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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37211
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Powered armour of some description is a boon to any author who doesn't want to kill off characters, the armour can take debilitating damage without ever harming the occupant making it easy to put characters out of action without killing them. With high-tech armour there are so many things that can go wrong that you can go a long way without repeating yourself. In a fantasy setting there's less you can do in terms of the root cause (i.e. it almost always comes down to magic) but endless different descriptions and details that can be applied. In fact when it comes to magic there are a lot of non-lethal effects that are kind of "standard", putting people to sleep, locking them in their body with Hold Person and similar effects so you don't need to do any damage in the first place.

Alternative approach:

Now while you don't have to kill people to write a good story by the same token you can and still have them around. Dead characters don't have to _stay_ dead. One of the best moments in Roger Zelazny's _[Chronicles of Amber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Amber)_ comes at the end of _The Courts of Chaos_ when one of the Nine Princes who's been "dead" for several books comes back to save the day. Now in that example the set up is exquisite and spans about 600 pages and you miss most of the clues the first time you read it but you do understand that there is at least one missing piece before the big reveal. [This question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/36826/what-makes-for-a-successful-resurrection) has some good material if you're looking to use that particular mechanism.

Original score: 2