Fear of Death in 5e

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Death

I seldom have helpless PCs on the field. That's as it should be — I assume ours is the story of the band of heroes that were both lucky and good and survived against all odds. But that doesn't mean that the threat of death shouldn't add a little frisson to the proceedings, nor that death shouldn't be an inconvenience, a strong story beat, and a chance for the party to reevaluate their tactics.

@DMDavid has written a short article entitled Can a DM Have Monsters Kill Fallen Characters Without Bringing Hurt Feelings?. It’s about how DMs can increase the sense of peril to 5e’s nigh-unkillable PCs.

I realized a few sessions ago that we'd had a PC down, left untended for a few rounds while the others assumed they's mop up and deal with the downed fighter after the mêlée. And of course that's what happened, and the healer fixed it, and a short rest got everybody back in fighting trim. From a story perspective, that's mortally wounded to ready-to-go in about an hour. Pretty unsatisfying narratively.

I think with 5e the idea of front-loading the dread of death is a great solution to this problem. We are all exhilarated when we come through a potentially dangerous situation with skill, luck, or the help of our friends. Now I just have to remember to hit these beats at the table.

Review: Festivals, Feasts & Fairs (5e Supplement)

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I’ve run a festival for my players before. They were in a village, managed to defeat a baddie, and the influx of well-wishers, news hounds, gossips, and opportunists soon turned the town into an impromptu two-day party. The heroes got an award from the mayor, there was dancing, and jugglers threw things about.

Mostly I ran it narratively. Trying to figure out a bunch of guess-my-weight and dunk-the-halfling mechanics on the fly seemed like a bit much.

That’s precisely what Festivals, Feasts & Fairs is meant to address. It provides a bunch of background, color, and mechanics for the kinds of activities our adventurers would find at a festival. Feats of strength, carnival games, fortune telling. It’s basically a set of mini-games that allow your players to use their skills to try their luck on the carnival fairway.

I’ll reproduce some of the ToC here to give you an idea of the breadth of content:

  • Denizens Of The Circus

  • Attractions

  • Competitions

  • Carnival Games

  • Visiting The Fortune Teller

  • Vendors

  • Items Around The Carnival

  • Backgrounds

  • Designing Custom

The PDF is well laid out in a familiar style, and contains internal links to all sections. My only quibble is that I’d love to see a more comprehensive link list as I would likely run this on my laptop during a session.

I think if you generated a few memorable NPCs and had this supplement at the ready, you could fill an entire session with your PCs just wandering around shooting arrows at targets and eating fried foods. If this sounds like something you could use, I recommend it.

Festivals, Feasts and Fairs

D&D Supplement

PDF, 38 pages