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People sit around a table to play a game of Dungeons & Dragons to have fun. Heroic deeds, exciting adventures, and hilarious moments are all part of the experience — but so is death. The risk of player characters dying adds important stakes to a D&D story, but because it feels terrible to have your character die as a player, that makes it very difficult for Dungeon Masters to navigate that aspect of the game. The latest episode of Critical Role’s Campaign 4 proves this.
Episode 37 of Campaign 4, “Death to Tyrants,” is all about character death. Without going too much into the details of the campaign’s complex plot, one of the characters, Wicander “Wick” Halovar (played by Sam Riegel), is the target of an assassination attempt orchestrated by his family. The entire episode consists of four long combat rounds in which Riegel’s character gets downed (reduced to 0 hit points or less) multiple times as his friends try to save him. However, there comes a moment when Wicander’s fate seems sealed as Riegel fails one last death saving throw.
DM Brennan Lee Mulligan’s decision at that moment was interesting, to say the least. It made me reflect on how hard it is for a DM to balance the “fairness” that should be present in a D&D game with the natural impulse to preserve a story and its characters, making sure everybody goes home happy. What is the best way to handle character death, especially if that character is important to the story?
Brennan Lee Mulligan didn’t want Wicander to die
Watching the episode, it seems Mulligan was trying to give Riegel every advantage possible to make sure Wicander survived his ordeal. At the beginning of combat, Wicander was hit by a Hold Person spell (cast by his own sister!), which is a nasty way to start. The spell inflicts the Paralyzed condition, meaning that every attack hitting the target from within five feet is a critical hit. Once a character is downed, critical hits cause them to automatically fail two death saving throws; after three failed saves, the character is dead for good.
Hold Person requires a Wisdom saving throw when it’s cast. If the target fails, they roll again at the end of each of their following turns to try and break free from the spell (from 5th edition onwards, D&D tends to be more lenient with this type of spell). When it came to Wicander’s first turn after being hit with the spell, Mulligan suggested that Riegel could delay his turn (an action that no longer exists in the 5th edition rules or in the 2024 update but remains a common house rule). Doing so would allow Halandil Fang (Liam O’Brien) to grant Bardic Inspiration, adding a bonus d8 to the next Wisdom save.
Leaving aside the “delay your turn” house rule, this was an unusual call from Mulligan. When a character is Paralyzed, they also have the Incapacitated condition, meaning they can’t take any action, bonus action, or reaction. So, there is nothing to delay, and ruling the opposite defeats the purpose of the Hold Person spell. It’s a bit of a grey area in the rules, but I would rule against it as a DM.
Later in the episode, Mulligan did something even more egregious. Wicander was dying again and on his last death saving throw. Riegel rolled, and even with the extra help coming from another Bardic Inspiration, he failed. Farewell, Wicander! It made for a shocking moment, but nothing unusual for Critical Role. Travis Willingham’s character, Teor Pridesire, also died a few episodes ago.
Yet Mulligan gave Riegel a second chance. He asked if Riegel wanted to reroll that last death saving throw with disadvantage (rolling twice and taking the lower result) or help Tyranny, the character played by Whitney Moore, by breaking her contract. Tyranny and Wicander have had a strong bond since the beginning of the campaign. She is a demon, bound in service to Wicander by a magical contract. If Wick dies, Tyranny’s contract will default to the evil head of the Halovar household, Yanessa. So, Riegel was given the choice of risking it all or accepting death while saving his closest friend from a terrible fate. He chose the former and managed to pass the death saving throw despite the disadvantage.
Should DMs try to avoid death in D&D?
This is a moment most DMs can identify with. When a player character dies in one of our games, there is always a temptation to use some kind of deus ex machina to undo it. But what do you sacrifice when you’re unwilling to sacrifice a player? Every D&D game is meant to tell a story, and a good story is one where the stakes feel real, especially in the context of an emergent narrative where every decision and dice roll can shape the outcome. Making players feel invincible can potentially make them lose interest in the story, and thus in the game itself.
While not every DM will agree with Mulligan’s decision, there is something to learn from it. He gave Riegel a tough choice, after all. His chances of success with that new roll with disadvantage were about 30%. Moreover, if he failed, he wasn’t just losing Wicander; He was also causing a bad outcome for his friend. If a DM decides it’s correct to “undo” death at the table, I believe this is the right way to do so: by adding more stakes to the story to make up for the loss caused by this form of interference.
It is a bit odd that Mulligan did not give Willingham the same chance. In episode 30, “Here in the Dark,” Teor Pridesire was felled by the undead in Obrimus Manor, without any DM shenanigans trying to save the burly Paladin. Perhaps this is because Teor was accompanied by an NPC (his brother Cyd) rather than a player character, giving Mulligan no inspiration for a meaningful storytelling moment like the one between Wicander and Tyranny.
Towards the end of “Death to Tyrants,” Wick went down yet again after being hit by two attacks. He blocked one with a use of Shield, but the other brought him down to negative hit points. Then, Brennan asked Riegel if he wanted to retroactively “take back” the Shield — thus going down to two failed death saves again — to free Tyranny from her contract. This felt like an excess. Sure, it threw all the players into distress, and it was fun to see Riegel fidget with the choice for a while, but it was also clear that Mulligan was trying to steer the story in a certain direction. Riegel opted to free Tyranny, which gave her the chance to use Aid on Wick and give him advantage on his next saving throw, ultimately leading to his survival.
Death is an important element of D&D games
As D&D evolved over time and editions, character death has become more uncommon; between death saves and resurrection spells, it’s hard for a character to truly kick the bucket. If Wicander’s party had a single member with the Revivify spell prepared, for example, all the drama seen in “Death to Tyrants” would have been instantly nullified.
D&D characters are more than some stats on a sheet. Often, they feel real, and losing them hurts a lot for players. It’s understandable that DMs sometimes pull their punches to create a more pleasurable experience for everyone. Still, balance is one of the most important qualities a DM should strive for. To help players feel immersed, you want the world to feel real, and to do that, death has to be part of the equation. Forcing a character to survive, especially if it’s done for story reasons, can cheapen the looming threat of potential death for everyone at the table, ultimately damaging the immersion and the overall experience of the game.
What to do when death comes knocking in D&D is a tough decision. Mulligan showed an interesting example in Critical Role, but every DM should act according to their preferences and the shared understanding at the table. Discuss this eventuality with your players at the start of the adventure: as long as everything is clear and you all have fun by the end, there are no wrong choices.
