can the party toss food at the bear to satiate it? Could the bear get distracted by Prestidigitation?
It's also un-immersive if characters are dying left and right. Do the characters really have no emotional response to another's death? Would the surviving party members not consider a different career path? Would they turn to the simple life of farming after seeing so many of their friends die? Would the wizard go back to being a cloistered scholar?
Of course, but my point is to point out how fragile chars are on 2e.
