Quote Originally Posted by 1337 b4k4 View Post
I'll be honest, it seems to me that if you make challenging level appropriate encounters, 4e really isn't that much less lethal than older editions. The hydra was easily dealing between 1/4 and 1/3 character HP per successful attack, which isn't that much different from early editions. The characters might have survived an additional few rounds, but ultimately the damage inflation that has come with the HP inflation appears to mean we're doing the same thing, just with bigger numbers.
In 4e, it's definitely true that all of the numbers (at least at 1st level) are inflated. The rate of comparative increase also seems lower.

But the bigger thing to me with 4e is that there's a bigger 'margin' between alive and dead. That allowed me to play much harder as a DM, and throw challenging fights out, without fear that a small miscalculation would lead to TPK. Between death saving throws, and death only occurring at -half hp, going unconscious is scary but not inherently lethal. The revised math for crits helped out as well, as you had to be prepared for the amount of damage a crit could deal in any case (since they just maxed damage).

Of course, it took three or four sessions before I fully 'got' this, and stopped playing with assumptions based on older editions. And, frankly, that's one of the things I liked most about 4e compared to older editions - the number of fights that, if done well, ended up feeling like close fights without truly risking TPK. And that's one of the things that I hope 5e manages to keep.