If you are a Dungeon Master, you are responsible to give your players a gift: Let them die.
Let the players feel failure. Don't rescue them by manufacturing last-minute turns in their luck. The dice determine their luck. I have taken to rolling out in the open, not behind a screen, so they can see that, yes, their character was hit for 22 points of damage and whining about the unlikelihood of such a number won't matter.
What makes adventuring exciting? The ever-present danger, the joy of discovery, the possibility of failure, and the improbability of success.
The dice determine the winner. There are winners and losers in D&D. It may change from moment to moment, but there are those who succeed and those who fail. Sometimes the ones who succeed die. Sometimes the ones who fail still live to play another day. The measure of success is not who lives, but who plays well, who has fun, who makes memorable mistakes. The point of playing a role is to try things you wouldn't do in the real world. That's what makes it fantasy!
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