The problem with character death, as I read it, is that basically you throw the character away and create a new one, abit at an advanced level or tier.
This does not sit well with many players, especially since in the Pathfinder RPG and Society play characters can be revived from death and this game also uses the Pathfinder name.
When a player spends 10-15 hours or more playing, developing, and building their character, throwing it in the trash makes those hours seem like a waste of time. Many players may consider the game "Broken" at this point and just walk away, never to look back.
My goal is to keep all players enjoying the game so the campaign continues week after week after week!
So I have instituted the following Revival rule in my games, it seems to ease everyone's fears about the Permanent Death that exists in the rules.
When/if your character dies to get revived after the scenario ends he must Burn 2 cards in his hand that belong to the Level/Tier being played.
Say you are playing a Level 3 deck and die, you must Burn 2 of the Level 3 cards you have in your deck.
If you have 3 or more you chose which two.
If you have less you Burn what you have then make up the difference by Burning Level 2 cards (your choice again if you have more than enough), and on down to Level 1's if not enough 2's.
You must replace the Burned cards with Basic (B or C) cards from the box.
You also lose the scenario of course and have to sit out the remainder of it.
This makes death something to be avoided but not the ultimate tragedy. You can replace the lost cards through future play of course, if you can find them.
I agree Perma-death is no fun. In our home games we played that if someone died, we reset our decks to the beginning of the scenario and replayed it.
There's not much downside there, though. Your rule exacts more of a penalty, which makes sense.
You couldn't play this in Organized Play, though. (Unless you're just playing a home game using Organized Play scenarios and rules.)
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I know it is not until deck five, but there is a raise dead divine spell. Also, in many cases you can choose to lose the scenario instead of having a character die. You can choose not to explore, for example, or move to a closed location. In Organized Play, you can replay scenarios, so it might be better for the group to lose the scenario instead of losing a character.