2012 PC Bodycount thread

Lerrim, Gnome thief/ranger died this afternoon in a glorious battle to kill the baron in Paizo's "Tower of the Last Baron" (modified) in the Company of Chaos campaign. He got gutted by the captain of the guard but also killed the guy with a ring of disintegration (last charge) saving the other two PCs in the process. You will be missed but it was a heck of a battle.

Last night my 1st edition Ad&d Dwarf Fighter "Piebald the Peddler" died in a most inglorious way. After bragging in the local pub of his wrestling prowess Piebald was challenged to a match by a surly halfling. In a boastful tone Piebold said "Ha a single halfling you better make it three" Piebald got beaton sensless by the 3 halflings. Bloodied, bruised and down to his last few hitpoints. Piebald tried to calm the crowd (they had bet heavily that Piebald would win) but alas was killed when a rock thrown by the crowd scored a critical.

A liar, a cheater, a braggart and charlatan, R.I.P Piebald the Peddler

Killed my first pc of the year last night- Shar, a 14th level cleric with a homebrewed custom paragon path, the Governator.

The pcs had just passed through a portal into the Shadowfell and fell victim to a strange hallucinatory assault, immediately after which they were attacked by a group of strange undead demons (I'm sort of weaving Dead Gods and Demon Queen's Enclave together).

Shar died because these strange visages they're fighting play dirty: she was knocked out and got coup de graced. The pcs were NOT expecting that.

The player hasn't decided whether to raise her or bring in a pixie.

JamesonCourage said:

JamesonCourage said:

Had a PC death Wednesday night.

Though the spider PC died, the few rounds that he held the lieutenant back allowed a couple more arrows to hit, and a couple more spells to land. It was nearly a TPK wipe, but his sacrifice ended up saving the party, in all likelihood.

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I regretfully announce another PC death this past Wednesday night.

The sage may have died, but his bravery helped secure safety for the surrounding towns for the next year, and his comrades have promised to return in one year's time to close the crevice for good, in his memory.

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This past Wednesday night, another PC died.

Though important to destiny, he fell defending his comrades against capture by undead in the religious shrine the PCs were invading. He was a commander, a captain of a ship, a business owner, and a member of a major house of nobility. He was the first to cross the Wyrm's Sea, and he was the first to learn the language of the foreigners and return with them. He mastered both the elements of Fire and Earth before his passing.

Attention smart people:
What's up with dragons? Why are they so astoundingly deadly?

My desert campaign was about to end and as the final BBEG I had prepared a young Red Dragon. Players had three 8th-level PCs and the dragon itself was CR7. I know that my players were only a few and also all of them were fatigued but they were 100% rested and they also had some time to prepare for the fight (buff-spells and such).

In just few rounds two of the PCs were killed. The final PC managed to press on enough and cause enough damage to make the dragon flee but having two PCs die so easily seemed unfair... Basically other CR7 monsters are much easier

R.I.P.
Elven wizard 7th-level/ranger 1st-level
Human wizard 1st-level/fighter 7th-level

When the red dragon made its entrée I started to play this.

Jon_Dahl said:

Attention smart people:
What's up with dragons? Why are they so astoundingly deadly?

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I depends on party makeup and preparation really. If you're not prepared to deal with one, they're strong. Very strong. If you know it's coming and have the time and ability to prepare properly, well...

Let's just say my players ran into their first dragon, a young adult white dragon, after slogging through the frozen wastes of the north for several levels and getting accustomed to the fact that they'd have to deal with monsters using cold damage. And when they snuck into the dragon's lair to fight it, they knew what they were going up against. The normal group comedy and bickering ceased, and they became a well-coordinated combat unit, systematically wiping out hit points before their dragon even knew what was happening, and then blasting it out of the sky with fireballs and sending burrowing ice elementals at it when it tried to flee underground.

So although, yes they pulled everything they had to defeat it, it was an encounter they stomped down with little danger of being killed. The same party later fought an imperial sovereign dragon (Pathfinder by the way), were unprepared for it, and three of them just barely avoided having to roll up new PCs. It's all about preparation.

Man, I can't believe I missed this.

So here's how the rogue died. At the start of the day, the cleric casts Hero's Feast. The rogue refuses to eat because he's convinced the cleric is trying to poison him.

The party marches into the Darkness filled cavern and is cornered by a group of devils. The mage attempts to Dim Door everyone away to get some breathing room. The rogue refuses to go along because ... well ... no one is sure why. Staying behind, the rogue then fails his save against a fear aura.

Fleeing down into the dark cavern the rogue then proceeds to activate all the traps and succumbs to the poison on an arrow.

His soul is currently trapped in the Underworld waiting for the afterlife bureaucracy to figure out where to send him.

Wow, 2 pcs in 3 sessions!

We played yesterday during the day- the pcs fought a death tyrant beholder with math updates to MM3 standards.

The party was doing all right- the wizard kept pushing or sliding it back so that the whole party wasn't within its aura- but the warden and rogue got all up in its face and were pounding it pretty darn well.

The warden was under the effect of both the beholder's entombing ray and had failed one save, so was immobilized and far enough away that he couldn't make a melee attack (his ranged attacks are pretty crappy), and the beholder's death ray (he was bloodied and, again, had failed one save; so he was dazed and weakened and one more failed save = death).

He hemmed and hawed at the start of his turn; what to take his extra save against? Try to throw off the immobilization and therefore be able to land an extra attack, or try to save against against the death ray so he'd have two chances to avoid "You're dead!" (I told him when he failed his first save and went from dazed to dazed + weakened that the next one would kill him, so he was not in the dark on this...)

He chose to save against the entombing ray so he could charge (he has all kinds of charge-related items, feats and effects.) MADE IT! He rushed forward and smote the death tyrant.

Then he failed his save against the death ray and died.

The beholder died 2 rounds later.

I have to admit, a fight with a beholder is a FINE way for a pc to die. But damn, that player is one of those guys who loses characters like old ladies lose hairs, and his warden had stayed alive from somewhere around 5th level all the way to 14th (nigh 15th!).

Here's to PHUQ 69, also occasionally known as Fissure Uppercrust, shardmind warden!

It was dark, they were eaten by a Grue.

The 2nd level PCs were on a hunt for ratmen in the sewers. The found a chasm leading to an Ice cavern where a young white dragon nearly killed them. Huge magically locked doors were opened with a 36 ! thievery roll .
IC: you feel a grave sens of dread opening this door.
as they continued
OOC: start thinking about new characters as I look up these monsters I did not expect you to face.

They found a pair of Foulspawn, including a Grue. So what if one bloodied the defender in one hit, the dragon did that too. The grue teleported into the middle of the party, grabbed the torch from the only PC carrying light and ate it.
Whispers enter your minds "Its dark, you may be eaten by a grue."

they tried to run, the cleric bringing the monk back to positive hp before double running away. As they ran past the grue, it hit with opportunity attacks and reduced 2 to negative hp. Everyone else ran for it, as it ate them.

Eaten by a foulspawn grue, in the dark:
Icon the bladeling monk L2
Manarock dwarf warden L2

Four deaths to report, two of them technically being the same PC. Just as a note, there are some spoilers to the Pathfinder adventure Master of the Fallen Fortress in here.

We played MotFF as a one-shot to celebrate the visit of an old group member who we hadn't seen since last year. The adventure wasn't a TPK, but it came close. The first death occurred before the others and the character's son was brought in as a replacement (using the same character sheet 'cause we didn't have time to make a new character).

The casters died during the final battle and the rogue was killed during the legal proceedings following the adventure. The Fighter and the NPC they rescued escaped alive, as did the main villain, though he did so without any followers or method of returning to his underground home.

All in all, it was a successful adventure. For the fighter at least. I'm pleased that the one PC to survive was our visiting friend, it really made her happy too, so I'd say I'm proud of how this game went.

System: Pathfinder
Adventure: Master of the Fallen Fortress

Bio: P.T.B.I. (Put the boot in) Jenkins, Male LE Half Orc Rogue (Thug)
Cause of death: Burning skeletons, and a rogue specializing in nonlethal damage trying to act like a fighter around immune-to-nonlethal undead.
Notes:This was about halfway through the adventure, and the fighter's player, who was used to playing rogue-ish PCs wanted to stay at the back like she usually does, so the rogue decided he would take the front. Multiple damage rolls from claw attacks plus fire damage, and damage each round from collapsing inside the flame aura made the burning skeletons very dangerous, and the rest of us were one round too late in finishing them off.

Bio: Junior Jenkins, Male LE Half Orc Rogue (Thug) 1
Cause of death: Attempted to team-kill his one remaining teammate after the 2 listed below had died, then got knocked out by the NPC they had rescued, and was executed for attempted murder.
Notes: I didn't realize that the character's alignment was an evil until he declared he was team-killing, I warned him that'd turn him evil, and he told me that Jr. was already evil. I decided not to make a big deal of it since the adventure was at its end either way. It was going to end up with either him or the fighter as the last one standing, and Jr.'s dumped Wisdom ended up being his downfall when he took a sleep spell from the bard NPC they'd rescued and he couldn't roll high enough to make the save.

Bio: Chimi Sonan Yeshing, Female LG Samsaran Cleric (of Tsukiyo) 1
Cause of death: 60-foot fall upon failed reflex save as an overhanging ledge gave way beneath the party, she was taken directly from full HP to death upon hitting the ground.
Notes: This was the first PC that this player had ever made entirely on her own. I'm slightly sad to have killed her in her first adventure with this new PC, especially in such a pathetic way as a fall.

Bio: Acholate, Female CG Half Elf Sorcerer (Arcane Bloodline) 1
Cause of death: Same 60-foot fall as Chimi, was also taken directly from full HP to death upon hitting the ground.
Notes:GMPC, Pregen Sorcerer, Acholate was one of four Pregens I'd created for this adventure, and I ended up having to bring her in when our fourth player cancelled at the last minute. Being a pregen, she mysteriously turned up in her favourite tavern the day after her death, alive and drinking as if nothing had happened, and ready for more adventures to come her way.

Escaped Death:
Bio: Nesteruk, Male N Half Orc Fighter 1
Notes: Pregen Fighter, it was the player's first time playing a class other than Bard or Rogue, she requested a non-caster because she didn't want to deal with the added layer of complexity, so I gave her the least skill-monkey inclined of the non-caster pregens I'd made, to help expand her horizons a little.