Pathfinder game last night brought up something I think should be explicit in most games:

Death should be a choice.

By this, I mean that when you drop something to 0HP or equivalent, you can choose whether it is actually killed or not.

I know PF and other games have rules for nonlethality but the truth is that most of the game (most games in general) point most of the system at lethality, which means doing a bunch of extra stuff to not kill.

But just as easily you can let players use the normal systems and say that at 0 hp you or the player decides how the foe leaves combat.

Surrender? Flee? KOed?

This is the type of advice I give and some one eventually goes "well this isn't realistic, blahblah, it's just escapism blahblah"

But what if your players don't want killing everything to be their escape?

Giving them a choice lets them be explicit about principles and tone.

And I know that it is harder to be nonlethal with spells and blade than nonlethal, but in my mind that is what makes it more heroic. It also doesn't need to be mechanically more difficult.

The other side of this coin is if you let players control the death dial for their goes, you also get to control the death dial for them in a way that "lethality is the default" doesn't really allow for.

That TPK can just be getting knocked out and robbed, or captured, or whatever.

If stakes are "to the death", you can be explicit about that.

Fights are legit more interesting if PCs can lose them without breaking continuity.

But in the typical "you die or I die", losing isn't really an option, right?

If you are trying to murk me, I am going to bring that same energy.

But if you can lose a fight and simply lose some ground...

...a lot of interesting stories and dynamics make themselves available.

And it also makes BBEG fights more dramatic, when stakes go up.

"This guy *will* kill you" gains a lot of teeth when death is not the default consequence.

I love the ability for PCs to lose a battle without crippling the story.

It's cool to have NPCs be able to come back.

Whatever your system says about lethality, see what you can gain by reimagining it.