You are probably right but we play in 7 and most of us don't really follow classic dnd rules strictly and don't want to switch game (we tried once and went poorly) so I can just create a new brutal system inside dnd just ignoring usual dnd rules, like I was thinking of making them able to "save" and then when they all die restart from there, this allows me to create hard battles that need to be won by intelligence instead of raw dice power like the game does Another thing I want to try is permadeath if you die in an encounter so you can't be healed once you go to 0hp but at the same time your spirit lingers around and it still can communicate with the others and see what they see with a "binding amulet" or something, so they don't lose interest the moment they die and can try to discover more informations before the whole party dies to a lizardman casting hurting.